NEWTON, MASS.- About Town – a new exhibition at Edgewater Gallery in Middlebury, Vermont – features collage artist Betsy Silverman’s depictions of New York, Boston, and New England towns.

The exhibit runs from Tuesday August 2nd to Tuesday September 27th. The public is invited to a reception with the artist, on Friday, August 19th from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

“What – there’s no paint?” That is the most common reaction that Silverman hears from viewers of her artwork. “No, there is no paint, ink, or pencil,” Silverman explains. “What you see is composed entirely from recycled magazines glued to canvas – I use magazines, scissors, and glue, the way that other artists use brushes and paint. My palette is the thousands of magazines I have in my studio.”

And Silverman uses her unusual “palette” to achieve a stunning degree of realism – requiring some paper pieces cut so finely that they must be applied with a magnifying glass and tweezers. Edgewater Gallery’s Manager, Theresa Harris, remarks that “Silverman’s skill as a collage artist allows her to create photorealist still life, landscape or cityscape scenes that are imbued with whimsy, nostalgia, and depth. From a distance her collages are high-impact, graphically strong compositions. At close range they draw the viewer in with their layered detail of color, texture, imagery, and text.”

Silverman’s unique style is wonderfully suited to the depiction of cities and towns, because these subjects contain windows that blend reflection and transparency, as well as surfaces showing the play of illumination and shadow. A highlight of her offerings, entitled “In the Spotlight,” shows New York’s Times Square. This work reveals how Silverman creates images with layer upon layer of carefully cut pieces from magazine pages – each having various colors, pictorial content, and gradations of intensity – which she juxtaposes to create the effect of three-dimensional surfaces of buildings and cars, and the perception of seeing through windows or the reflection of images therein. “In creating a taxicab, for example,” Silverman explains, “I might use ten different shades of yellow, cut from different source magazines, all of which I position to develop a sense of curvature and perspective.”

But artistic skill is only part of what makes Silverman’s work fascinating. Her scenes are brilliantly colorful and dynamic. And the magazine images and text lurking in her works reveal Silverman’s clever playfulness. Looking closely at her works, one can find, for example, a disco ball, a glass slipper, and spread of bagels with cream cheese, as well as many evocative words and phrases.

Finally, an ecological consciousness permeates Silverman’s work. She was drawn to her technique through her study of sustainable architecture, while earning a degree at the Rhode Island School of Design. Silverman explains: “Our society throws away so much – including magazines that are bursting with color, wonderful graphics, and pictures. I am glad that my artwork diverts, preserves, and re-purposes material that would otherwise end up in the trash.”

About Town is a joint art exhibition, which also features the work of painter Rachel Wilcox.