Blue Nocturne
36 x 48 in.
Oil on panel
$6800
Available from Principle Gallery, Charleston, South Carolina
In Christine Lashley’s recent travels to Asia and US cities such as San Francisco, New York and Atlanta, she has observed many commonalities.
“City lights and street scenes have always been a favorite subject to paint, but I was particularly excited to see how similar the cities in Singapore and Japan were to US cities. The hustle, architecture and reflective street patterns are really universal,” says Christine.
Blue Nocturne is a new work on exhibit at Principle Gallery as part of a series of new paintings (many created on-location) highlighting Christine’s love of both natural and artificial light in the landscape.
Using layers, colors and texture to look ‘real’ from afar, but dissolving into abstraction up close, Christine’s paintings are often a fusion of filtered reality and memory. She paints to match what she sees in her ‘mind’s eye’ and often puts all references away. Christine frequently creates artwork on location ‘en plein air’ and uses these works to inform her larger studio pieces. Her on-site painting allows her to see engaging color harmonies and watch how a subject changes over time, which she documents with multiple studies.
Christine’s paintings have been exhibited nationally and internationally. She has won several awards at Oil Painters of America Shows; recent honors include “Best Nocturne” at Olmsted Invitational and an invitation to be Faculty at the Plein Air Convention in 2020. Christine participates regularly in invitational and juried outdoor painting competitions such as Telluride and EnPlein Air Texas.
Involvement in art has been a lifetime experience for Christine. As a teenager in Paris, she studied at the Parsons Art Institute and the Sorbonne, continuing on to earn her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. She then worked for several years in the fashion industry in Europe, then as a muralist and graphic designer. She turned her interest back to creating fine art soon after her children were born. An art teacher for over 20 years, she teaches workshops worldwide. Her artwork has been published in many articles and one of her noted nocturnal cityscapes was the cover of PleinAir Magazine’s 2018 Oct/Nov issue. She is a signature member of OPA, the Salmagundi Club, and the Washington Society of Landscape Painters.
Broadway Gallery in Virginia offers a solo exhibit of Christine’s work June 15 through July 15th.
See more of Christine’s work on her website. Like and share her Facebook and Instagram pages, and sign up for her e-newsletter to follow her work.
Minervaville, Full Green
4 x 6 in.
Oil
$235.00 Available through the artist
Using the changing color and light of an impression, the artistry of Mary Bentz Gilkerson’s paintings connects people to the experience of place.
“Almost daily for the last eight years I’ve made a small painting inspired by the landscapes I travel through, mainly near the roads and highways around Columbia, South Carolina, especially Lower Richland,” says Gilkerson.
Mary is drawn to the ordinary spaces we move through, especially ones that are within view from the road.
“In a roadside view I find a strange intersection of nature and culture. We move so fast that we don’t take time to observe the world around us in the way that people did before modern transportation and technology came along. In my work, I seek to focus on the shifting patterns of light and color that tell us what time of day and season it is, to note the small and subtle, as well as the large and grand.”
Gilkerson holds an MFA in drawing and painting from the University of South Carolina. A native South Carolinian, she lives and works in her Columbia studio after retiring as a professor of art at Columbia College. She has received grants from the South Carolina Arts Commission and the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties in addition to having been selected as a Southern Arts Federation Fellowship Finalist. Her work is in the permanent collections of McKissick Museum, Palmetto Health, Morris Communications Company, and Seibels Bruce Group, among others.
Breakfast in the Basement
30 x 60 in.
Oil on linen
In honor of the 100 year anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park, this year’s Grand Canyon Celebration of Art will recognize the achievements of 27 artists who have successfully interpreted the canyon, both in plein air and studio work.
During Plein Air at Grand Canyon from September 7th through September 14th, visitors can watch the artists at work, painting along the South Rim of Grand Canyon. Their work will be exhibited at Kolb Studio at the South Rim September 15th, 2019-January 20th, 2020.
Following in the footsteps of the many artists that have painted the Grand Canyon over the past 160 years, this year’s Celebration of Art artists will face the challenges that capturing the Canyon presents. Its vastness, ever shifting light and shadows, and unique perspective of looking down has frustrated many an artist. Joshua Been is one of the CoA artists who has faced these challenges and excelled at overcoming them. As a CoA participant every year since its inception in 2009, this Colorado artist has gained intimate insights into painting and interpreting the canyon. This month’s featured artwork, Breakfast in the Basement, is Been’s studio painting for this year’s event. Inspired by his
rim-to-rim hike during the 2018 Plein Air at Grand Canyon, Been says:
“Several years ago I did a couple overnights down to Phantom Ranch, and met up with the late artist Bob Dalegowski at the bottom. Being unfamiliar with the territory, Bob showed me around. We both had a great morning painting several pieces on the way up the Clear Creek Trail that spins off the North Kaibab, just north of Phantom Ranch. The trail yields countless views as it weaves in and out of the Tapeats formation.
Then last year while backpacking from the North Rim to the South, with my easel and 20 small panels to paint on I was able to re-visit the spot for this reference. As if on queue, a small group loaded their boats and set off on the one-way journey of a lifetime. The canyon has enriched the lives of so many, and I tried to give it the sense of scale both literally and figuratively with the grandeur surrounding the tiny folks. High fives to those with the vision to keep this view from becoming a lake, and high fives to Bob for also showing so many why and how to love this place!”
On Saturday September 14th from 8:00 to 10:00 am, Been and the CoA artists will be participating in a Quick Draw along the South Rim from Verkamp’s to Kolb Studio, with an auction of their work starting at 11:00 a.m. at Bright Angel Trailhead.
The Celebration of Art exhibit and sale opens at 11:00 a.m. on September 15th, 2019 and will be open daily through January 20th, 2020 at the historic Kolb Studio at the South Rim of Grand Canyon. Admission is free and open to the public.
Birdland
22 x 28 in.
Oil on Canvas
$3,200 Available through the artist
The beautiful dunes along coastal Holland are the setting for Birdland, a prize-winning painting by Sandra Corpora. Sandra has travelled the Dutch countryside from Amsterdam to Belgium recording the unique land around her. Her subjects are grounded in familiar, very real environments
Her series of Dutch landscapes, both plein air and studio works, was featured in a solo exhibition at the Charter School for the Arts in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
“I paint plein air in Europe, Canada and the United States and feel it’s the basis for learning color, atmosphere and light effects in my painting. I take studies into my studio, where I can continue to explore the themes among my outdoor discoveries,” says Sandra.
Sandra’s paintings Final Touches and Placido were recently accepted as finalists in the 14th ARC Salon Competition, and Placido was also featured in the Oil Painters of America National Exhibition at Illume Gallery in St. George, Utah. Another piece, Wine Merchant, travelled to Cutter & Cutter Fine Art in St. Augustine, Florida for the Oil Painters of America Virtuosos of the OPA Exhibition. In 2018 Sandra Corpora won the Master Class Art Muse Contest for August; PleinAir Magazine June/July Second Overall Winner and Best Animal; American Women Artists at the Haggin Museum Juried Exhibition Award of Excellence; and was juried into the American Impressionist Society 19th Annual National Juried Exhibition.
Learn more about Sandra on her website and stay connected by signing up for her e-newsletter. Follow her on Instagram to see her latest paintings.
Jamie Wyeth, “Catching Pollen,” 2012, enamel, oil, and gesso on canvas 60 x 40 in., 70 x 50 in. (framed), The Phyllis and Jamie Wyeth Collection
On Saturday, June 8, 2019, the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine, will open two exhibitions of works by Jamie Wyeth. In the museum’s Wyeth Center, an exhibition of the artist’s recent works, entitled “Jamie Wyeth: Untoward Occurrences and Other Things,” will be on display through Sunday, October 28. Jamie Wyeth’s memorial tribute to his late wife, Phyllis, who died this past January, will open in the museum’s Hadlock Gallery. Entitled “Phyllis Mills Wyeth: A Celebration,” the exhibition will be on view through September 8.
“Untoward Occurrences and Other Things” focuses on recent paintings by Jamie Wyeth done between 2010 and 2017. Its title is taken from a series of eleven paintings he did in 2013–2017 that depict scenes on Monhegan Island, some real and some imagined. In the seven works from the series included in the exhibition, three show Rockwell Kent, the early-twentieth-century American painter whose work Jamie greatly admires. Kent summered on Monhegan for several years and even spent a winter there, and Jamie has a studio in a house Kent built there for his mother. Another work from the series is a portrait of World War II veteran Harry Odom, who lives on the island, and another depicts an awkward social moment at a church fundraiser where one of the guests imbibed a bit too much and tipped over his table.
In these paintings Wyeth combines his fascination for everyday occurrences in which there seems to be something more, even unsettling, in what is taking place. Rendered freely and expressively, they reveal Wyeth’s interest in storytelling, as well as his love of Monhegan for both its beauty as well as its sometimes strange cast of characters. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue with an essay by Henry Adams, a scholar of American art at Case Western Reserve University, who also contributed to the museum’s recent publication, Andrew Wyeth at 100.
“Phyllis Mills Wyeth: A Celebration” was mounted originally by the Brandywine River Museum. From the late 1960s onward, Phyllis Mills Wyeth (November 13, 1940 – January 14, 2019) was a muse to her husband, artist Jamie Wyeth. The selection of paintings assembled in this exhibition are a memorial tribute and reflect Phyllis Wyeth’s vibrant spirit and love of nature, horses, and her ever-present dogs.
Included are 29 paintings and drawings, ranging from the artist’s first portrait of her (Phyllis Mills, 1967) — depicted outdoors and covered in fallen leaves — to more recent work, such as the lushly painted “Overslept” (2018). Jamie Wyeth captured the many facets of his wife’s remarkable life, including several works that attest to her accomplishments in carriage driving, such as “Into the Gorge” (1975) and “Connemara” (1984), and to her success as a Thoroughbred horse breeder and owner, most notably in “Winner’s Circle, Belmont Stakes” (2012), celebrating the win of her champion horse Union Rags at that illustrious race in 2012. Paintings such as “Catching Pollen” (2012), “Stealing Holly from the Irénées” (2016), and “Southern Light” (1994), attest to Phyllis Wyeth’s love of nature and the distinctive landscapes surrounding her at home near Chadds Ford and in Maine. Also on view are a selection of intimate domestic scenes, painted as Christmas gifts from her husband, and depicting her beloved dogs.
Both exhibition openings will be celebrated at the June First Friday at Farnsworth, on Friday, June 7. Lead exhibition sponsors are Edith R. Dixon and Anna Mae Twigg. Contributing Sponsor is Flowers by Hoboken. The Primary Media Sponsor is Maine Home + Design. For more information please visit www.farnsworthmuseum.org.
Everett Raymond Kinstler, 1926-2019
Image from a Fine Art Today post, courtesy Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery (Nashville, TN)
With great sadness, we share the news of the passing of Everett Raymond Kinstler, fine art icon and renowned portraitist.
Born in 1926 and a native New Yorker, Kinstler began his famed art career at age 16 drawing illustrations in comic books and paperbacks during the “Golden age” of comic book artists. After studying at the Art Students League in New York, Kinstler transitioned to portraiture and quickly became one of the most sought-after artists in the country.
Although Kinstler would continue to paint landscape and watercolor, portraiture remained his staple as esteemed clientele were eager to employ his extraordinary eye. Among the more than 1,200 portraits are figures such as Peter O’Toole, Paul Newman, John Wayne, John D. Rockefeller III, Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and many more. In 1999, Kinstler received the Copley Medal from the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, its highest honor.
Everett Raymond Kinstler with Portrait Society of America keynote speaker Tom Wolfe in 2000. Image courtesy of the Portrait Society of America.
Kinstler rendered portraits of more than 2,000 individuals — leaders in almost every professional field, including eight United States presidents.
Eric Rhoads with Everett Raymond Kinstler
“I cherish my time with him and my memories,” says Eric Rhoads. “He was the greatest storyteller of all, and his stories of artists whom he encountered in his 90+ years were amazing. He was a sweet, sweet man, and a brilliant artist. He will live on though his art, which hangs in the finest institutions in the world. Rest in peace my friend.”
“Ray Kinstler was not only a huge artistic talent, but also one of the art world’s most beloved figures — witty, welcoming, affectionate, and just plain fun,” said Peter Trippi. “He knew absolutely everyone (past/present, young/old, famous/obscure) and treated everyone the same because he was genuinely interested in who they were (the hallmark of great portraitists and of authentic human beings). Ray’s passing truly marks the end of an era in American art — he connected us with that time when illustrators were universally revered, and when gifted portraitists regularly captured the likenesses of America’s great and good. Yet he also thought a lot about the future of the field and went out of his way to mentor and encourage young talents of all descriptions. There is no question that Ray’s artworks will live on, and so too will his legacy of collegiality and concern for our country’s artistic community. I will miss him enormously.”
Everett Raymond Kinstler, William F. Draper and Burton Silverman at a Portrait Society of America board meeting at the National Arts Club. Image courtesy of the Portrait Society of America.
“It’s a sad week for us artists,” said Tony Pro. “[Ray] was a giant in the portrait art world and class act to boot. He awarded me first place at the Portrait Society of Atlanta show back in 2004. I was tremendously honored by that and he wrote me a personal letter which I still have and will always cherish. I loved seeing him at the Portrait Society of America show every year and he always remembered me.”
Pro added that his own father had taken a workshop from Kinstler in the late 80s, and twenty years later still remembered his student. “He was so sharp and such a gentleman all the time,” says Pro. “It’s evident from all the comments [about his passing] that he was a class act with anyone he came across. May his memory and art be forever Eternal!”
Michael Shane Neal painted Mr. Kinstler’s portrait at a Portrait Society of America conference. Image courtesy of the Portrait Society of America.
Kinstler was also dedicated to the operation and planning of the Portrait Society of America, which recently shared the following on their Facebook page:
“Many of you knew and admired Mr. Kinstler, his life as an artist is well known and recorded in both film and books. He attended every Portrait Society conference for the last 20 years and so many of you got to know him in a more personal way. One word describes Mr. Kinstler so well…dedication. He loved the organization that we have all built together over the past 21 years. He was still painting every day and in recent weeks he completed three portrait commissions, signing the last one only a few days before entering the hospital. His commissions totaled over 2,500 and spanned seven decades. Mr. Kinstler was also a gifted storyteller, both in paint and presentations. He could weave a story in such a manner that kept you on the edge of your seat as he transported you in words and thoughts through his many encounters with famous as well as everyday sitters.”
Everett Raymond and Peggy Kinstler. Image courtesy of the Portrait Society of America.
Martin Johnson Heade, “Orchid and Hummingbirds near a Mountain Lake,” about 1875–90, oil on canvas. Collection of Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch. Photography by Bob Packert/Peabody Essex Museum.
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) presents the debut exhibition of an outstanding collection of American painting, furniture, and decorative arts that was assembled by philanthropists Carolyn and Peter Lynch over the course of fifty years. “A Passion for American Art: Selections from the Carolyn and Peter Lynch Collection” takes visitors on the personal collecting journey of a couple who shared an extraordinary life together.
Through travel, exploration, and intellectual curiosity, the Lynches amassed a broad-ranging collection that includes spectacular, classic furniture from Boston, New York, and Philadelphia; paintings by Childe Hassam, Martin Johnson Heade, Winslow Homer, and John Singer Sargent; works by modern furniture master Sam Maloof; and pottery by Otto and Gertrud Natzler. Also featured are three significant works by Georgia O’Keeffe, Childe Hassam, and J.O.J. Frost that were recently donated to PEM by Peter Lynch in memory of his late wife, Carolyn Lynch. By embracing an organic approach to collecting and by freely integrating multiple subjects, time frames, and media, the Lynches created lively conversations about artistic creativity, regional styles, and evolving traditions in America.
This jewel-box exhibition celebrates the couple’s abiding love of nature and of American history through 120 works of decorative art, 36 pieces of furniture, 35 paintings and sculptures, and 10 Native American artworks. The majority of the works are pristine examples of American creativity from the 18th and 19th centuries — an era when many artists echoed the latest styles and forms from Europe while also striving to express new American ideals, beliefs, and regional tastes. The exhibition and the accompanying exhibition catalog, A Passion for American Art, reflect how the couple integrated works of various periods and styles into their unique living spaces.
“In so many ways, this remarkable collection speaks to the personal and singular collecting journey that the couple shared for nearly half a century, exploring and embracing many aspects of American artistic creativity,” said Dean Lahikainen, PEM’s Carolyn and Peter Lynch Curator of American Decorative Art.
STARTING SMALL
Peter was raised outside of Boston, and Carolyn was from Pennsylvania; both grew up surrounded by history. Upon buying their first house together in Marblehead, the newly married couple discovered that antique furniture often cost less than buying new. Soon, they also began collecting blue and white export porcelain as well. Peter bought Carolyn an antique rocking cradle for her first Mother’s Day, after the eldest of their three daughters was born. Their penchant for acquiring art only continued to grow, and they were active in the groundswell of collecting American art that followed the United States bicentennial in 1976. The Lynches fell deeply in love with old Marblehead and embraced its rich history, most notably by collecting Marblehead Pottery and the work of local folk artist J.O. J. Frost.
From the beginning, the couple collected and displayed artwork according to their tastes, rather than by strict rules. Eventually, different subjects, time periods, and media freely mixed in their Marblehead, Boston, and Arizona houses. Collecting offered the couple a way to strengthen their personal connection to place.
Later, the Lynches bought a home on the coast of Marblehead Neck, the 1938 Howard A. Colby House, one of the few International Style houses designed by the famed Boston architect Royal Barry Wills. This home would be filled with the impressive American seascapes that reflected their view. While the Lynches never developed strict rules for collecting or displaying their collection, in Marblehead Neck they transformed the entire interior of the house, creating six “period rooms” for the collection, using 18th-century woodwork, period hardware, and old wide-board flooring supplied by architectural salvage companies.
With an eye toward retirement, the Lynches embarked on their last major home project in 2001, when they purchased land in the Arizona desert. Working with architect Jeff Biever, they designed a main house and several smaller structures in a contemporary Spanish Mission style. Turning to their good friend Sam Maloof to design furniture for the principal rooms, the Lynches also embraced new generations of American artists — including Native American artists, who expanded the scope and meaning of what constitutes American art.
Best known for heading Fidelity’s Magellan Fund, the best performing mutual fund in the world, Peter Lynch is also a major philanthropist. Together, the couple established the Lynch Foundation in 1988 to support nonprofit organizations in the greater Boston community. For many years, Carolyn served as a PEM Trustee and Overseer and helped found the museum’s American Decorative Arts Committee. In 2014, the Lynch Foundation generously created an endowment for the PEM’s robust changing exhibition program.
“A Passion for American Art” features three works gifted to PEM’s American art collection by Peter Lynch in memory of his late wife. These include Marblehead folk artist J.O.J. Frost, American Impressionist painter Childe Hassam, and American master Georgia O’Keeffe. PEM has presented solo exhibitions in recent years of both Hassam and O’Keeffe’s works.
J.O.J. Frost, “The March into Boston from Marblehead, April 16, 1861: There Shall be No More War,” about 1925, oil on fiberboard. Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of Peter S. Lynch in memory of Carolyn A. Lynch. Photography by Kathy Tarantola/Peabody Essex Museum.
Frost’s 1925 panoramic masterwork, an oil on fiberboard painting called “The March into Boston from Marblehead, April 16, 1861: There Shall Be No More War,” is of exceptional quality and scale. The local and national histories referenced in the painting, coupled with the highly-detailed, large-scale panoramic narrative scene, has broad appeal. The painting is poignantly autobiographical, capturing Frost’s childhood memory of watching his father alongside other Marblehead men depart on foot to Faneuil Hall in Boston to enlist in the Civil War.
Childe Hassam, “East Headland, Appledore-Isle of Shoals,” 1911, oil on canvas. Peabody Essex Museum, Gift of Peter S. Lynch in memory of Carolyn A. Lynch. Photography by Steve Gyurina/Artopia Giclee.
A key loan in PEM’s 2016 exhibition, “American Impressionist: Childe Hassam and the Isles of Shoals,” Hassam’s 1911 painting “East Headland, Appledore, Isles of Shoals” is a masterpiece within Hassam’s Appledore oeuvre. “East Headland” is the first major American impressionist picture, and the first Hassam, to enter PEM’s collection. The work also holds special significance to the Lynch family as Peter took Carolyn to Appledore as a birthday surprise to see the island and the site depicted in this painting.
In “Cedar and Red Maple, Lake George,” 1921, O’Keeffe’s treatment of natural forms and unconventional contours resulted in a modernist painting that abstracts, combines, and layers the landscape in ways that — at the time — were unprecedented in American art. This painting would have been a perfect addition to PEM’s 2018 blockbuster exhibition, “Georgia O’Keeffe: Art, Image, Style.” The small but vivid canvas is characteristic of her aesthetic responses to the Lake George landscape, and was formerly in MoMA’s collection. This gift dramatically bolsters PEM’s expanding and diversifying collection of works by women and by modern artists.
“A Passion for American Art: Selections from the Carolyn and Peter Lynch Collection” is on view at the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA) through December 1, 2019.
Christine Graefe Drewyer, “Summer Shimmer,” oil on Belgian linen, 24 x 30 in.“The day was hot and humid, and my goal was to capture that shimmering sultry light which Maryland is so famous for in this view of the Anacostia River. The water was reflecting like an opal with all its iridescence and it was like trying to paint a mirage.”
Berkley Gallery in historic Warrenton, Virginia, will feature the works of three Maryland artists in its upcoming spring show, June 1–29. Gallery owner Tom Sentz explains: “Their distinct styles complement each other as they transform color and form into the natural world, reminding the viewer that beauty is found in the expected and the unexpected.”
More from the gallery:
The exhibit, “Seasons in Time,” will showcase traditional landscapes in oil that depict interpretations of each of the seasons in all their glorious splendor at various times of the day, from the hushed quiet of twilight on a winter’s eve to the hazy magic on a humid summer day.
A sampling of the artists’ work includes:
Christine Graefe Drewyer:
Christine Graefe Drewyer, “Around the Bend,” oil on Belgian linen, 16 x 20 in.“If I were to try to paint an idyllic moment of the perfect summer day, this would be close to that reality for me. I want the viewer to feel as though they could meander down that path or float around the bend of this river without a care in the world. Hopefully it harks back to the halcyon days of our youth.”
Barbara Nuss:
Barbara Nuss, “Sheep May Safely Graze,” oil on linen, 24 x 24 in.“This painting was the result of a plein air demonstration during a workshop I conducted near Middleburg, Virginia. I took a lot of artistic license with it, adding the warm, vibrant fall colors and a small herd of sheep in the cool shadows.”Barbara Nuss, “Village Charm,” oil on linen, 18 x 24 in.“This is an historic back street in Ebingen, Germany, where I did a plein air sketch in watercolor a few years ago. From it and numerous reference photos, I composed this sunny scene, reminiscent of tranquil mornings from another era.”
Nancy Peach:
Nancy Peach, “Moonlit,” oil, 18 x 27 in.“Having grown up in an old stone house, I find painting the farms brings back memories of a magical time of love, warmth, and peace when all was right within my world.”Nancy Peach, “Homestead,” oil, 18 x 41 in.“I gravitate toward winter landscapes during the ‘blue hour.’ Homestead was an inspiration to paint with the tranquil effect that indirect sunlight has on snow.”
Show dates: June 1–29
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 1, 4–7 p.m.
Location: Berkley Gallery | 40 Main Street, Warrenton, VA 20186
Contact: 540-341-7367 | [email protected]
Kate Starling, “Canyon on the Virgin,” 40 x 42 in.
“Kate Starling: A Study of Scale” offers an intimate perspective of the iconic landscapes both locals and tourists to southern Utah are so familiar with. In great detail, Starling examines the simple beauty of these landforms that many overlook. The artist uses her past as a geologist and national parks ranger to capture the intricacies and sensory experience of these public places on a much smaller scale than her traditional counterparts.
Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA), on the campus of Southern Utah University (SUU), is currently hosting Starling’s exhibition of landscape paintings.
Kate Starling, “Grafton Pasture,” 24 x 36 in.
“When we first come to a spectacular landscape, it is common to only see the obvious. Many of these paintings are about the scenic, but also emphasize the mundane elements in order to let the viewer experience the whole,” said Starling. “I wanted this show to be about the place where I live and the things I see every day.”
Kate Starling, “Dry Creek,” 30 x 30 in.
Landscape artists are an important aspect of the southern Utah culture and art community. They have a long history in the region and are a core element of the SUMA collection. Alongside Starling, SUMA will feature works from the permanent collection by other notable regional artists. The complementary work will include pieces by Jimmie Jones and Maynard Dixon, as well as other well-known artists.
Kate Starling, “Cataract,” 72 x 80 in.
“Kate is reexamining the landscape in a new way, taking the freedom to manipulate and experiment with the scale,” notes Jessica Farling, director/curator of SUMA. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to showcase her work.”
“Kate Starling: A Study of Scale” will be on view through July 27, 2019. For more information, please visit https://www.suu.edu/pva/suma/.
Kate Starling, “Apple Tree,” 72 x 60 in.
About Southern Utah Museum of Art
Southern Utah Museum of Art, on the campus of Southern Utah University, features the artwork of regional artists known for their landscapes, faculty and student artists from the SUU Department of Art & Design, as well as emerging and distinguished artists from around the country. Strengths of the nearly 2,000-object permanent collection include the body of work by Jimmie Jones that exemplifies his notable career in the regions, as well as a robust collection of prints featuring well-known artists such as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Salvador Dalí, Katsushika Hokusai, Thomas Hart Benton, and others. Part of the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts, which also includes the Utah Shakespeare Festival, SUMA is free and open to the public.
Evening Docks
20 x 13 in.
Varnished watercolor on panel
$1800 Available through The Mission Gallery, St. George, Utah
Impressions in Watercolor: Bringing the Everyday to Life
Brienne Brown is a plein air and studio painter working primarily in watercolor. Painting near her home in Pennsylvania and traveling across the US, Brienne loves painting landscapes, street scenes, and historic architecture. Therefore, her first visit to Maine a couple years ago was like many other artists; it was love at first sight. The old boats, historic buildings, rocky shores, dramatic tides, and homespun people provided inspiration and no lack of subjects. Evening Docks was painted in the studio from a plein air sketch from Camden, Maine.
“A brief moment in time is what this painting is about. That time when the lights are getting stronger as the sky is getting darker, but the glow in the water is still bright. I love this fleeting moment and the fact that it doesn’t last long is part of the charm. While I sketched this scene, making notes on the most important aspects, I could hear the gentle laps of the water against the piers and smell the salty fresh air. Something I still hear and smell when I look at this painting. This is why I love painting and gathering information from life,” explains Brienne.
Brienne has been drawing and painting for most of her life but had never considered pursuing a career as an artist until graduate school. While studying chemistry, Brienne’s research was so time consuming that for the first time she couldn’t find time to create. Her unhappiness during this time made her realize that art was more than a hobby, it was a necessity. This was a valuable lesson. From that time on she has made art a priority in her life and instead of trying to find the time; she started to make the time to paint.
Eleven years ago, she left her toxicology job to start raising a family and began painting more consistently. Soon she was not only exhibiting and entering shows regularly, but also winning awards. Brienne has earned signature status in the National Watercolor Society, Western Federation of Watercolor Societies, Pennsylvania Watercolor Society, and Utah Watercolor Society. Brienne’s work has been published in Splash 17: Inspired Subjects, PleinAir Magazine, Southwest Art Magazine, and Watercolor Artist Magazine. She has been invited as faculty for PACE, the annual Plein Air Convention and Expo, every year since 2016. Also, Brienne has been invited to prestigious Invitational Plein Air events, like Forgotten Coast en Plein Air Event (2018 & 2019) and Door County Invitational Event (2019).
Brienne’s passion is plein air painting with watercolor. She enjoys using the slightly controlled chaotic nature of watercolor in bringing the everyday to life. “I find beauty in everyday life, the so-called ‘mundane’. Ordinary people going about their everyday lives inspire me. I especially enjoy painting en plein air, where each painting reminds me of where I was, of the experiences I had, the sounds, smells, and the people I met. As I try and capture the essence of a scene, my paintings are always more about a moment in time than about a particular location. I enjoy sharing how I see the world.”
Fill your mind with useful art stories, the latest trends, upcoming art shows, top artists, and more. Subscribe to Fine Art Today, from the publishers of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine.
