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presents:
Mixed Media Paintings
by Jessie Morgan & Linda Bond
7/13 - 7/25
Opening reception Friday, July 13, 7-9 PM
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Morgan 615 mixed media on canvas 30X30 |
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Jessie Morgan finds her imagery in the process of painting itself.
Under the sensual influence of nature, its textures and colors and
rhythms, Morgan begins by laying down an elemental surface giving in
to its innate clumps and crannies. Working in communication with that
terrain, she applies layers of paint, sometimes adding charcoal and
pencil, in a thin scrim, a transparent membrane that builds
organically allowing light to pass partially through it, rather like
frosted glass, or skin, giving nourishment to the deeper layers. That
light, returning, transmits the richly hued message of those deeper
layers to the surface. Looking at these paintings, one feels the depth
of nature, human and geological, moving in waves, like rolling hills,
the breathing in and out, nature's tapestry, the building up and
breaking down that accompanies every living moment. And one is
reminded, too, of the trial and error of nature, of fate, of Art.
Writes reviewer Joanne Silver in The Boston Herald, ".this layer is
not an opaque shield, but a flickering veil of luminous color.
Multiple coats of paint have been built up and scraped off until the
final abstraction attains the misty shimmer of light on water. Dots of
color pool and break up to expose previous tones undulating just below
the surface. Pale blues dance over reds and yellows. Ochre meanders
over shallow ridges. Snowy clouds drift like fog on a ground of golden
veins."
For Morgan, the process is a meditative experience both inducing
different states of awareness and representing that experience visually.
I work to create a sense of mystery and clarity, intensity and
vastness. For me, painting is an active process of give and take and
exciting discovery. It is a way of looking to see and understanding
the rhythm of change.
I am not attempting to represent a singular view; instead I am
creating a new entity which is a compilation of these observations and
experiences.
Cate McQuaid in The Boston Globe describes Morgan's paintings as
".dense and alluring, like stratified waterfalls of color. Each is a
rippled veil through which we glimpse other colors, other worlds...Her
tones, and the way they interact, set up particular reactions:
vulnerability or energy."
Morgan received her BFA from Tufts University and later a Diploma from
the Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She has
exhibited throughout New England. This is Morgan's first exhibition at
ERNDEN Fine Art Gallery. We welcome her to the gallery, and are very
pleased to introduce this exciting and original work to our collectors.
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Bond, Water 7, 2007, oil on wood on panel, 18X18 |
Linda Bond lives in the world, observes the world's beauty and
tragedy, and understands the interdependent connection between nature
and human. Her art is her response to the deeply troubling crossroads
between development and destruction, to the endless roll of images of
the suffering passing in front of us, desensitizing us to the residual
disastrous effects of our choices. Making her richly colored mixed
media paintings makes her more connected. It isn't so much about
having a political agenda, rather more about her own practice of
compassion.
Often, Bond's paintings are inspired by the current news media. But
she moves beyond the specific event, creating an iconic representation
of the larger meaning. "It's a kind of stand-in representation of
something that is bigger than the particular moment the image comes
from," she says. Her interest in Buddhism plays a role in how she
translates her awareness of suffering.
Bond illuminates her current series of Water pieces:
"The hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and mudslides of 2005 were a
curious parallel to the ongoing tragedies of war in the Middle East.
Are these events solely natural disasters, the result of human
activity, or a mix of the two? In early 2006 I began a series of oil
paintings, edited details of appropriated newspaper images, which
combine representation with abstraction, and juxtapose the beauty of
nature with its devastation. Most recently, my focus has been on the
extreme conditions of flood and drought in many parts of the world as
our global environment reacts to warming trends. I set up visual
contrast and tension in the paintings, not only with the formal
elements of each image, but also with the viewer's response to the
content. My motivation is more spiritual than political as I attempt
to present complex issues with equanimity. "
Bond, who received her Painting MFA from the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst, and now teaches painting and drawing in the
Communications Design program at Mass Art. She was awarded a
Fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in 1978 and continues her
connection there as faculty in the summer program and a returning
resident Fellow each spring. She has exhibited at Danforth Museum,
Fitchburg Art Museum, Attleboro Museum, Provincetown Art Association
and Museum, Corcoran Gallery, Bernard Toale Gallery, Silas-Kenyon
Gallery, Barton Ryan Gallery, Episcopal Divinity School, Loomis
Chaffee School, Franklin Pierce College, and Smith College, among
others. She will exhibit next fall at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury.
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JULY HIGHLIGHTS
