Harper Syres
Artist Patricia Carrigan laughs with the crowd during a reception for her exhibit "FOGAREA" showing in the Hans Weiss Newspace Gallery through Oct. 6.
Fog is a weather phenomenon usually associated with blurry and impaired vision but an exhibit now showing in the Hans Weiss Newspace Gallery at CT State Manchester makes it clear that artist and former Manchester professor Patricia Carrigan is a talented painter.
“FOGAREA: Recent Paintings and Mixed Media Drawings” is hanging in the gallery on the first floor of the Arts, Sciences and Technology building through Oct. 6.
During a reception and gallery talk held in the gallery on Sept. 18, Carrigan explained to attendees that the title of her exhibit comes from a sign she recalled from childhood trips in the car with her family.
“It was a warning sign that fog could form across the road and to proceed with caution through the foggy area until the road becomes clearer,” she said, adding that the meaning of the term “fogarea” for her was tied to the creative process, where art can be difficult to see through at first, but to trust the process and keep moving forward.
During the evening Carrigan, who studied at the University of Connecticut, shared her artistic journey and recent works with the audience. She taught painting at Manchester Community College for more than 20 years until 2022, when she left to pursue her art full time. Her mixed media works are drawn using crayons, oil paint and graphite.
Often working on three to six pieces at a time, Carrigan said, which gives her space to build on her first ideas and explore new ones as she works.
The resulting pieces explore themes of memory, the body and personal experience. Take the painting titled Banshee on My Back, which she described as “a scary, shadowy spirit hovering over you. It represents judgment, self-consciousness, and the burden of depression, where it is both terrifying and difficult to face.”
Another piece in the exhibit, Sad Sitting 1, shows a lone chair in the corner of the room.
“When you sit in the chair, you feel stuck thinking and being unproductive, weighed down by depression, and caught in remembrance,” she said, adding that she hopes viewers will create their own interpretations and conclusions, finding a sense of personal connection in what her art represents.
Renée Hughes, a fellow painter who attended the reception, expressed her admiration for Carrigan’s work.
“I’m a huge admirer. I do painting and am inspired to do art like her,” she said. “She’s able to be vulnerable and share deep, heavy emotions, like her experiences of pain and depression.”
For Ally Leone, a former MCC student from 2012 who once had Carrigan as a professor, the experience felt both familiar and transcendent.
“I love it! Her work is dreamlike and otherworldly,” she said. “It’s like I’m being drawn into the world of familiarity, but also distance.”
Also, at the event, there was a brief tribute to Hans Weiss, an international painter, author, and writer who retired in 2021 died Aug. 5. He supported education for students and dedicated his artworks and vision to the college, so students can learn and transform art into their own creative paths, said Maggie Nowinski, who teaches drawing at Manchester and is the Newspace gallery director and curator.
To learn more about this exhibit and upcoming exhibits visit https://ctstate.edu/art-galleries/#manchester.
The gallery is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m., Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Admission is free and the gallery is open to the public.
To learn more about Carrigan’s work visit http://www.patriciacarriganartist.com/.
For more information about Hans Weiss visit https://www.holmeswatkins.com/obituaries/hans-weiss.
Also now showing in the Adolf and Virginia Dehn Gallery in the corridor outside of the Newspace Gallery is “Remember Me – Photographs and Writing by Linda Till Bradley.” It will be on view until Nov. 12.
The next exhibit that will show in the Newspace Gallery is “paper trail | Topographies” by Alex Callender, Anna Chapman, Amanda Maciuba and Julie Pereira from Oct. 16 to Dec. 1. A reception and artists talk is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 23, from 6-8 p.m.