For the months of May and June, Canton Public Library’s Gallery features the paintings and photographs of Thomas Rickis in a show titled “Since March
31st . . .” The exhibit explores the theme: “Do my photographs look like paintings, or do my paintings look like photographs?”
Following a career in the insurance industry, Thomas Rickis retired to devote himself full-time to a career as an artist. His earliest passion was painting, and he has worked in oils, acrylics, and watercolors. More recently he has added photography. Currently as a painter he favors watercolors and has begun experimenting with watercolor/collagraph (a form of intaglio print making). He has also begun working with watercolor collage and oil collage as a way to move from a traditional two-dimensional form into a three dimensional one.
The subject of his paintings is most often traditional landscapes, such as barns set in snow scenes, and still lifes. He has lately begun to expand into contemporary abstracts and impressionist landscapes. His works tend to be clean and spare since, as Rickis says, “I do not like to overload my paintings with excessive details since my objective is to present the viewer with just enough content to capture a mood or emotion.”
As an artist who both paints and photographs, Rickis finds himself asking, “Do my photographs look like paintings, or do my paintings look like photographs?” Although he originally used a photograph as a precursor to a painting, he now creates photographs in their own right. He finds that photography has “opened up my eyes and mind to additional artistic expressions.”
Rickis has exhibited widely in galleries, corporation headquarters, retail businesses, and educational facilities in Connecticut, and his paintings and photographs are in private collections throughout the United States. He is currently a member of the Connecticut Watercolor Society, Canton Artists’ Guild, West Hartford Art League, Lyme Art Association, and Simsbury Camera Club. He attended the University of Connecticut, the Hartford Art School at the University of Hartford, and Central Connecticut State University. He has lived in the Farmington Valley for more than three decades.
Library patrons are invited to see for themselves whether Thomas Rickis’ photographs look like paintings or whether his paintings look like photographs. Canton Public Library hours are Monday-Thursday 10:00-8:00, Friday and Saturday 10:00-5:00. For information: (860) 693-5800.
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The Canton Land Conservation Trust will be featured in the display case at Canton Public Library for the month of May. The focus of this year’s display will be the Trailblazers program, a family adventure group that hikes once a month from October to April.
Trailblazer hikes usually take place on a Sunday at one of the Canton Land Trust’s many hiking trails. Each hike has a theme or is centered around an activity such as orienteering, night hiking under a full moon, a scavenger hunt, or a hayride.
“We hope that the hikes increase the enjoyment of our town’s open spaces and help families explore the trails and properties of the Canton Land Trust,” said Canton Land Trust member Mary Ellen Mullins. “We also want to encourage families to respect nature and woodland creatures through observation and education. Getting kids involved at an early age helps promote appreciation of the outdoors that we hope will continue for a lifetime.”
The purpose of the Canton Land Conservation Trust is “to conserve the natural resources of the Town of Canton—water, woodlands and open spaces; its plant and animal life; and its unique, scenic, natural, and historic sites.” A long-term goal of the Land Trust is to acquire attractive tracts of open land throughout the town so that the Canton of the future will retain as much as possible of its present natural charm.
The Land Trust has constructed and maintains fourteen hiking trails on Land Trust properties. The group has published a guide to most of the trails; the 3-ring binder guide is available for purchase or may be borrowed from the library. Land Trust volunteers plant, care for, and sell Christmas trees annually.
Chartered in 1972, the Land Trust has acquired parcels of land representing the preservation of 1800 acres within Canton. The Land Trust’s land has been acquired through land donation, land purchase, and conservation easement. Most of the Land Trust properties, including but not limited to those with trails, are open for “passive recreation and nature appreciation.” Trust encourages the use of the trails for hiking, cross-country skiing, and nature appreciation. The Land Trust currently maintains five hiking trails. Work is being done to create two more trails on other properties.
Canton Public Library is at 40 Dyer Avenue, Canton. Library hours are Monday-Thursday 10:00-8:00, Friday and Saturday 10:00-5:00. For information: (860) 693-5800.
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