Loading...
The URL can be used to link to this page
Your browser does not support the video tag.
December 08, 1988 - Winter Brings New Activities
17 II 0V r.�n.<.n.T. In Lenvscnpe Reoo�aGOn A New Insrana,ions Schedule Spring Landscape Planning .. ,..VSeH4sJ Now For Blue Prints ,r-.. 325 -1208 VISIT OUR — - '•�'" fty '�'/ -- SHOWROOM 41 Jgampton s WHOLEVALE it RETAIL COMPLETE PLUMBING & HEATING SUPPLIES - VISIT OUR SHOWROOM OPEN: WEEKDAYS 7:30 AM - 4 :30 PM CLOSED LUNCH 12 -12:30 PM - SAT. 8d2 NOON Montauk Highway., Wainscott 537 -0800 IS ALARMING AMERICA Announcing A New Breakthrough Against Break -ins from AT &T Affordable Alarm Systems for Home /Business As Easy to Use as Your Telephone 160% Financing thru AT &T "Feel The Safety" That an AT &T Security System Can Give You, For A Free Demonstration, Call S.C.A.N. Your Local Authorized AT &T Security Dealer S.C.A.N. Security 537 -7600 Perspectives Paintings and Photos in By Robert Long The Vered Gallery in East Hampton is showing new works by Roy Nicholson, Ellen Frank, and Theodora Gavenchak, as well as photographs by Man Ray, Weegee, and Lu- cas Samaras, and photocollages by Kelsey /Lehr. Roy Nicholson's "Pond" paintings have been changing dramatically with each of his shows over the past few years. Last year's paintings seemed to emphasize structure and included strong, expressionistic brushwork which opened up the landscapes: one saw more depth and more motion in the pictures than before. At the same time, he seemed to be draining the color from his work, as if he were starting the "Pond" series again from scratch, going back to the triggering im- pulse. This time around, color has returned with a vengeance, and the pictures are the best Nicholson has done. Varieties of charged brushwork across the surface lend the pic- tures a presence and immediacy heightened by the artist's strong palette. Each picture uses strong diagonal drawing to throw the nearly square (68 -by -60 -inch) format off the square, and one feels one has been thrust into the landscape, rather than viewing it from afar, through a window, or as an "illustra- tion." The new pictures are extremely dy- namic. Although the brushwork and colors are dramatic, it is smaller, shorter, more agi- tated strokes with a fine brush or occasional inscribing through the paint that lend the pic- tures their nervous lyricism. The pictures are equally compelling as expressionistic re- cords of varieties of weather and light in landscape and as statements about paint. Theodora Gavenchak's mysterious pain- tings contain faceless, primitive - looking fi- gures which stand in line on sections of landscape formed from collaged fabric glued onto the canvas. The collaged portions of the pictures contain bits of paper, repeated images from magazines and books. The pain- tings thus have a nearly sculptural element at their lower borders, and the painted fi- gures which occupy the rest of the canvas look even flatter in comparison.: Ms. Gavenchak's landscape is a nonspecific place in the imagination and perhaps in history; as in Max Ernst, whose curiously detaithed landscapes these works sometimes echo, the figures and topographical features have a haunted, timeless look. "Barring," a 48 -by- 60 -inch work, includes neat rows of dates ripped from an astrology calendar which are glued onto the canvas; across the upside- works —the fact that they were made by a re- down numerals is slashed the word °'Ba- latively young artist in 1987 and 1988 yet are rong" in angry red and black letters. It's as suffused with a nostalgia for antiquity, the if the bottom of the painting were exploding sic transit gloria mundi syndrome —makes from the rest of the canvas, which is other- them at once exciting and disappointing: the wise rather sober - looking. Each of Ms. former because Ms. Frank handles her paint Gavenchak's unusual works has the toQk of so well and has a wonderful eye for line, a hand -made object of art, thanks to t el col t color , and figure placement in space, and the ]aged fabric, which ebnnetts each wolkj o a jatter Because her subject matter seems to folk -art or "primitive" art tradition, >1alher have restricted rather than liberated her than the painterly, hectic Abstract E#pres- abilities. On their own terms these are very sionist mode Mr. Nicholson's works fall into. rewarding pictures but one can't help wish - Ellen Frank's new pictures, mostly made ing Ms. Frank's subjects weren't so circum- with egg tempera on gessued panels, some- scribed. times with mica or gold leaf, combine rich It should be mentioned that these three ar- although occasionally faded - looking color tists make for an inspired installation. Ms. with a smooth surface and an ascetically lyr- Gavenchak's mysterious figure silhouettes in ical line we associate with the art of anti- their quirky, almost surrealist landscapes quity. One sees hints of ancient civilizations oddly complement Ms. Frank's lyrically de- and mythologies public and private not only licate figures and decorative spaces, and Mr. in the imagery but in Ms. Frank's titles Nicholson's elegantly explosive pondscapes, ( "Canthus," "Secret of Absolute," "Avis reaching back as they do to heroic Abstract Cantent," "I know You From Before "). The Expressionism and to post- Impressionism, basic juxtaposition embodied by these somehow take the exhibition one step further, Vered Exhibit "That Bather" is among a selection of Kelsey /Lehr photocollages that can be seen at the Vered Gallery. You Can Almost Fly To New York On The LIRR Santa Claus Special NORTH FORK Going (read down) 7:40 am Lv. 7 50 am Lv. 8.02 am Lv. 8.19 am Lv. 10.25 am Ar Stations Greenport Southold Mattituck Riverhead New York Returning (read up) Ar 9:55 pm Ac 945 pm Ar 932 pm Ar 9 16 pm Lv. 7:15 pm SOUTH FORK Going (read down) 7:30 am Lv. 7.50 am Lv 7.56 am Lv 805 am Lv. 8.11 am Lv. 8.17 am Lv 8:25 am Lv. 8:38 am Lv. 10:15 am Ar THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS / DECEMBER 8, 1988 Stations Montauk Amagansett East Hampton Bridgehampton Southampton Southampton College Hampton Bays Westhampton New York Returning (read up) Ar 10 08 pm Ar 948 pm Ar 9 42 pm Ai 9.33 pm Ar 9 26 pm Ar 920 pm Ar 912 pm Ar 8 59 pm Lv. 6:50 pm SATURDAYS DECEMBER 17, 1988 One day round -trip fare is only $10 Adults $5 Children 5 -11 Lift your holiday spirits! Save time and money by taking the Santa Claus Special to the Big Apple. Adults save $6.50 and children $3.25 off regular round -trip fares. Convenient morning departures from east end LIRR stations. Special group raters and discounts to several New York City attractions are also available. Tickets can be purchased at East Hampton, Southampton and Westhampton stations or on the train. To order tickets in advance by mail, write: LIRR, Dept. 1723, Jamaica, NY 11435. For more information, call 718- 990 -7+-K © Long Island Rail Road into a more urgent realm. In Gallery II at the Vered are a dozen large photocollages by Robin Kelsey and Michael Lehr which reassemble the life -size human figure in a variety of interesting ways. There are three silver prints by Weegee, the great news photographer. These pictures, from around 1950, are three of his mirror - distorted female nudes, works not as well known as his street photos. They are unsett- ling and funny. Lucas Samaras has been experimenting with Polaroid prints for a long time, and two 1976 self- portraits are good examples of his abilities to manipulate the color process in very subtle ways; here the artist appears like a blurred phantom in his own oddly lit and dreamlike apartment. Six Man Ray silver prints include a stun- ning picture of Elsa Schiaparelli and a fine, characteristic double exposure called "Wo- man in Spider Web," which represents what its title suggests. The show runs through December 15. Focus on Nature Winter Brings New Activities By Paul Stoutenburgh I've been watching the afterglow of a De- cember sunset. The leaves have fallen from the oaks in the woods and a cool quietness has taken over the area. To the west there's a reddish - orange glow blending upward to an evening blue sky above. The cardinal sneaks into our feeder outside the window to take his last bit of nourishment before he heads for his favorite roosting spot deep inside the thicket. It's time for the little screech owl to pop out of his hollow lodging in the dead oak nearby. His quiet flight takes him to a lookout along- side the field where mice will soon be forag- ing in their endless pursuit for food. Food is the key to survival and it is the first order of business for all wildlife whether it be owl, mouse or raccoon. I know the raccoon has been about for I saw his fresh handprints at the edge of a muddy puddle just this afternoon. He, too, will be food gathering after dark. There was a time when the raccoon had to watch his step for there were predators of all sorts look- ing for a meal. Today the predators are gone and Mr. Raccoon has free reign to wander at will. Sorry to say his wanderings are be- coming more and more annoying to man's way of life. They are overpopulated and be- coming a real problem, so much so that there are special people licensed by the state of New York for removing nuisance animals such as the raccoon. Yet the raccoon has a few deterrents, one being my dog when he gets a whiff of a raccoon's trail. Then the raccoon had better move out or look for the nearest tree to climb. There's still that old predator instinct in our dog, Hickory, and Mr. Raccoon truly stirs that ancient blood. A more gentle or devoted dog I've never had, but let Mr. Raccoon into his territory and his disposition radically changes. He's my only hope for keeping the masked bandit away from my chickens and garbage pails and he does a pretty good job at that. As some parts of our outside world are pre- paring for winter, others have already set the stage for spring. I moved a pile of leaves into the edge of the woods just recently and found under the wet mat the yellow -green shoots of a Star of Bethlehem. In the spring they will add their white flowers to the parade of blos- soms that herald in the new season. Out in the garden we dug some raspberry plants for a friend and found they too had already started new shoots toward the sur- face, almost as if they wanted to take no chance of not being ready for spring when it arrives. And yet even when the mice run in the fields and the owl glides by on silent wings and the plants have set the stage for spring, some have already gone into winter's deep sleep. Insects, those cold - blooded creatures that lose their mobility when winter's chill takes over, have, for the most part, become dormant. A tarpaulin that my son and I unwrapped to cover his boat displayed this "winter sleep" in a nest of carpenter ants that had taken up lodging in its folds. There they were by the hundreds and perhaps thousands — ants of all sizes, some even with wings. Those are the adventurers who have the job in the spring of flying away to seek out new terri- tories and establish a new colony. All kinds of ants went into making this colony function. All in perfect condition in their perfect en- vironment selected for their winter's sleep. Join The Real Estate Store, Inc. for SANTA DAY Saturday, December 10 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Fun & Prizes for Everyone Ha ve your child's picture taken with Sar The Real Estate Store, Inc. Montauk Hwy., Water Mill 726 -4542 Formerly A Division of Southampton Coal & Produce Co. 0 De Lalio Coal & Stone Co. 224A North Main St. o 283 -0037 r GRADING DRIVEWAYS RESTORING FREE ESTIMATES 3 0 z Supplying Premium Anthracite Coal to the SOUTH FORK 0 w a 0V r.�n.<.n.T. In Lenvscnpe Reoo�aGOn A New Insrana,ions Schedule Spring Landscape Planning .. ,..VSeH4sJ Now For Blue Prints ,r-.. 325 -1208 VISIT OUR — - '•�'" fty '�'/ -- SHOWROOM 41 Jgampton s WHOLEVALE it RETAIL COMPLETE PLUMBING & HEATING SUPPLIES - VISIT OUR SHOWROOM OPEN: WEEKDAYS 7:30 AM - 4 :30 PM CLOSED LUNCH 12 -12:30 PM - SAT. 8d2 NOON Montauk Highway., Wainscott 537 -0800 IS ALARMING AMERICA Announcing A New Breakthrough Against Break -ins from AT &T Affordable Alarm Systems for Home /Business As Easy to Use as Your Telephone 160% Financing thru AT &T "Feel The Safety" That an AT &T Security System Can Give You, For A Free Demonstration, Call S.C.A.N. Your Local Authorized AT &T Security Dealer S.C.A.N. Security 537 -7600 Perspectives Paintings and Photos in By Robert Long The Vered Gallery in East Hampton is showing new works by Roy Nicholson, Ellen Frank, and Theodora Gavenchak, as well as photographs by Man Ray, Weegee, and Lu- cas Samaras, and photocollages by Kelsey /Lehr. Roy Nicholson's "Pond" paintings have been changing dramatically with each of his shows over the past few years. Last year's paintings seemed to emphasize structure and included strong, expressionistic brushwork which opened up the landscapes: one saw more depth and more motion in the pictures than before. At the same time, he seemed to be draining the color from his work, as if he were starting the "Pond" series again from scratch, going back to the triggering im- pulse. This time around, color has returned with a vengeance, and the pictures are the best Nicholson has done. Varieties of charged brushwork across the surface lend the pic- tures a presence and immediacy heightened by the artist's strong palette. Each picture uses strong diagonal drawing to throw the nearly square (68 -by -60 -inch) format off the square, and one feels one has been thrust into the landscape, rather than viewing it from afar, through a window, or as an "illustra- tion." The new pictures are extremely dy- namic. Although the brushwork and colors are dramatic, it is smaller, shorter, more agi- tated strokes with a fine brush or occasional inscribing through the paint that lend the pic- tures their nervous lyricism. The pictures are equally compelling as expressionistic re- cords of varieties of weather and light in landscape and as statements about paint. Theodora Gavenchak's mysterious pain- tings contain faceless, primitive - looking fi- gures which stand in line on sections of landscape formed from collaged fabric glued onto the canvas. The collaged portions of the pictures contain bits of paper, repeated images from magazines and books. The pain- tings thus have a nearly sculptural element at their lower borders, and the painted fi- gures which occupy the rest of the canvas look even flatter in comparison.: Ms. Gavenchak's landscape is a nonspecific place in the imagination and perhaps in history; as in Max Ernst, whose curiously detaithed landscapes these works sometimes echo, the figures and topographical features have a haunted, timeless look. "Barring," a 48 -by- 60 -inch work, includes neat rows of dates ripped from an astrology calendar which are glued onto the canvas; across the upside- works —the fact that they were made by a re- down numerals is slashed the word °'Ba- latively young artist in 1987 and 1988 yet are rong" in angry red and black letters. It's as suffused with a nostalgia for antiquity, the if the bottom of the painting were exploding sic transit gloria mundi syndrome —makes from the rest of the canvas, which is other- them at once exciting and disappointing: the wise rather sober - looking. Each of Ms. former because Ms. Frank handles her paint Gavenchak's unusual works has the toQk of so well and has a wonderful eye for line, a hand -made object of art, thanks to t el col t color , and figure placement in space, and the ]aged fabric, which ebnnetts each wolkj o a jatter Because her subject matter seems to folk -art or "primitive" art tradition, >1alher have restricted rather than liberated her than the painterly, hectic Abstract E#pres- abilities. On their own terms these are very sionist mode Mr. Nicholson's works fall into. rewarding pictures but one can't help wish - Ellen Frank's new pictures, mostly made ing Ms. Frank's subjects weren't so circum- with egg tempera on gessued panels, some- scribed. times with mica or gold leaf, combine rich It should be mentioned that these three ar- although occasionally faded - looking color tists make for an inspired installation. Ms. with a smooth surface and an ascetically lyr- Gavenchak's mysterious figure silhouettes in ical line we associate with the art of anti- their quirky, almost surrealist landscapes quity. One sees hints of ancient civilizations oddly complement Ms. Frank's lyrically de- and mythologies public and private not only licate figures and decorative spaces, and Mr. in the imagery but in Ms. Frank's titles Nicholson's elegantly explosive pondscapes, ( "Canthus," "Secret of Absolute," "Avis reaching back as they do to heroic Abstract Cantent," "I know You From Before "). The Expressionism and to post- Impressionism, basic juxtaposition embodied by these somehow take the exhibition one step further, Vered Exhibit "That Bather" is among a selection of Kelsey /Lehr photocollages that can be seen at the Vered Gallery. You Can Almost Fly To New York On The LIRR Santa Claus Special NORTH FORK Going (read down) 7:40 am Lv. 7 50 am Lv. 8.02 am Lv. 8.19 am Lv. 10.25 am Ar Stations Greenport Southold Mattituck Riverhead New York Returning (read up) Ar 9:55 pm Ac 945 pm Ar 932 pm Ar 9 16 pm Lv. 7:15 pm SOUTH FORK Going (read down) 7:30 am Lv. 7.50 am Lv 7.56 am Lv 805 am Lv. 8.11 am Lv. 8.17 am Lv 8:25 am Lv. 8:38 am Lv. 10:15 am Ar THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS / DECEMBER 8, 1988 Stations Montauk Amagansett East Hampton Bridgehampton Southampton Southampton College Hampton Bays Westhampton New York Returning (read up) Ar 10 08 pm Ar 948 pm Ar 9 42 pm Ai 9.33 pm Ar 9 26 pm Ar 920 pm Ar 912 pm Ar 8 59 pm Lv. 6:50 pm SATURDAYS DECEMBER 17, 1988 One day round -trip fare is only $10 Adults $5 Children 5 -11 Lift your holiday spirits! Save time and money by taking the Santa Claus Special to the Big Apple. Adults save $6.50 and children $3.25 off regular round -trip fares. Convenient morning departures from east end LIRR stations. Special group raters and discounts to several New York City attractions are also available. Tickets can be purchased at East Hampton, Southampton and Westhampton stations or on the train. To order tickets in advance by mail, write: LIRR, Dept. 1723, Jamaica, NY 11435. For more information, call 718- 990 -7+-K © Long Island Rail Road into a more urgent realm. In Gallery II at the Vered are a dozen large photocollages by Robin Kelsey and Michael Lehr which reassemble the life -size human figure in a variety of interesting ways. There are three silver prints by Weegee, the great news photographer. These pictures, from around 1950, are three of his mirror - distorted female nudes, works not as well known as his street photos. They are unsett- ling and funny. Lucas Samaras has been experimenting with Polaroid prints for a long time, and two 1976 self- portraits are good examples of his abilities to manipulate the color process in very subtle ways; here the artist appears like a blurred phantom in his own oddly lit and dreamlike apartment. Six Man Ray silver prints include a stun- ning picture of Elsa Schiaparelli and a fine, characteristic double exposure called "Wo- man in Spider Web," which represents what its title suggests. The show runs through December 15. Focus on Nature Winter Brings New Activities By Paul Stoutenburgh I've been watching the afterglow of a De- cember sunset. The leaves have fallen from the oaks in the woods and a cool quietness has taken over the area. To the west there's a reddish - orange glow blending upward to an evening blue sky above. The cardinal sneaks into our feeder outside the window to take his last bit of nourishment before he heads for his favorite roosting spot deep inside the thicket. It's time for the little screech owl to pop out of his hollow lodging in the dead oak nearby. His quiet flight takes him to a lookout along- side the field where mice will soon be forag- ing in their endless pursuit for food. Food is the key to survival and it is the first order of business for all wildlife whether it be owl, mouse or raccoon. I know the raccoon has been about for I saw his fresh handprints at the edge of a muddy puddle just this afternoon. He, too, will be food gathering after dark. There was a time when the raccoon had to watch his step for there were predators of all sorts look- ing for a meal. Today the predators are gone and Mr. Raccoon has free reign to wander at will. Sorry to say his wanderings are be- coming more and more annoying to man's way of life. They are overpopulated and be- coming a real problem, so much so that there are special people licensed by the state of New York for removing nuisance animals such as the raccoon. Yet the raccoon has a few deterrents, one being my dog when he gets a whiff of a raccoon's trail. Then the raccoon had better move out or look for the nearest tree to climb. There's still that old predator instinct in our dog, Hickory, and Mr. Raccoon truly stirs that ancient blood. A more gentle or devoted dog I've never had, but let Mr. Raccoon into his territory and his disposition radically changes. He's my only hope for keeping the masked bandit away from my chickens and garbage pails and he does a pretty good job at that. As some parts of our outside world are pre- paring for winter, others have already set the stage for spring. I moved a pile of leaves into the edge of the woods just recently and found under the wet mat the yellow -green shoots of a Star of Bethlehem. In the spring they will add their white flowers to the parade of blos- soms that herald in the new season. Out in the garden we dug some raspberry plants for a friend and found they too had already started new shoots toward the sur- face, almost as if they wanted to take no chance of not being ready for spring when it arrives. And yet even when the mice run in the fields and the owl glides by on silent wings and the plants have set the stage for spring, some have already gone into winter's deep sleep. Insects, those cold - blooded creatures that lose their mobility when winter's chill takes over, have, for the most part, become dormant. A tarpaulin that my son and I unwrapped to cover his boat displayed this "winter sleep" in a nest of carpenter ants that had taken up lodging in its folds. There they were by the hundreds and perhaps thousands — ants of all sizes, some even with wings. Those are the adventurers who have the job in the spring of flying away to seek out new terri- tories and establish a new colony. All kinds of ants went into making this colony function. All in perfect condition in their perfect en- vironment selected for their winter's sleep. Join The Real Estate Store, Inc. for SANTA DAY Saturday, December 10 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Fun & Prizes for Everyone Ha ve your child's picture taken with Sar The Real Estate Store, Inc. Montauk Hwy., Water Mill 726 -4542 6• 0 o r 3 0 z 0 w a Fertilizer For INDOOR HOUSE PLANTS 8 -16 -5 Poi lnPorm.tnn, Interscape288- 1598/288 -7864 0V r.�n.<.n.T. In Lenvscnpe Reoo�aGOn A New Insrana,ions Schedule Spring Landscape Planning .. ,..VSeH4sJ Now For Blue Prints ,r-.. 325 -1208 VISIT OUR — - '•�'" fty '�'/ -- SHOWROOM 41 Jgampton s WHOLEVALE it RETAIL COMPLETE PLUMBING & HEATING SUPPLIES - VISIT OUR SHOWROOM OPEN: WEEKDAYS 7:30 AM - 4 :30 PM CLOSED LUNCH 12 -12:30 PM - SAT. 8d2 NOON Montauk Highway., Wainscott 537 -0800 IS ALARMING AMERICA Announcing A New Breakthrough Against Break -ins from AT &T Affordable Alarm Systems for Home /Business As Easy to Use as Your Telephone 160% Financing thru AT &T "Feel The Safety" That an AT &T Security System Can Give You, For A Free Demonstration, Call S.C.A.N. Your Local Authorized AT &T Security Dealer S.C.A.N. Security 537 -7600 Perspectives Paintings and Photos in By Robert Long The Vered Gallery in East Hampton is showing new works by Roy Nicholson, Ellen Frank, and Theodora Gavenchak, as well as photographs by Man Ray, Weegee, and Lu- cas Samaras, and photocollages by Kelsey /Lehr. Roy Nicholson's "Pond" paintings have been changing dramatically with each of his shows over the past few years. Last year's paintings seemed to emphasize structure and included strong, expressionistic brushwork which opened up the landscapes: one saw more depth and more motion in the pictures than before. At the same time, he seemed to be draining the color from his work, as if he were starting the "Pond" series again from scratch, going back to the triggering im- pulse. This time around, color has returned with a vengeance, and the pictures are the best Nicholson has done. Varieties of charged brushwork across the surface lend the pic- tures a presence and immediacy heightened by the artist's strong palette. Each picture uses strong diagonal drawing to throw the nearly square (68 -by -60 -inch) format off the square, and one feels one has been thrust into the landscape, rather than viewing it from afar, through a window, or as an "illustra- tion." The new pictures are extremely dy- namic. Although the brushwork and colors are dramatic, it is smaller, shorter, more agi- tated strokes with a fine brush or occasional inscribing through the paint that lend the pic- tures their nervous lyricism. The pictures are equally compelling as expressionistic re- cords of varieties of weather and light in landscape and as statements about paint. Theodora Gavenchak's mysterious pain- tings contain faceless, primitive - looking fi- gures which stand in line on sections of landscape formed from collaged fabric glued onto the canvas. The collaged portions of the pictures contain bits of paper, repeated images from magazines and books. The pain- tings thus have a nearly sculptural element at their lower borders, and the painted fi- gures which occupy the rest of the canvas look even flatter in comparison.: Ms. Gavenchak's landscape is a nonspecific place in the imagination and perhaps in history; as in Max Ernst, whose curiously detaithed landscapes these works sometimes echo, the figures and topographical features have a haunted, timeless look. "Barring," a 48 -by- 60 -inch work, includes neat rows of dates ripped from an astrology calendar which are glued onto the canvas; across the upside- works —the fact that they were made by a re- down numerals is slashed the word °'Ba- latively young artist in 1987 and 1988 yet are rong" in angry red and black letters. It's as suffused with a nostalgia for antiquity, the if the bottom of the painting were exploding sic transit gloria mundi syndrome —makes from the rest of the canvas, which is other- them at once exciting and disappointing: the wise rather sober - looking. Each of Ms. former because Ms. Frank handles her paint Gavenchak's unusual works has the toQk of so well and has a wonderful eye for line, a hand -made object of art, thanks to t el col t color , and figure placement in space, and the ]aged fabric, which ebnnetts each wolkj o a jatter Because her subject matter seems to folk -art or "primitive" art tradition, >1alher have restricted rather than liberated her than the painterly, hectic Abstract E#pres- abilities. On their own terms these are very sionist mode Mr. Nicholson's works fall into. rewarding pictures but one can't help wish - Ellen Frank's new pictures, mostly made ing Ms. Frank's subjects weren't so circum- with egg tempera on gessued panels, some- scribed. times with mica or gold leaf, combine rich It should be mentioned that these three ar- although occasionally faded - looking color tists make for an inspired installation. Ms. with a smooth surface and an ascetically lyr- Gavenchak's mysterious figure silhouettes in ical line we associate with the art of anti- their quirky, almost surrealist landscapes quity. One sees hints of ancient civilizations oddly complement Ms. Frank's lyrically de- and mythologies public and private not only licate figures and decorative spaces, and Mr. in the imagery but in Ms. Frank's titles Nicholson's elegantly explosive pondscapes, ( "Canthus," "Secret of Absolute," "Avis reaching back as they do to heroic Abstract Cantent," "I know You From Before "). The Expressionism and to post- Impressionism, basic juxtaposition embodied by these somehow take the exhibition one step further, Vered Exhibit "That Bather" is among a selection of Kelsey /Lehr photocollages that can be seen at the Vered Gallery. You Can Almost Fly To New York On The LIRR Santa Claus Special NORTH FORK Going (read down) 7:40 am Lv. 7 50 am Lv. 8.02 am Lv. 8.19 am Lv. 10.25 am Ar Stations Greenport Southold Mattituck Riverhead New York Returning (read up) Ar 9:55 pm Ac 945 pm Ar 932 pm Ar 9 16 pm Lv. 7:15 pm SOUTH FORK Going (read down) 7:30 am Lv. 7.50 am Lv 7.56 am Lv 805 am Lv. 8.11 am Lv. 8.17 am Lv 8:25 am Lv. 8:38 am Lv. 10:15 am Ar THE SOUTHAMPTON PRESS / DECEMBER 8, 1988 Stations Montauk Amagansett East Hampton Bridgehampton Southampton Southampton College Hampton Bays Westhampton New York Returning (read up) Ar 10 08 pm Ar 948 pm Ar 9 42 pm Ai 9.33 pm Ar 9 26 pm Ar 920 pm Ar 912 pm Ar 8 59 pm Lv. 6:50 pm SATURDAYS DECEMBER 17, 1988 One day round -trip fare is only $10 Adults $5 Children 5 -11 Lift your holiday spirits! Save time and money by taking the Santa Claus Special to the Big Apple. Adults save $6.50 and children $3.25 off regular round -trip fares. Convenient morning departures from east end LIRR stations. Special group raters and discounts to several New York City attractions are also available. Tickets can be purchased at East Hampton, Southampton and Westhampton stations or on the train. To order tickets in advance by mail, write: LIRR, Dept. 1723, Jamaica, NY 11435. For more information, call 718- 990 -7+-K © Long Island Rail Road into a more urgent realm. In Gallery II at the Vered are a dozen large photocollages by Robin Kelsey and Michael Lehr which reassemble the life -size human figure in a variety of interesting ways. There are three silver prints by Weegee, the great news photographer. These pictures, from around 1950, are three of his mirror - distorted female nudes, works not as well known as his street photos. They are unsett- ling and funny. Lucas Samaras has been experimenting with Polaroid prints for a long time, and two 1976 self- portraits are good examples of his abilities to manipulate the color process in very subtle ways; here the artist appears like a blurred phantom in his own oddly lit and dreamlike apartment. Six Man Ray silver prints include a stun- ning picture of Elsa Schiaparelli and a fine, characteristic double exposure called "Wo- man in Spider Web," which represents what its title suggests. The show runs through December 15. Focus on Nature Winter Brings New Activities By Paul Stoutenburgh I've been watching the afterglow of a De- cember sunset. The leaves have fallen from the oaks in the woods and a cool quietness has taken over the area. To the west there's a reddish - orange glow blending upward to an evening blue sky above. The cardinal sneaks into our feeder outside the window to take his last bit of nourishment before he heads for his favorite roosting spot deep inside the thicket. It's time for the little screech owl to pop out of his hollow lodging in the dead oak nearby. His quiet flight takes him to a lookout along- side the field where mice will soon be forag- ing in their endless pursuit for food. Food is the key to survival and it is the first order of business for all wildlife whether it be owl, mouse or raccoon. I know the raccoon has been about for I saw his fresh handprints at the edge of a muddy puddle just this afternoon. He, too, will be food gathering after dark. There was a time when the raccoon had to watch his step for there were predators of all sorts look- ing for a meal. Today the predators are gone and Mr. Raccoon has free reign to wander at will. Sorry to say his wanderings are be- coming more and more annoying to man's way of life. They are overpopulated and be- coming a real problem, so much so that there are special people licensed by the state of New York for removing nuisance animals such as the raccoon. Yet the raccoon has a few deterrents, one being my dog when he gets a whiff of a raccoon's trail. Then the raccoon had better move out or look for the nearest tree to climb. There's still that old predator instinct in our dog, Hickory, and Mr. Raccoon truly stirs that ancient blood. A more gentle or devoted dog I've never had, but let Mr. Raccoon into his territory and his disposition radically changes. He's my only hope for keeping the masked bandit away from my chickens and garbage pails and he does a pretty good job at that. As some parts of our outside world are pre- paring for winter, others have already set the stage for spring. I moved a pile of leaves into the edge of the woods just recently and found under the wet mat the yellow -green shoots of a Star of Bethlehem. In the spring they will add their white flowers to the parade of blos- soms that herald in the new season. Out in the garden we dug some raspberry plants for a friend and found they too had already started new shoots toward the sur- face, almost as if they wanted to take no chance of not being ready for spring when it arrives. And yet even when the mice run in the fields and the owl glides by on silent wings and the plants have set the stage for spring, some have already gone into winter's deep sleep. Insects, those cold - blooded creatures that lose their mobility when winter's chill takes over, have, for the most part, become dormant. A tarpaulin that my son and I unwrapped to cover his boat displayed this "winter sleep" in a nest of carpenter ants that had taken up lodging in its folds. There they were by the hundreds and perhaps thousands — ants of all sizes, some even with wings. Those are the adventurers who have the job in the spring of flying away to seek out new terri- tories and establish a new colony. All kinds of ants went into making this colony function. All in perfect condition in their perfect en- vironment selected for their winter's sleep. Join The Real Estate Store, Inc. for SANTA DAY Saturday, December 10 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Fun & Prizes for Everyone Ha ve your child's picture taken with Sar The Real Estate Store, Inc. Montauk Hwy., Water Mill 726 -4542