• About the MGA
  • Current Exhibit
  • Classes and Retreats
  • Call to Artists
  • Display Guidelines
  • Contact Us
The Monastery Gallery of Art | West Hartford, CT
  • About the MGA
  • Current Exhibit
  • Classes and Retreats
  • Call to Artists
  • Display Guidelines
  • Contact Us
The Monastery Gallery of Art | West Hartford, CT

The Power of Words
by Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord

Artist's Statement
I believe that words have power - to inspire and comfort us and to increase our awareness and affect both personal and communal change. In the late 16th century, Michel de Montaigne wrote, "I quote others to better express myself." Here in the early 21st century, I take great sustenance from a beautifully phrased expression of a universal truth. I feel a deep connection across time and space with my fellow inhabitants of this earth. I have chosen quotes that are a continuing source of renewal for me. Each time i read them, they speak to me with fresh energy. I hope their immediacy and power will speak to you as well.
 
Photos from the live installation and reception.
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Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord, photo by Kevin Hawkins, Hawkins Photography
About the Artist
Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord is inspired by the spirit of nature and the beauty and power of words. She has been working as a visual artist since the late 1970s. Ten years of calligraphic work were followed by a deep involvement in book arts. Her most significant body of work is the ongoing Spirit Books series, contemplative art objects—part book and part sculpture—made with branches, sticks, vines, handmade papers, and beads, which she began in 1992.

Her work is in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art Library, the University of Arizona, Wellesley College, the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives at Bowdoin College, Yale University, and the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. It has also been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States and in
Canada and Korea, including the Center for Book Arts in New York City; the University of Indiana Art Gallery in Indianapolis; the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and the Seungnam Book Fair in Seungnam, Korea.

Susan’s work is well-represented in print with features in magazines (Somerset Studio, Bound and Lettered, Fiberarts, Letter Arts Review, Urthona: Buddhism and the Arts, Art Quarter from Taiwan, and g: from Korea) and books (1,000 Artist’s Books, 500 Handmade Books, 500 More Handmade Books, Cover to Cover and The Art of the Handmade Book by Shereen LaPlantz, and Handmade Books And Cards by Jean Kropper).

Susan commitment to her art extends beyond the studio. She is internationally known for her advocacy of the educational and personal value of simple bookmaking with recycled materials through her website, makingbooks.com, and her youtube channel at susangaylord. She writes and speaks about the history of the book and the creative life.

History of our space

The Monastery Gallery of Art is located on the historic grounds of Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center. The MGA occupies a space on the B floor adjacent to the Public Chapel and that was once used as a dining room by the Passionist Community.

We are open daily, during Holy Family business hours, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
COVID-19 Policies and Procedures
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The Monastery Gallery of ART

303 Tunxis rd.
West Hartford, CT 06107
860.760.9766