Baldwin Avenue Gallery in Sierra Madre celebrates the long, rich career of Thom Cooney Crawford with an exhibition of his paintings and sculpture from October 19 through November 23. Meet the artist at the opening night reception at 7-9 PM Saturday, October 19 at 12 North Baldwin Ave., Sierra Madre. Cooney Crawford’s 40+ year career began in New York City with two solo shows back to back at Tibor De Nagy Gallery. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally since then, including an early solo show at The Sculpture Center, NYC. Winner of an NEA Grant, his sculpture, scaled for public art, was exhibited at St Peter's, Citicorp, NYC among other venues. His Homage to Georgia O’Keefe is installed on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. Art historian and critic Robert Mattison writes of this artist, “…it takes an act of faith to believe in universal values. There are few contemporary artists even willing to search for the common forms that connect us as members of the human race. Thom Cooney Crawford seeks such archetypal symbols.” Worlds Within Worlds shows the artist in his maturity. In the early 2000s Cooney Crawford left the art world, college teaching, and the US to “clear the bramble” from his head to further develop his art. He lived in Bavaria then spent four years living in a remote cottage on the Ring of Beara, Ireland’s wild west coast. In that landscape shaped by wind and water, standing stones and old oaks, he found the synthesis he’d been seeking. On his return to the US in 2010, he went into his loft and worked in isolation for a decade. This new body of work includes paintings that express the nature of the cosmos, while his sculptures have a mythic presence that initially haunts the viewer, but opens to a deep connection. In 2023, Cooney Crawford published Eclipse Illumined, a collection of poems and images. A collaboration with poet Cathie Sandstrom, the book is a dialog between two lyric poets and a series of Cooney Crawford’s paintings. See more information on the gallery and gallery hours at www.baldwinavenuegallery.com. Learn more about this painter/sculptor/poet at www.thomcooneycrawford.com