In Person - Renovare la Terra Exhibition (Renewal of the Earth) - Artists' Talk

This artists' talk will feature the three artists, Abbye Carsten, Carina Cheung, and Jean Linville who are collaborating on the Renovare la Terra (which means renewal of the earth in Latin) exhibition this spring 2022. The exhibition will run from March 19 - April 22 in the Library's Gallery during regular Library hours. Each artist will talk about their own artwork and describe how their work contributes to the overall theme of renewing the earth by restoring an ecological balance for our planet and ourselves. Artists will be available to meet and greet the audience.

Originally scheduled to open March of 2020, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Renovare la Terra examines the link between the health of the planet and that of ourselves. The exhibit was first conceived by Carina Cheung and Jean Linville in 2018 as a means for this former “student/teacher duo” to finally collaborate as peers. Now two years later and with the world still addressing a deadly pandemic, the urgency of the need to work collaboratively to restore some sort of ecological balance is even more evident. In the spirit of this, the vision of the exhibition was expanded last year to include the work of Abbye Carsten. Both two and three-dimensional work done by all three artists appears in the Ridgefield Library Gallery as well as in the Ruggles Fine Arts Reading Room in the Morris Building upstairs to highlight the historic role that libraries have played in making collections of books and natural objects readily available to the public for study. There will also be a short-term art installation, related to this exhibition, at The Hickories Organic Farm in celebration of Earth Day.

About the Artists

Jean Linville

Jean Linville is an ecologically minded visual artist, educator, writer and native plant enthusiast. She had the privilege of instructing Carina Cheung in the visual arts in Briarcliff Manor, NY as both an  elementary and high school student and she is thrilled to be collaborating with her on this exhibition. Jean has shown her work in both group and solo exhibitions throughout NY and CT and is a member of the National Association of Women Artists.. Additionally, she has been involved with The Ecotype Project at The Hickories Organic Farm in Ridgefield since its inception and she serves on the Ridgefield Conservation Commission and is a member of the Caudatowa Garden Club. Jean holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Union Institute and University.

Carina Cheung

Carina Cheung is an artist with habitat activism concerns.  With over three decades of guidance, it is an honor to collaborate and exhibit her work alongside fellow artist Dr. Jean Linville.  For years, Carina had been awarded various fellowships and residencies, including the Jacque & Natasha Gelman Trust Fine Arts Travel Fellowship, granted unique exposure in reflecting the hand-made traditions and the delicate nuances of glassmaking in Murano, Italy, and in Firozabad, India; a Fulbright Fellowship to teach, research, and learn about the different manual and machine-made production processes in glass and ceramics within various provinces in China.  Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally in museums, galleries, and artist spaces such as Glassmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark, Ca’Pesaro, The International Gallery of Modern Art, Italy, Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, Houghton Gallery, NY, The Fuller Craft Museum, MA, The Glass Factory, Sweden, and the National Glass Centre, UK.  Carina received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Glass from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Abbye Carsten

Abbye has been an artist all her life. Her love of nature, plants, flowers and insects was realized playing in the forest next to her home as a child. A summer at the Rhode Island School of Design enticed the illustrator in Abbye and she pursued and earned a BFA degree at the Atlanta College of Art/SCAD Atlanta, in Advertising Illustration.

A career as an Art Director in New York City ended with the birth of her children and Abbye’s path moved her to go back to school to become a teacher. She brought her love of art and nature into her classrooms, where she worked as an early childhood educator and elementary educator for more than 20 years. Today, Abbye is pursuing a certificate from The New York Botanical Garden, in Botanical Art. She is a member of ASBA, the American Society of Botanical Artists, and NESBA, the New England Society of Botanical Artists.

Abbye retired and moved to Ridgefield, CT from New York 5 years ago and has volunteered at the Hickories where she is an Eco-type Farmer. Abbye sees the plants through the eyes of an ecologist, looking at the health of the plants and the effects of our ever changing environment.

Abbye wants to thank Jean Linville and Carina Cheung for including her in Renovare La Terra!