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Corners Gallery exhibits shows by local artists Rachel Dickinson and Lin Price

By Arthur Whitman

Corners Gallery in Cayuga Heights continues its program of ambitious, far-ranging exhibits. On view for a little longer (through April 15) are two one-woman shows: “Recent Paintings + Stitchery by Rachel Dickinson” and “From Life: Paintings by Lin Price.” Both artists are based near Ithaca and both are familiar faces at the gallery.

Dickinson, better known for her non ction writing, is new to the visual arts. Last year at Corners saw her debut exhibition of paintings. Painted in oil on small panels and hung Salon style, her “Dwellings” explored domestic everydayness in a time some of us have experienced as a forced but perhaps not entirely unwelcome isolation. Inspired by the work of the great American painter Fair eld Porter, Dickinson’s paintings are endearing, albeit sometimes awkward. ere are a few — too few — of her recent small paintings here. Most compelling is “Lightkeeper’s House, Monhegan” which convincingly portrays the light and shadow on the side of a quaint seaside home.

In keeping with Corners’ eclectic spirit, the focus of “Recent” is on a very di erent body of work. Featuring embroidered designs on linen mounted to small panels, Dickinson’s stitchery combines a domestic, twee sensibility with surreal imagery. Featuring doodly hand-stitched lines and appliquéd fabric scraps in subdued colors against white kerchief-like rectangles, these aim for a quiet but distinctly contemporary subversion of traditionally feminine handicra .

Echoing the presentation of her paintings last year, an irregularly hung wall Continued on Page 19

o ers numerous variations. Free explorations of line, texture, and decorative motifs merge with a distinctive personal iconography: marine animals, spiders and insects, owers, leaves and what look like fungal or microbial forms. ree larger, upright pieces on silk, hand-dyed by a friend of the artist, are Dickinson’s most engrossing pieces here, giving her space to stretch out her imaginings. “What World is is” is particularly rich, with its mottled brown on white backdrop and its fancifully animated topography: part map, part aquarium. Price, by contrast, is a painter with decades of experience. She is a retired instructor — and former art student — at Ithaca College. In her oil on canvas paintings she aims to juxtapose a quotidian realism, often inspired by her rural Danby home, with color and painterly mannerisms derived from abstract painting. ere is an undeniable wit and charm to this con ation — the puns and slippages that “Cork,” by painter Lin Price. (Photo: Provided) she creates between these two seemingly incompatible modes. One sometimes wishes she’d push her talents and focus more in one direction or the other. It’s a di cult game to play — one that partisans of abstraction and realism alike may nd principled reasons to distrust. Abstract painting characteristically orients itself towards atness and frontality, while realism generally aims to create a dimensional world that one could imagine stepping into. Typically, Price portrays human or animal gures, o en adopted from her own life, as unwitting explorers of this terra