Koussevitzky Art Gallery

Sometimes I look at objects and think that if they are really composed of energy, that my seeing them as objects must be an illusion. From this 'quantum' viewpoint objects seem to be abstract creations and really special.

My new still life work is part of a series called 'Reflections.' Upon looking at my paintings, it is helpful for the viewer to disassociate himself or herself from preconceived prejudices of objects and view each painting as a fantasy environment of shapes and light, and of course reflections. The challenge is to view realistically painted objects in this free form or abstract manner.  Also, any narrative theme thought to be part of the subject matter is welcome, but not necessarily intended by me. The paintings are like a Rorschach test, the viewer will interpret whatever reality that they wish to experience in the paintings.

The use of mirrors helps dissolve surfaces or planes and create a more complex dimensional space. The metallic surfaces, whether curved or straight, provide more concrete distortion effects. There is also the element of the intrigue of shiny metal surfaces.

I conceive of fabric as a connective sheath in space time, or as a veil between worlds. Fabric has its own reflective qualities. It is a malleable surface for ephemeral expression.

The geometric shapes in my work are everyday objects. These shapes are building blocks in space. There is also beauty to geometric objects when thought of as the basic components of matter.

Sometimes I think of hanging objects like circular mirrors, metal spheres and blown glass spheres as living orbs of light. They have spiritual aspects and are free of gravity.  Hanging ribbons are dramatic devices to draw the viewers line of sight to the foreground objects. An occasional floating fish or a sphere can induce dissonance and intrigue in the viewer. The various poses of the wooden marionette or other mannequins represent the depersonalization of modern man in relation to the natural world. I also use biomorphic shapes that are generally taken out of their natural context. They represent anchors to the natural world.

I began painting a new series of Cosmic Figure paintings to fully consider how the human form fits into my artistic vision. These paintings can be seen as Imaginary Realism in style, and spiritually inspired.

The figure is seen in new galactic worlds, often with plastic draped foregrounds, replete with a few enticing objects, such as coke cans, orb balls, maybe a painted skull, etc. This ever-present plastic is hauntingly beautiful as well as a reminder of our troubled environment.

The notion of Identity is explored as fluid and relational and connected to the larger forces of the universe.

These figures may be portraits of time travelers. I seek to engage the viewer to perhaps place themselves in these environments, and dare to dream beyond their present reality. I would like to even imagine humanity at the birth of a new consciousness.  The viewer is invited to consider their place within this expanded field.

These figures often have a mythic archetype context as represented by the cyclic phases of growth: ascension, contemplation, dreaming and initiation.

Artist Biography

Karen Bognar Khan was born and raised in a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. By the time she was in fifth grade she decided to pursue art as a profession. This pursuit led her to Carnegie Mellon University where she studied painting and sculpture, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1980. From Carnegie Mellon University she developed her skills in abstract painting and sculpture. After graduating she moved to NYC and found her true direction which can only be describe as fusion of real and surreal styles.

She studied illustration at The Parsons School of Design, and pursued work as a free lance illustrator. Because of her newfound interests in the academic and naturalist traditions of classical art, it became necessary for her to pursue figurative studies at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art.  She moved to Philadelphia, PA.  The organized, intense and concise training of The Pennsylvania Academy provided Karen with a deep understanding of anatomy and figurative painting. While in Philadelphia she was represented by the Goforth Rittenhouse Gallery.

In 1990 she returned home to Pittsburgh, PA. Karen's work was represented by the Mendelson Gallery, Pgh. She founded a company called Universal Murals that produced residential and commercial murals and advertising art until 2000.  This work was lucrative but left her with little time for fine art. In 2002 Karen married and decided to devote her time to fine arts painting.

She was drawn to still life painting from the viewpoint of setting up a private world to spend time dwelling in, what could be a close-up landscape. The work developed until 2016, when she broke away from classical still life themes and started developing her current style of "Abstract Realism."

Karen and her husband currently live at the famous "Blue Heaven Farm” in Massachusetts, where she displays her art.  She also shows at The Welles Gallery, Lenox, MA, The Art Walk, Pittsfield, MA and other Berkshire venues.

Throughout her life Karen has done numerous commissions. Additionally, she sells affordable custom prints of her prints at www.artaddictprints.com. She is a member of IGOR (the International Guild of Realism) and is featured on Galphia, an online gathering area for original art.

You are magick!

Creative Sorceress Mollie Kellogg conjures a magickal world through fine art, film, music and theater. Her award-winning Incognito Witch® Project celebrates hidden magick. Magical realism and themes of inner magick and healing run through both her figurative paintings and films.

Mollie grew up in Arizona and attended the Colorado Institute of Art in Denver. Mollie returned to Arizona where she worked as an art/creative director and illustrator and co-founded Planet Earth Theater Gallery. After living in Washington and California for a time, Mollie relocated to the Berkshires in 2021 with her husband, writer/photographer/mystic T. Collins Logan, settling in Dalton. Mollie's studio is in the Clocktower Building in Pittsfield, MA where she continues her multidisciplinary practice.

Mollie's fine art has sold internationally, and she has presented her "inner magick" message at artist talks in New York, California, and Arizona. Kellogg's short musical films, with characters inspired by her paintings, have screened at festivals internationally. Her play Incognito Witch the Musical debuted in Becket, MA in 2025.

About the Show

Paintings in this exhibit, "Portraits of Magickal Beings," are a combination of "inner portraits" from Kellogg's long-running Incognito Witch Project, and nudes from the Figurative Magical Realism series. Mollie's Incognito Witch works reveal the subject's hidden psyche, suppressed to meet society's expectations. Mortals become magickal beings adorned with jewels/nature elements, messy lipstick, and a signature flash of color under the eyes. In both series, universal connections are symbolized in stars or sparklies, and dream-like metallics. Figures evoke a Mother Nature archetype of power, strength, attraction, empathy, pain, yearning, and vulnerability.

The works herein are a combination of two collexions composed over the course of 2025. Beginning in January with ';the Winter Portraits' and concluding in December with the ';London Collexion', a prolific year celebrates a return to painting. Since Covid the length of my werke haes been in expressions through slate and natural materials. Long had I convinced myself that my talents lay not in paint. However, within 2025, I attempted to unlearn what I had been taught that painting should be and came to reclaim it through scrapes of paint and palette knife. Now with newfound confidence and the support of respected artists I am pleased to exhibit the werkes chosen within.

The Self-Portraits in Winter explore expression and identity in a nearly lost art form, now overtaken in this New Modernity by the diminishing 'selfie'.

The ';London Collexion' draws inspirit from adventures in London and photographs there taken. They are inspired by largely unremarkable images re-experienced through oil and canvas.

This exhibition marks an odd and welcome turning point in my werke. It is good to paint agayne, this tyme free from perceived and learned limitations.

Artist Biography

Autumn Ni Dubhghaill is an artist living and working in the beautiful Berkshires. Her works have been exhibited from Pittsfield, MA, to London, UK, mainland Europe, and many places in between. A multi-media artist, Autumn's work encompasses photography, painting, installation, sculpture, sound, performance, and so much more. She is also the mastermind behind her musical expression, Forever Autumn, to which she has performed far and wide, and her music has gained fans and followers the world over.

Kate Hamilton is a sculptor based in the mid-Hudson Valley. Her practice explores the architecture, experience and nature of garments. The scale of her work ranges from palm-sized to room-sized.

Hamilton's kinetic sculpture has been installed in museums, galleries and alternative spaces (including aloft at the Albany International Airport and underground in the Widow Jane Mine, Rosendale, NY).

In spring 2022, her sculpture installation in Zurich was the backdrop for a concert focused on gender questions and Homer's Odyssey ('He says, She is ....Is she?').

Hamilton's background as a designer, milliner and educator influences her sculptural work. Her costumes, sets and sculptures have been installed in art performances, festivals, operas, and concerts in various places including New York, Berlin, Canada, and Zurich.