The Art of Wall Flowers

The Lockwood Gallery is known for mounting concept driven group shows featuring the work of exceptional Hudson Valley regional artists. During June, gallery proprietor and curator Alan Goolman invited artist Carol Struve to co-curate an exhibit, “Wall Flowers,” featuring six painters who are inspired by nature. The curators selected a body of work from each of the artists allowing viewers to appreciate each artists’ interpretation of the theme.

The front gallery features Carol Stuve’s lively monoprints filling the gallery with their exuberant colors and transparent layering of flower and leaf shapes. Struve commented, “While tending or walking about my gardens I witness colorful blossoms illuminated by the radiant morning light, dancing about in the gentle breeze.” Using these memories of her garden, Struve returns to her studio to capture the essence of color and light that are evident in her monoprints.

Joy Taylor also explores the natural world through her art and this exhibit includes paintings that suggest a narrative about the flowers she portrays. In one series, Taylor places the flower in a vessel; each painting describes an other-worldly flower as still-life with a curtain painted behind each vase. The work brings to mind the 70’s Hard-edge painters like Al Held and Ellsworth Kelly, however, Taylor’s style is unmistakably her own.

Kelly Schnurr exhibits 8 diminutive paintings with imagery that could also be successful on a grander scale. Schnurr is also inspired by the garden, citing that “a trail of sage highlighted in chartreuse, pops of vermilion, cornflower accents, and sprinkles of white lace ignites something inside of me.” The gouache paintings on paper exemplify the colors of the garden through gestural shapes and patterns.

Gabe Brown exhibits ten sumptuous paintings on paper. Brown’s work contains layers of water color and gouache which she embellishes with Prismacolor Pencils. The paintings are filled with references to the ordinary world that we see every day, however, Brown has teased apart each image, color, and shape and reorganized them in a way that creates meaning to her.

Don’t miss the back gallery filled with the series of what at first appears to be traditional paintings by Thomas Sarrantonio. Upon closer examination, viewers will see these luscious paintings of the grasses, flowers, and fields of spring are also a way to immerse yourself into nature’s beauty and detach for a few moments of bliss.

Sharing the back gallery are the magical ‘wall flowers’ created by Beth Humphrey, who provided this comment about her work: “I think about cycles in nature, gentle and violent forces at a moment of change and the shape of things at moments of transformation.” These whimsical paper creations are just what everyone needs dancing on their walls. Humphrey created these works by layering colors and embellishing with patterns, which the artist then cuts out into imaginative creatures. Humphrey’s wall flowers are displayed salon style on the entire wall and each creation has its own color, form and personality. Inviting one of these artworks into your space could bring the magic you’ve been seeking.

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The Lockwood Gallery is located at 747 Route 28, Kingston, NY 12401
Wall Flowers is on exhibit through June 20, 2020.
Phone: 845-532-4936 – Website: https://www.thelockwoodgallery.com/

This article was originally published in the Poughkeepsie Journal Lifestyle Section, Sunday, June 7, 2020.

All photos are courtesy of The Lockwood Gallery and the artists retain all rights to the images.

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