Couple’s art quilts and sculptures to share the same space at Broadway Art Center
A lot of couples come together over their love of one simple thing, like music, literature or the outdoors. Stan and Mary Reich of Delmar have both spent much of their lives devoted to art and the aesthetic, but they never took their passions into the public sphere togetheruntil now.
While the two often retire to their respective home studios to create artMary upstairs to sew artistic quilts, Stan to the basement to sculpt`this May, their works will be on display together in downtown Albany for their first full-fledged joint exhibition.
The show `Art Quilts and Sculptures` will feature about 25 works from the couple, who will celebrate their 60th anniversary this summer. Despite both having artistic inclinations, it wasn’t until recently they decided to bring the two elements together appreciating each other’s work in their own home.
`She has one art quilt hanging on the wall right behind a sculpture and the two of them blended so beautifully,` said Stan Reich. `I think that’s what inspired us to do the show.`
Mary Reich recently closed a quilt show at the First Unitarian Church in Albany that featured a number of her husband’s sculptures interspersed. This will be the first time their work has been placed together in such numbers, though, and Mary thinks the result will be favorable even though they didn’t collaborate in creating the art.
`They really look great together,` Mary Reich said. `The colors of the sculptures go very often with the orangey tones I use with a lot of my works.`
Mary’s quilts are not what you lay out on the guest beds. Her art quilts experiment with a variety of colors, designs and styles with patterns that are rarely predictable or repeating.
`I quickly found I didn’t like the traditional quilting methods,` Mary Reich said.
Stan Reich sculpts in a number of mediums, including clay and bonded bronze, which can be set without the use of a foundry. He often works with the local Riverfront Artists group, which pools resources for facility and model costs.
The work of both has been recognized many times over. Mary Reich’s quilts have appeared in the magazine `Patchwork Crafts` and been on display at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, the Green County Council of the Art and many local locations.
Stan Reich has twice won first prize at the large Hudson-Mohawk Regional Exhibition, and his work is often shown at the Fulton Street Gallery in Troy and the Train Station Gallery in West Stockbridge.
The two have been Delmar residents for more than a half-century. They moved to the area in 1955 so Stan could take a job in the Bethlehem Central School District, where he taught art for many years and eventually came to chair the art department.
Mary made window displays for the upscale Town and Tweed boutique store for 25 years. It wasn’t until after she left that job that she got into quilting, though.
A window display is actually how the two met in New York City, when Stan Reich was still in design school.
`I was working in Greenwich Village at the time, and we were doing displays for one of the big companies,` said Mary Reich. `That’s where I met Stan, and a year later we were married.`
`Art Quilts and Sculptures` will show through May 31 at the Broadway Art Center, 488 Broadway in Albany. Hours are 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
On May 7, there will be a public opening party from 5 to 9 p.m.
“
