WE NEED YOU AND HAIKU! We will be hosting a Haiku Open Mic during Putnam's First Friday Night, July 6 from 6-8 PM. Inspired by Don Munson's "wordless stories" in his current show "Haiku", we invite you to share your verbal creations amidst their visual partners. The night will include an artist talk followed by an open mic. Join us for a night where art and poetry come alive, and remember your 5-7-5!
To sign up: email info@silvercirclegallery.com or DM us on our Facebook or Instagram
Art
/// Inspiration
/// Community
/// Celebration
Silver Circle Gallery and the Pomfret School Gallery are excited to announce the opening reception for the exhibit Haiku: Paintings & Works by Donald E. Munson" in the Pomfret School Gallery on First Friday June 1 from 6-8pm. The display features 36 new works from this notable artist. This body of work showcases pieces grown from poems written by the artist back in 1973. The show will also include pieces from the artist's Numbers series. This collection Munson calls, "many sentences toward a self" will be on display
through July 29.
For the past 45 years, Donald Munson has earned his place in the art world as a renowned illustrator, graphic designer, and painter with an impressive resume and list of exhibitions and affiliations in the New York Art scene, and his work is in private and public art collections throughout the world. Noteworthy are the facts that his work is in the permanent collection in the Museum of Modern Art, Hecksher Museum in Huntington, NY, the Society of Illustrators Museum of American Illustration in NYC, and he is in the private collections of such people as David Carson and Joerg & Savine Lichtenberg. Don developed nine commonly used fonts and he served as the vice president of Random House from 1979-1991, where he worked as the Division Vice President, Art Director and created covers for over 500 books. He worked with such authors as William Golding and Isaac Assimov, ultimately winning the Chesley Award as Best Art Director in 1991. Early in his career Donald worked with Salvador Dali at the MoMA, teaching him to utilize a new technique for producing art cards. Mr. Munson has also worked on Broadway set designs, and has had such clients as Readers Digest and New York Times.
"Forty four years ago in a creative writing class I writing Haiku. I created eight poems with small colored drawings directly beneath each. The folded panels remained in my studio map case. I would study them every once in a while. Last year returning to them again. I selected nine colors to create visual poems inspired by these works at last. Each small painting is Acrylic on Fabriano. Developing thirty six in all. They are abstract, allegorical expressions using line and form. Representing by the plasticity of colored elements visually no mixing. Direct images like a calligrapher making marks of energy. Organic minimal wordless stories. Enjoy."
-Donald E. Munson
ARTIST STATEMENT: NUMBERS
"Color is a primary element with graphic and abstract forms. The ten paintings are oil on canvas. These works of art started with a passion about alphabets. Beginning with early Runic forms to Greek and Roman evolving to Contemporary Typography. Numbers are an extension of the seven published fonts I have designed. These paintings visually unify elements allegorically. 'Number One' is a large horizontal work of repeating forms illustrating that number. The others are square, playing graphically with a designated number. 'Three' reflects feather like forms. Each containing three colors. Hidden in the Red Wing Blackbird shape is an early Brahimi mark for three !!! Count the elements in each painting starting with number 'Two' containing a Roman numeral. Enjoy."
