Retrospective At Good News Cafe & Gallery: The Life And Art Of David Eugene Bell

WOODBURY — The unique abstract needlepoint creations of the late Washington (Conn.) artist David Eugene Bell are being featured in a special retrospective exhibition running to August 27 at Good News Cafe and Gallery, 694 Main Street South.

Whether during the reception or the run of the exhibition, the public is invited to rediscover the powerful vision of this extraordinary artist whose professional career spanned nearly seven decades, from Broadway to internationally famous interior design to his pioneering interpretations of needlepoint art. The retrospective show marks the first anniversary of Mr Bell’s death on July 2, 2006.   

The exhibition celebrates an artistic odyssey that began in mid-life during the 1970s when Mr Bell took up needlepoint and began to transform this traditional art form into profoundly personal “electric abstractions” characterized by a synergistic interplay of color and form. His needlework pieces gained widespread critical acclaim in The New York Times and other publications, and were featured in exhibitions at the Silo Gallery in New Milford, Main Street Gallery in Nantucket, Mass., Stamford Museum, and other galleries and museums across New England. The new retrospective exhibition at Good News Cafe and Gallery represents the first major show of his works since the artist’s death.

Susan Pearsall, writing in The New York Times, observed that Mr Bell’s re-creation of the art of needlepoint might be accurately described as “painting with a needle.”

“Sometimes ideas are suggested by the worn window frames he searches out at antiques shops and flea markets,” Ms Pearsall noted. “For example, Bell followed the diamond-shaped gridwork of a narrow, arched window frame when doing a needlepoint work he titled ‘Gothic Window.’ In another piece, ‘Through the Garden Gate,’ Bell used needlework designs to fill the openings in a section of Victorian-style porch railing.”

Mr Bell’s local reputation as an artist and designer was matched by recognition of his active engagement in a broad range of community service activities in the Washington and New Milford areas. He served as a longtime volunteer for New Milford Hospice, taught art classes at local schools on a pro-bono basis, and assisted in patient visits and fund-raising for the Northeastern AIDS Project in Torrington.

“My work is the tapestry of my life,” Mr Bell said when his earlier Good News Cafe show opened in fall 2001. “There is a reason for everything in my life, and I see it now more than ever. In every stitch, I find the answers I have been searching for. But the search never ends – there is always something new to discover.”

Good News Cafe & Gallery is open from 11:30 am to 10 pm Wednesday through Monday. For additional information call the restaurant-café-gallery at 266-4663.