Third Annual ART10573 Exhibit at Crawford Park Oct. 12

The Port Chester Council for the Arts presents the third annual ART10573, featuring the work of professional artists connected to Port Chester and Rye Brook. This fine art exhibition will take place October 12 at Crawford Park Mansion, 122 N. Ridge Street, Rye Brook, N.Y., from 12-5 PM. Admission is free and open to the public.

Almost a dozen artists will present work in a variety of media, including watercolor, oil, acrylic, photography, scratch art, charcoal and mixed media. Each artist has some tie to one of the two Rye Town communities, having lived, worked or volunteered in either of the villages.  

The displaying artists include Port Chester residents Vincent Bell, April Dessereau, Brigitte Loritz, Iris Orlovitz, Chet Risio, Christine Morgan Teter and Robert Weinberg; and Greenwich, Conn. residents, Victoria Caputo, Carole Nelson and Steve Pica.

Joan Morenstein, Donna Cribari and Edward Kliszus will provide musical accompaniment throughout the day.

An hourly raffle will feature small pieces donated by each artist, with proceeds going to the scholarship fund for the summer Arts Camp sponsored by the Port Chester Council for the Arts. 

 For more information, call the Council office at 914-939-3183, or visit the PCCFA’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/PCCFA.Inc.

The Artists:

Watercolorist Brigitte Loritz was born and educated in Switzerland and studied at the Kunstgewerbe Schule in Zurich and the Parsons School of Design in New York City. She calls her style “semi-impressionistic.” “Watercolor opens a door to endless possibilities. The so-called ‘lucky accidents’ combined with planned compositions are always challenging for me.”

Academy Award-nominated Vincent Bell is a lifelong animator, illustrator and designer who began his career drawing such memorable characters as Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle and Gandy Goose. As a commercial animator, he brought his talents to the Cheerios Bumble Bee, the Michelin Man and the Campbell Soup kids. 

Chet Risio’s career as a pen and ink artist began with the pulp magazines of the 1940s. After a two-year stint in the Army where he was designated an illustrator, he came back home to find these magazines folding. His talents as a detailed illustrator led to work in retouching photos in an art studio, which he later owned. He now works in acrylics and charcoal.

April Dessereau has worked extensively in pencil, ink, watercolor, oil, printmaking, photography and art quilts. She attended the Corcoran School of Art, and received a BA in Art from SUNY Oswego and an MS in Art Education from the University of Bridgeport. She is an art teacher at Port Chester High School.

 Award-winning artist Christine Morgan Teter creates her watercolors by choosing subject matter that is both easily recognizable and radiates peacefulness. She began her career as a designer and layout artist in book publishing, becoming a full-time artist in 2010, focusing on watercolors and scratch drawings.

Photographer Robert Weinberg was the founder of the Byram River Arts Festival in Port Chester. His photos are in corporate and private collections and his work has appeared in juried exhibitions throughout Westchester and Fairfield counties.

 Carole Nelson is a watercolorist who fell in love with the spontaneity, transparency and surprises of the medium. Her emphasis is on color and transparency and her style is impressionistic and loose. She has exhibited and won juried shows in Westchester and Fairfield counties as well as in California.

Steve Pica spent the better part of his career as an illustrator, working in traditional and digital media. He recently returned to one of his first interests, painting. His current work includes a series of landscapes and still lifes, using his illustration skills and combining them with a more fine art approach.

 Iris Orlovitz has worked in all art forms, including printmaking, sculpture and stained glass, which all led to her current medium, photography. Her previous work had trained her eye to color, shape, space and design. Photography allows her to create the pictures she could never paint. 

Eighteen-year-old Victoria Caputo is the youngest artist in this year’s show. She works in mixed media, with a focus on melted crayon. Her creations are made on canvas using crayons, a hairdryer, glue and sometimes paint or charcoal.

Founded in 1981, the Port Chester Council for the Arts is committed to providing high-quality, innovative programs that build and encourage cooperation and community through artistic experience, and inspiring an appreciation of creative expression and new ways of thinking. To learn more, visit www.portchestercfa.org.