The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE — “In a Magical Garden: Paintings By Norman Aberle, Dolls and Teddies from Local Collectors,” the 2018 Christmas show, has opened at the Alleghany Highlands Arts and Crafts Center in Clifton Forge.
Admission to the exhibit is free, and the exhibit will continue through Dec. 27.
The center, located at 439 E. Ridgeway Street in Clif-ton Forge, is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and on Sundays from 1-4 p.m.
Norman Aberle’s paintings of area creeks and overgrowth form a perfect imaginary garden for the dolls. They’re lush, full of light and more than a bit mysterious. Whether his setting is Pine Street, Smith Creek or Loop Street, they remind of the places we often pass by without noticing.
Now a resident of Clifton Forge, Aberle was born in in Los Angeles, where his artist-grandmother painted and shared her paints with him, encouraging and guiding his early effort.
Aberle began oil painting at the age of six. He graduated from Glastonbury High School in Connecticut and his first large mural still hangs in the school staircase. He received a bachelor of fine arts from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., and since then has applied his training in many ways.
Graphic design and illustration, book design and exhibiting in working in galleries eventually led to a position as curator of a group of museums for the Key West Art and History Society.
Creating murals, exhibit design and installation focused on the interpretation of local art and history became a passion for Aberle. It was reflected in shows such as Henry Flagler’s Railroad and Mario San-chez, both noted artists. Aberle also regularly exhibits his work in two galleries in Key West.
His paintings can be found in collections in California, Florida, Virginia, Connecticut and Europe
Upon his retirement from KWAS, he moved to the Highlands and became intrigued by the regional identity and individual aspirations of its people.
“The arts are among the ways we share our sense of what is important to us,”?he said. “Regional traditions give a sense of place and the arts provide a set of skills to share our experiences.”
“These paintings that create the magical garden for the dolls and bears are indeed local scenes, but Aberle’s play of light and color help us put them into a separate space that is familiar and yet feels a bit special,” says AHACC Director Nancy Newhard. “His use of light and color is quiet and restful, yet energetic. It truly pulls all the various styles of dolls and bears into a single, very special world and encourages our imagination to roam freely,”
The other portion of the exhibit includes almost 100 dolls and 26 bears from 15 local collectors.
“Residents have been very gracious and these are just a drop in the bucket of what is out there,” said Newhard. “We ran out of space and display equipment long before we ran out of treasures We’d had such fun learning about everyone’s treasures.”
The dolls and teddies settled into two main groups — those that have been played with when the owners were small, then cherished and kept as reminders of childhood, and those that have been collected as adults who a wide range of other reasons.
Dolls and teddy bears are something almost everyone has enjoyed as a child. Whether a baby doll or a fuzzy bear, there are plenty of familiar characters to be found in the exhibit.
