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Order and Chaos: Two solo abstract expressionist exhibits by New Hampshire artists Ree Hall Katrak and Elizabeth Pieroni Schulte explore this theme.

On May 3, the New Hampshire Art Association will open two solo abstract expressionist shows in the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery at 136 State St., Portsmouth. In one, Ree Hall Katrak explores making and breaking boundaries through a series of mixed-media paintings and collages. In the other, Hooksett artist, Elizabeth Pieroni Schulte, explores the connections between chaos, mindfulness, and the natural world in a series of paintings that combine charcoal, pastels, and marble dipped in ink.

Abstract expressionist Ree Hall Katrak created her latest collection as a way to experiment with pushing boundaries. In the series of mixed media paintings, Katrak creates gridded patterns on canvas to represent societal norms and cultural rules. Then, she played with paint, pushing it in and out of the grid in acts of defiance. ”I imagine the grid being anything that confines you or limits your freedom of movement and expression,” she says. Hall Katrak is a former graphic designer who studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Lausanne, Switzerland. She is also a practicing Buddhist who lives in Exeter, New Hampshire, and her artistic process guides her spiritual and mindfulness practice.“I select colors, and then I go from the gut, painting spontaneously,” she says.

Abstract artist Pieroni Schulte developed her abstract process in 2020 as a way to allow chaos to guide her artwork, much like the chaos of the pandemic was guiding her life as an artist and mother of young children. She begins each piece with simple lines drawn with vine charcoal, pastels, and a marble dipped in ink, and continues adding them until biological forms emerge and evolve into abstract botanical paintings. Pieroni Schulte graduated from the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore in 2005.

She is the owner of the Mosaic Art Collective, an organization whose mission is to nurture the creative spirit in support of all levels of artists, makers, and musicians, offering studio spaces, public workshops, classes, camps, open studio, and community events in the gallery in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The New Hampshire Art Association will display the works in the South Gallery of the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery from May 3 to May 28. They are hosting a reception on Friday May 5, from 5 to 8 p.m. as part of the Art 'Round Town First Friday art walk in Portsmouth. The public is welcome.

Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery is at 136 State Street in Portsmouth, NH. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday noon to 5 p.m. Visit www.nhartassociation.org or call 603-431-4230 for information.

Go & Do Order and Chaos: two solo abstract expressionist shows by Ree Hall Katrak and Elizabeth Pieroni Schulte. The exhibits will run from May 3rd to May 28th in the South Gallery at the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery at 136 State Street in Portsmouth, NH.

A reception will be held on Friday, May 5, from 5 to 8 p.m. as part of the Art 'Round Town First Friday art walk in Portsmouth. The public is welcome. Artwork: “The Roault Influence '' mixed-media acrylic collage by Ree Hall Katrak.