by Bernard Re, Jr. and Joey Sage Jablonski
Saturday, September 19, 2009 through Sunday, November 1, 2009
Opening reception Sat., Sept. 26, 5-9 pm.
Old Stone Store Gallery
Route 7, Main Street, Sheffield, MA
Hours Sat 10-2 and Sun 11-3.
Call 860-933-1101 for additional hours.
Using clay from Sheffield Pottery, Bernard Re, Jr. and Joey Sage Jablonski,
abstract painter and artisan potter from Canaan, CT, create a dialogue between the
media and their journeys through Bartholomew’s Cobble. The result is a series of
drawings and functional pottery surfaces with painterly glazing and a large-scale
wall installation 11 feet in length. The installation bridges the space between the
abstract and the functional as they express the river and the landscape of the
Cobble.
Society. Using clay that was mined in Sheffield by Sheffield Pottery Supp;y, Bernard Re, Jr.
and Joey Sage Jablonski, abstract painter and artisan potter from Canaan, CT, will create a
dialogue between the media and their experience of Bartholomew’s Cobble. The exhibit will
run Saturday, September 19 through Sunday, November 1, 2009. There will be a wine and
dessert reception in the Gallery at the Old Stone Store on Saturday, September 26, from 5-
9 pm.
The exhibit includes a series of drawings and functional pottery surfaces with painterly
glazes, the highlight of which is a large-scale wall composition. The installation seeks to
bridge the space between the abstract and the functional as the artists express the river
and the landscape of the Cobble. The natural history and ecology of the site will be also
explored as it relates to the Housatonic heritage area and artists’ work.
Mr. Re believes that, "our lives are made up of things we can control and those we
cannot." His abstract paintings, which he describes as "expressions formed by purposeful
and random actions" reflect this philosophy. Bernie has recently created a series of these
paintings using locally found natural pigments during a visit to Cape Breton, NS. The
exhibit at the Old Stone Store will include some paintings on canvas using local natural
pigments found along the roadsides of Sheffield.
Following his Sicilian roots where the tradition is to paint on pottery just as if it were a
canvas, Bernie often collaborates with his partner, Joey Jablonski, who makes the pots, to
which to he then applies his abstract glazes. Joey operates Funkware Pottery Studio in
Canaan, CT where she creates one of a kind sculptural and functional stoneware pottery
and where she gives wheel thrown pottery lessons. Her sculptural work called “Embrace”
was juried into the Slater Museum’s Annual Exhibition this year in Norwich, CT.
The artists have been collaborating to create work that physically bends the rules of the flat
surface by blending Joey's ceramic sculptural elements with Bernie's glazing on the ceramic
surfaces. Imaging Bartholomew's Cobble will be the fourth collaborative series between the
artists. One of the first works was called Mysterious Angel and another was a series, Under
the Mistletoe, inspired by the balls of Mistletoe they saw in the trees in eastern Poland.
More of their work can be viewed at www.globalhome.com and www.funkwarepottery.com.
The artists are inspired by the rural area of the Berkshires and the Litchfield hills where
they live overlooking serene pastures on the top of a hill. "In my work, I celebrate feelings
about nature, feelings about art, and feelings about playfulness" says Joey, " but it is
through the functional pieces that can be used every day that most embody my feelings
about life." Bernie Re and Joey Jablonski are creating beauty out of everyday things and
making it accessible to all.
The exhibit has stimulated new interest in Bartholomew's Cobble as the Trustees of
Reservations consider alternative ways to render their field guide. A guided walking tour
evolved from a series of walks and talks which the artists held with Trustee’s naturalist
Rene Wendell and Trustee’s educator Tammis Coffin. The tour, called "Poetry, Pottery &
Place," explores the unique landscape of the Cobble from artistic, literary, and ecological
perspectives. It will be offered this fall as part of Housatonic Heritage Walks Weekend on
Saturday, October 3, 2:30 pm.
For more information about Society exhibits, please contact the Sheffield Historical Society
at (413) 229-2694 or visit us on the web at www.sheffieldhistory.org. The Gallery at
the Old Stone Store is open weekends, Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Sundays, 11 a.m.
to 3 p.m. with extended hours on Columbus Day Weekend. If unfamiliar with Sheffield and
its environs, the Old Stone Store is the distinctive mottled stone building located on the
town Green, immediately south of the Mobil station. For off hours viewing, call Bernie or
Joey at (860) 933-1101 to make arrangements.
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The Sheffield Historical Society is a non-profit organization that seeks to promote a wider
understanding of the people and events that preceded us in this area, and to preserve and
transmit that heritage to current and future generations.
For further information on Society programs, contact the Sheffield Historical Society, 159-
161 Main Street, P.O. Box 747, Sheffield, MA 01257, (413) 229-269, or visit us on the web
at www.sheffieldhistory.org