Common Sensibilities featuring core artists Brenda Cirioni and Leslie Zelamsky opens November 15th with an artist reception Saturday, November 18th, from 3-6pm, and a First Friday reception December 1st from 6-9pm. The artists talk about the exhibition's theme, process, and concept below.

For Brenda, the theme of Common Sensibilities centers on architectural references regarding home and stability. For Leslie, it explores commonalities between her sculptures and paintings; merging the visual, aesthetic, and societal concepts previously explored in both mediums, into cohesive visual expression.

The concepts that Leslie explores in her work include architecture, boundaries, inclusion, intuition, isolation, layering, separation, politics, physicality, social issues, solidity, space, stability and strength.

Brenda talks about Concept: "This work began in 2011 after I participated in a regression meditation and came face to face with my father. Dad had burned down our house for insurance money when I was sixteen. I was able to release rage that I hadn’t known existed in my body for forty years. The regressive meditation experience was one of the most powerful physical and emotional experiences of my life. When I returned to the studio I painted a burning house, and another and another. There was a house/barn and a fire in every painting for several years, over time the flame died out."

Brenda Cirioni work in process — *Brenda Cirioni* work in process

Brenda continues: "My latest paintings are about structural stability, internal stability and being grounded.I think about the importance of having a safe and secure home, physically and emotionally. How home impacts us all as children and we carry the impact, for ill or good throughout our lives."

Leslie Zelamsky Studio Shot: Leslie: "My Process- drawing, gluing, grinding, intuitive, nailing, layering, painting, removing, sanding, scraping, stacking, painting"

Leslie Zelamsky: Dwelling VI in its initial stages

Brenda on Process: "I love looking for treasure, by treasure I mean beat up, stained corrugated cardboard, fabric with glittering threads, candy bar wrappers, crushed cans, rusted metal, paper, paint skins etc. These scraps become pieces of a puzzle. It’s as if I’m making a jigsaw puzzle and have no picture to follow, I don’t even know what the picture is of!"

Brenda Cirioni Studio Shot — *Brenda Cirioni* Studio Shot

"The joy (and challenge) is figuring it out, finding a crucial piece that makes everything snap into place. Of course, each piece is a crucial piece, which makes for a slow process! I use birch panels - a hard surface allows me to nail and screw into the painting when the need arises. My first decision is the location and viewpoint for the structure. Then I draw, paint, and start building with various materials. I build and glue, build and glue, rip it off, try something else until the puzzle is solved."

Brenda Cirioni detail of work in process — *Brenda Cirioni* detail of work in process