Riverdale artists showcase creative influences in ‘Inspired by the Arts’ exhibition

The Riverdale Art Association joined the Riverdale Temple and the Women of Reform Judaism in putting together “Inspired by the Arts,” an exhibition featuring 33 works from 20 artists.

At the helm of the show’s curation was Judy Zucker, the association’s exhibit chair. She noted the exhibit’s diverse range of mediums — photography, oil painting, pastels, water color, collaging — each with a common thread of being influenced by another visual or musical artist. Zucker also featured her own on-theme works at the exhibit, called “Still Life Inspired by Matisse” and “Irises Inspired by Van Gogh,” both made with oil paints.

Susan Chavez, president of the association and a multimedia artist, also had two pieces showing. “Blaze of Color,” is a mixed media piece, and “Falkirk Estate” was made with acrylic paints. Chavez said the exhibit was made to show the diversity of interpretation.

“As you view ‘Inspired by the Arts,’ you’ll observe a broad range of media and representations of the theme,” Chavez said.

The Riverdale Temple hosted the exhibit’s opening reception June 10 in its ballroom, where dozens gathered to view the pieces and hear some of the artists’ stories.

David Dixon, moved by jazz music

David Dixon is a former U.S. Coast Guard who returned to the visual arts after retirement and now works with mixed media to create drawings, portraits and abstract designs, often inspired by the flow of jazz music.

In “Jazzman,” Dixon said he photographed a man who was playing the trumpet at the annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival. Dixon layered the photograph with one of his abstract paintings — which was also layered, and rich in reds, purples and yellows — to create “almost three different pictures combined into one,” he said at the opening reception.

Dixon told The Press that in his other works, he draws from the idea of synesthesia, a neurological trait where sounds trigger colors. Though he does not have the trait himself, he draws from it during his process.

“I listen to music — one song over and over and over again — and try to paint what it makes me feel in that moment,” he said. 

The born-and-raised Bronxite said when he was creating “Jazzman,” he listened to Wes Montgomery’s “Bumpin’ on Sunset.”

In his oil portraits, the subject is often a jazz artist performing, or a recreation of unique characters he meets in his travels. Dixon referenced one trip to Senegal, Africa, where he painted an outgoing woman who was a vendor. Called “Senegalese Beauty,” it shows her laughing, draped in deep blue clothes and a vibrant yellow scarf.

He also created textile pieces that aim to tell a story. In one series, called “Heritage,” he said he combined materials such as a Malian mud cloth, rice, cowrie shells and other materials to tell “a story of heritage of African Americans in the diaspora.”

“I hope people take away a feeling — that’s what I try to create,” Dixon said.

Franklin Londin, 3D photographer and animator

Franklin Londin is a photographer and animator who works to make things appear three dimensional. He has worked on films for 25 years, including “Titanic” and “Spiderman 2,” but also enjoys shooting underwater portraits, according to his website.

For his two featured pieces, “SuzEQ_1” and “SuzEQ_2,” Londin  drew from the arts of dance and fashion. The photographs show an image of a Los Angeles-based choreographer that Londin admired, lifting a unique garment that resembled a hoop dress, Londin said at the reception.

“It was amazing to see her pick up this unwieldy piece of wire and mesh and fabric and negotiate it, and just dance with it,” Londin recalled. “I asked her to jump in the air with it, and she gathered it up and somehow made it look elegant.”

Looking closely, viewers of the piece can see there are red and blue lines that trace the woman’s shape, making the image appear three-dimensional when a viewer puts on glasses provided by Londin.

Ruth Licht, using clay to imitate Van Gogh

Based on Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” painting, Ruth Licht created her own interpretation using a sculptural technique called bas-relief. Licht used a grapefruit knife to mold clay against a wood board in the shape of sunflowers sprouting from a vase, called “Sunflowers a la Van Gogh,” she said at the opening reception.

The process itself is a very slow one, Licht explained. It consists of adding the clay, pulling it away, waiting a month for it to dry out, painting it. But, after quite a while, “something appears,” Licht told The Press.

The longtime Riverdalian got her start about 20 years ago, studying under another artist in the Whitehall apartment building.

“There’s something wonderful about working with the clay, the tactile part of it, it’s kind of meditative at the same time,” Licht said. “At the end, what you have is very special.”

Aside from her bas-relief pieces, Licht works in acrylic and watercolor, and enjoys drawing flowers and landscapes.

Licht said she hopes her work uplifts people, the way seeing a flower drawing on a cold, winter day might.

Maria Formoso, watercolor inspired by Ben & Jerry’s ice cream

Maria Formoso, who mostly works in watercolor, pastel and graphite, said one of her two featured pieces was inspired by a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream poster. The piece, called “Sunny Cows,” shows what look like cows — the Ben & Jerry’s mascot — with a vibrant background of red, yellow, orange and pink shapes.

Formoso, who was born in Cuba and moved to Riverdale in 1997, said “Sunny Cows” differs from her other works, as she typically draws flowers, leaves and seashells. Others might not see a poster as art, but someone put work into the Ben & Jerry’s design, Formoso said.

About 30 years ago, Formoso took an oil painting class at the Riverdale Y, and said she felt encouraged by the way the teacher complimented her work. Formoso continued taking classes over the year, ranging from portrait to still life, and said she learned to “not think too much.”

“I like spontaneity,” Formoso said. “I like to just let it flow, and let it be without perfectionism … I don’t like technicalities, I like expression.”