Bruce S. Kershner Art Gallery Reception

The Bruce S. Kershner Art Gallery Committee invites the public to attend an opening reception for its current exhibit, "Shades of Abstraction," from 5:30-7:30pm in the Kershner Gallery at Main Library.  The exhibit features the work of J. Neil Bittner and Michael Brennecke; the artists will speak at the reception at 6:00pm.  "Shades of Abstraction" can be viewed from August 26 to October 21 during regular Library hours.

J. Neil Bittner has degrees in industrial design, art education, painting and printmaking, and has also studied color photography and graphic design.  About his art, Neil states "I believe an artist should take risks [and] exceed people's expectations...In my work I tell a story, create a moment to change people's thoughts and to cause a full spectrum of reactions, [be they] pleasant or disturbing.  The artist should push the envelope, believe in something, change the world."

Michael Brennecke attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and received a BFA from Tufts. He worked briefly as a teacher in Newton, Mass., then in advertising, and now paints full time.  Michael's work has been shown at the Silvermine Gallery, The Ridgefield Guild, the Rowayton Art Center and the Artists Collective in Westport.  He has had solo shows at the Keyes Gallery in Stony Creek and at the Westport Public Library.  Michael says, "My work is abstracted from impressions of nature--geological, vegetative and figurative...I experiment and push the properties of oil paint to emulate the seeming accidents and intricacies of the natural world...I like the fact that people have different perceptions of what they see in my paintings."