Seeing Double' opens at Port of Call Gallery
Exhibition by Laura Breitman and Michael Needleman Warwick If you think you can tell the difference between a photograph, and thousands of pieces of fabric and paper, think again. “Seeing Double,” which opens Thursday, June 1, at the Port of Call Gallery in Warwick, may create doubts. The wife and husband team of Laura Breitman and Michael Needleman have collaborated for “Seeing Double,” their first joint exhibition, and Needleman’s first. An opening reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 3, and the exhibition will run until June 30. For many years, Needleman has been taking photographs of the Hudson Valley, imagery that Breitman has been using as models for her realistic collages. When viewed close up, the tiny, hand-cut components of the collage can clearly be seen. As viewers back away, the photograph and collage appear so alike it’s like seeing double. After a 26-year relationship, with 19 years as a married couple, Needleman and Breitman decided to added another dimension to their relationship by exhibiting artwork together. “Seeing Double” is the culmination of a collaboration that evolved over many years. The gallery, at 40 Main St. in Warwick, is open Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.portofcall.net. Breitman and Needleman connect Breitman had majored in children’s book illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Unable to find a job in her field, she ended up in the garment district as a colorist and textile designer. A fringe benefit of the job was being able to retrieve from the garbage hundreds of fabric swatches, from all over the world, which, for reasons unknown at the time, struck her fancy. During the mid seventies, she left the garment district and drifted across the United States and into Mexico for three-years, and continued to collect fabric. During the 1960’s, Needleman worked in the Stock Market on Wall Street. Yearning for a simpler life, he left the stock market, and all its trappings, to travel around the country for a few years. It was when he decided to settle in Orange County in 1981 that he met and eventually married Breitman. In the proceeding years, Needleman worked with horses, trained dogs to assist disabled people, worked as a veterinarian’s assistant, and as a carpenter renovating historical homes, and began helping Breitman with her business ventures. In 1986, Breitman began creating wall hangings that integrated four artistic disciplines: painting, appliqué, quilting, and trapunto. She also created a whimsical line of pillows and wall hangings called 100% People. Although she loved working with fabric, her biggest challenge was that she hated to sew. In 1997, she enrolled in a paper collage workshop, where she realized that the materials used in paper collage were compatible with fabric. She threw away her sewing machine, and started creating mixed media collages that expressed all aspects of nature, with an emphasis on how light interacts with form. She incorporate hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of pieces of fabric into each collage. Photographs were used as a source for her imagery. Selecting the right photograph was an important element in constructing the collage. The photograph’s ability to lock in information was essential. In 1998, Needleman became the business manager and studio assistant for Breitman, doing everything from the books to the finishing work, framing, and photographing of her artwork. He had an avid interest in landscape photography, and soon Breitman was working exclusively from his images. Breitman’s collage work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries in the United States and abroad, including the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the Durham Western Heritage Museum in Omaha, Neb. In addition, her work is in public and corporate collections, including those of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and the Hoffman Trust Collection in National City, Calif.