CELEBRATIONS EXHIBITION AT EDGEWOOD (Oct 21, 2025)
By Carl Mellor
“Colorful Celebrations,” at the Edgewood Gallery, displays a range of Jim Ridlon’s recent
paintings depicting garden scenes. Many of those works are exuberant while some are moody
and reflective.
The exhibition also presents Tom Slocum’s wood sculptures including curved artworks, small
figurative objects and pieces incorporating stones such as jade or red jasper.
And the show pays homage to the creative energies of the late Rebecca Carr who was both an
opera singer and designer of her own line of jewelry.
First, Ridlon, now 91, is still creating top-quality paintings, still working with lots of energy. The
Edgewood exhibit features paintings like “Stormy Garden” with its splashes of red and orange,
and “After the Rain,” dominated by thick brush strokes.
In addition, “Distant Thought” encompasses many patterns while “Hidden Garden”
communicates a sense of flow, of flowers in motion.
The show also documents Ridlon’s ability to create varied paintings. For example, “Shadowed
Garden” is a large, vertical work with an array of colors. In contrast, “Morning Mist” works off
of green and gray colors; it’s more subdued.
Beyond that, the paintings develop several themes. Flowers in full bloom are beautiful but
transitory, impermanent. Seasons change, and so does one’s outlook on life.
The current exhibition references just a sliver of Ridlon’s portfolio. He had a 2016 solo exhibit at
Edgewood which presented small collages, paintings, experimental prints and other media. In
2018, the ArtRage gallery hosted “Discord and Dissent: Commentary on Contemporary Politics.”
In that body of work, Ridlon assembled found objects such as wrenches, cloth and rusted
scissors.
He’s also done sculptures. He once completed a commission to design a new version of the
Outland Trophy which is given each year to the top lineman in college football.
Slocum, meanwhile, makes organic wood sculptures like “Back Roads.” Fashioned from
Silberian Elm, the piece uses circular patterns to convey the notion of roads.
The artist moved in a figurative direction with a set of three small bears and the sculpture
entitled “Duck 1.” All those works are made from walnut.
Elsewhere, “Matterhorn” is rough, unadorned. It suggests a rugged landscape.
Another sculpture, “Adirondack Pond,” sits on a table, combines rocks and pebbles and is
topped by a surface that looks like water but is actually resin. Many viewers will look at the
piece several times, wondering if it contains water.
The sculptor also merges wood and stones, inserting red jasper into walnut or jade into another
type of wood. Look for “Moonstone,” with its inclusion of amethyst, a purple variety of quartz.
Lastly, the show displays jewelry designed by Carr, an Auburn native who died during May,
2025. She toured with opera companies in Europe and the United States, performing a variety
of roles: the Mother in “Amahl and the Night Visitors, “ Violetta in “La Traviata,” and
Desdemona in “Othello.” Those and other roles helped inspire her jewelry designs. At Edgewood, a selection of
necklaces, earrings and bracelets are on display. Those pieces come from Belle Pietre Jewelry,
Carr’s collection of handmade artisan jewelry.
“Colorful Celebrations” is on display through November 14, 2025 at Edgewood, 216 Tecumseh
Rd. The gallery is open from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and on Saturdays
from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The gallery is open to the public, and there’s no admission charge.
For more information, call 315-445-8111 or access edgewoodartandframe.com.
Carl Mellor covered visual arts for the Syracuse New Times from 1994 through 2016. He
continues to write about artists and exhibitions in the Syracuse area.