The Atea Ring Gallery opens with a dialogue of color and texture among the primitive hooked rugs of Cheryl Raywood, pottery of Robert Segall and paintings, drawings and etchings of Harold Weston (1894-1972).

Segall continues to push the contours of his medium, which fuse his formal training at Ohio State University and Hunter College and studies with the world-renowned Maria Martinez family of San Ildefonso Pueblo in New Mexico.

His new vessels, kissed with desert hues, are organically exquisite with unexpected flounces of color and texture within and without.

"It's a continuation of what I have been doing," said Segall, a resident of Upper Jay. "I did some pieces that reflect a different firing process. I worked at a little higher temperature. The surfaces are left a little rougher, a little unfinished. The shapes are less polished in some cases."

Firing in a gas kiln was a departure from stoking a wood-fired kiln for 11 hours.

"I'm experimenting with different directions, different temperatures and different atmospheres," Segall said. "I like to see what happens with the glazed and clay bodies in the atmosphere of gas versus wood. It's a similar reduction firing. Essentially, it doesn't make a difference in the outcome."

He is developing new glazes that may work better at higher temperatures.

"Which isn't bad," Segall said. "(But) change isn't always good."

BUZZED BY BEES
For Raywood, change is constant in her translations of classic motifs.

Her new primitive hooked rugs have a French orientation and explore humans' place in the natural world. Inspired by the Middle Ages, she incorporates "the liveliness of its creatures, the inventiveness of its borders and its innocent charm."

She writes:

"In my geometric-patterned pieces however, I'm careful to avoid recognizable cultural symbols whether Persian, European, or American. I find this an interesting challenge since I am so unconsciously influenced by the richness of these amazing cultures."

Raywood was part of the late 1970s wave of bohemian artists that left its imitable stamp on decorative design in Bucks County, Pa. In her Westport home, she continues to evolve and reflect backward.

"A Good Man Is Hard To Find" is her delightful take on a medieval bee keep she found in a children's book. In her rug, a bear, buzzed by bees, sits in a garden next to two beehives.

"What is charming about the bear is that it looks like a stuffed bear," Raywood said. "It's a toy bear. That turned out really well. He has a lot of character. The bees are hysterical. The bees are gigantic."

The rug's title references everything including "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder."

"When I looked at the little illustration, it made me think about who is protecting the beehives. It's the worker bees. Not the huntsman; he's not around. The farmer? Where is he? The quote is also a celebration of our strength as women. It just has so many points of value."

Raywood's new rugs include a Robert Rosenwald adaptation.

"He was a close personal friend and a well-respected sculptor. This was a sketch he and his wife had in their house. I always loved it."

She shredded a Starbucks coffee bag to create the twinkles in the mysterious sky of "Sleeping Gypsy After Rousseau."

"For me, that's the pleasure of this primitive-hooked-rug medium," Raywood said. "You can translate different cultures into current day textiles. That's a jumping off point for me."

ADIRONDACK MUSE
Segall and Raywood are 21st-century artists working in the Adirondacks, a muse for generations before. Their work is a narrative arc and a counterpoint to the paintings, drawings and etchings of Harold Weston (1894-1972).

In a one-room studio in St. Huberts, Weston created the iconic images of the Adirondacks that comprised his first solo exhibition at the Montross Gallery in New York City.

The 1922 exhibition allowed New Yorkers to vicariously experience Weston's beloved Adirondacks.

Eighty-seven years later, the Atea Ring Gallery gives viewers a chance to view Weston's intimate timelessness in works such as "Maelstrom" and "Witch Hobble" in the context of contemporary artists such as Segall and Raywood.

"His vision is a wonderful vision," Raywood said. "Every time I look at one of his landscapes, the thing I see in his work is how self-derived they are. That's the stance of a true artist. You see influences here, but he has his own unique way of looking at things that no one else has. That's very rare today."

E-mail Robin Caudell at: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com