The Sherry French Gallery warmly welcomes you to the 16th annual “Mainely Maine” realist and representational art exhibit. The artwork in this show transports us to the rolling green hills and the rushing rivers of Maine--a place where serenity and peace of mind are found, a break from the business of city life. The paintings are an ode to the natural beauty and harmony found within the lush scenery of Maine.
This art show includes oil and acrylic painting by Janice Anthony, Eliza Auth, Theresa Bartol, Silvere Boureau, Fred Danziger, Randy Eckard, Carolyn Edlund, Judy Evans, Victor Leger, Elaine Lisle, Douglas Martenson, Nancy Bea Miller, James Mullen, Kay Ritter, Phil Schirmer, Michael Schweigart, and Dean F. Thomas. Looking out upon the Hudson River from this Chelsea art gallery’s windows, the hurrying people and honking cars surround us. We can only dream of the places these artists depict. Places where we can walk for miles along the rocky coast of Maine, with the wind blowing and the soft waves breaking upon the shore. Boats speckle the dark blue water, as sunlight plays upon the ocean. Trees of the most brilliant color whisper in the wind, while a feeling of calm and an overwhelming appreciation for nature consumes us. It is to this sacred place we return now and again to reclaim these feelings, and to remember the simple delight found in the most hidden parts of nature.
We are thrilled about our newest addition to both the show and gallery, Elaine Lisle. Hailing from Pennsylvania, her favorite painting haunts include Valley Forge and the New Hampshire lakes. It is rare to find a painterly landscapist such as Elaine, an artist who can so successfully capture both a feeling and a scene with a loose brushstroke; painterly realism is almost more difficult to do well than Photorealism. Wherever you physically are, looking at one of her paintings will transport you to a delightful place.
Artist Janice Anthony so cleverly reveals nature’s buried treasures through her Realist paintings. Through her lively brushstrokes we gain a “sense of place,” and feel as though we are present in the scene, on the riverbank with our feet dipped in the cool Maine water. This Maine artist skillfully captures the rapid movement of the water, and her winding rivers lead you to the quiet of your mind. Her “great affection for the otherness of the natural world” is reflected in the way this artist’s painted rocks, trees, and water come to life on the canvas, creating a world of their own that we are lucky to catch a glimpse of.
With a keen eye for detail and a mastery of egg tempera on panel, Phil Schirmer captures the splendor in a pile of stones. His series of stone paintings are all done in egg tempera, as it is a much more forgiving medium, and allows for more solidity and depth. Drawing from the Deer Isle area near his home in Maine, he focuses on the natural outdoors, trying to avoid any human interference. Despite stones being manipulated over time, “there is something so timeless in a stone. To me, stones are alive.” By building up layers of paint, he creates many different textures, making the stones appear tangible. Egg tempera allows him to manipulate the shimmering light that is present in all of his paintings. He has been greatly inspired by the technique of artist Andrew Wyeth, and his talent for camouflaging. “The function of an artist is to see things that other people don’t see. I eliminate until I get down to a pure abstraction, where I find a dialogue of the relationship between objects.” Here, a “quiet symbolism” emerges. In Schirmer’s “Cathedral”, he eliminates everything in the painting, leaving only the old stone wall with the light shining from above. Although seemingly simple, this painting unveils some of the overlooked dialogue between nature’s most abundant elements.
The tidal pools of Cape Nedick in Maine are where artist Fred Danziger explores the “incredible purity of nature.” Maine, for him and many other artists, is the closest you can get to nature; to that spirit of the wild that is long gone from many areas. His fascination with Maine was inspired by the Rachel Carson book “The Sea Around Us.” Her descriptions of Maine’s tide pools struck Danziger, and so he journeyed to unearth the well-kept secrets of Maine’s wild. From his mother’s early influence, he has developed as a successful artist, and continues to do so. He returns to the “totally captivating” Maine for the spiritual feeling it provides: “waking up at 4 am every morning, before sunrise, looking out into the bay, as fog rolls off of it, and the wild birds chirping. This serves as a constant reminder that nature is a wonderful thing. If I can get some of that into a painting, I’ve accomplished something.” His effervescent colors and lively brushstrokes make his subject matter pop off the canvas, or rather, allows the viewer to fall into the wild, spirited nature of Maine.
Dean F. Thomas plays with light and dark to create his breathtaking landscape paintings. He is fascinated by the “journey—the adventure of finding places that few others have found.” His landscapes and streams seem to be untouched by man, as though Thomas is the first to stumble upon these untapped places. His renderings of mountain ranges leave us wondering what lies beyond. He successfully captures the splendor of nature and the many shades that it is capable of creating: the ripe red autumn leaves, the smooth black stones, and the dark blue New England water. There is a peaceful quality to his paintings that emits the freedom the untamed nature has to offer.
Each painter is inspired by nature in a unique way, and this is reflected in the artists’ varying choice of subjects and manners of painting. Yet the eternal beauty and power of nature remains a constant in each individual’s artwork. Thus both individually and together, the art inspired by Maine serves to help us, wherever we physically are, travel to a place of natural splendor unmarred by man.
