“Confluence: Craft and Art”

Paintings and drawings by the artist Nicole Alger

and works by wood turner Charlie Jackson 

Nicole Alger is drawn to the ancient practices of culture building and human meaning-making through ritual. For millennia, the rituals that mark the passage of human life were the very threads of our culture. In her figurative work Nicole shows women engaged in ritual-making as an integral part of life. Her intent is to trigger memory and stir longing for such practices.

Nicole believes it is an honor to show alongside master wood turner, Charlie Jackson, a man who understands the nature of wood itself and creates art through his craft. She has included five small works in the show featuring his hands at work.

Charles Jackson started his deep connection with trees and wood as a State of Connecticut licensed Arborist while still in undergraduate studies at the University of Bridgeport. Now retired, Mr. Jackson still owns a small scale sawmill and collects wood from line clearing and construction sites. Furniture making as an art form began in 2007 and Mr. Jackson has a bench in the permanent collection of the New Britain Museum of American Art. Bowl making became an obsession during the pandemic and the upcoming show will be the first time his turning work is offered for sale to the public.

His goal in wood turning and furniture is to find a graphic in the wood and place it in harmony with the design of the piece. A successful ensemble of the two can invite the viewer into a place of awareness and wonder. Wood is a medium that is inherently connected to nature with the grain representing both structure and time. The patterns of color tell a story of growth and struggle; hardship and triumph. He hopes that his work provides a path, to the celebration of the wood, a connection to the New England forest, and the amazing gift of being alive on this earth.

Mr. Jackson is delighted to show with Nicole Alger. He is in awe of her ability to take a blank canvas and create a view into a captured world that has both beauty and meaning. Her paintings give the viewer a sense of something behind the surface of the canvas. Her images connect into the roots of our humanity and our connection to nature.