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The 12x12 Art Show Turns 12

The 12x12 Art Show Turns 12
12x12 submission by Danielle Mailer. 
Photo by Alexander Wilburn

The annual “12x12” art sale at the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village celebrated a thematically relevant anniversary as the display was unveiled Saturday night, Dec. 9 — the show is now in its 12th year of displaying small works by area residents. 

Hung clustered on the library walls, the “12x12” show, as the title would suggest, showcases work on uniform 1-foot by 1-foot canvases. However, some artists chose to break the mold while staying within the obligatory dimensions. Yonah Sadeh, a recent graduate of Bard College at Simon’s Rock, offered a vintage-style photograph of The Great Falls from his hometown of Falls Village, oxidized over a white porcelain square. Sadeh’s documentary, “In Our Backyard,” detailing the lack of affordable housing in Falls Village, was recently awarded first place in the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative’s Bridging Divides, Healing Communities Youth Film Challenge.

Other notable pieces included an abstract tetraptych by Sam Posey of Sharon. The 79-year-old painter is a neighbor of American artist Jasper Johns and was honored at Lime Rock Park in Salisbury with the front straightaway named after him in a ceremony held in 2013. An accomplished former race car driver, Posey was also the voice behind a series of Formula One narrated montages for the NBC Sports Network.

Salisbury resident Terre Lefferts is known for her bright New England scenes of barns in Sheffield, Stockbridge streetscapes, and festive depictions of children at Christmas in the style of the late American “painter of light” Thomas Kinkade. Here she showed a more minimal, stripped-back still life of pears scattered on white linen.

The Hunt Library also included a whimsical rooster by Danielle Mailer in the year-end show. Mailer has been an instructor of art at both Indian Mountain School and Salisbury School.Salisbury residents will recognize her large-scale animals on display at the front entrance of Scoville Memorial Library. Mailer was profiled in The New York Times in 2016 when the city of Torrington teamed up with her to create an enormous aquatic-themed mural as part of a public art project near The Warner Theatre. 

“Ms. Mailer’s fish — trout, to match those found in the river — carry intricate patterns and bright, almost neon colors,” wrote Jan Ellen Spiegel. “[The fish] mimic the longstandiing style in her earlier paintings, which are packed with dense patterns and vivid color reminiscent of Frida Kahlo combined with cutouts by Matisse, among Ms. Mailer’s favorite artists.”

The “12x12” show is on display at The Hunt Library through Jan. 12, 2024.

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