Skies

Our fourth Art competition “Skies” started in October 2023 and concluded on November 09, 2023. Art Room Gallery received entries from many countries around the world: USA, Germany, Canada, Italy, France, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Colombia, Japan, South Korea, United Kingdom, Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic. The Skies theme in this competition included a diversity in types, styles and mediums (oil on canvas, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, charcoal, gouache, etching, ink, pencil, bronze, digital painting, photography). The following evaluation criteria has been used for judging the artwork: creativity, interpretation of the theme, originality and quality of art, overall design, demonstration of artistic ability, and usage of medium. Jury decided to select 73 artworks for inclusion in the exhibition. Aside from First, Second, and Third place Jury also presented Merit awards and Honorable Mention awards.

Thank you, and enjoy the exhibition!

Statement:

Elizabeth grew up in a rural environment where her natural inquisitiveness grew to explore how all things in the Universe are connected. The natural world was a significant part of her development. As a student studying the Great Masters for her Degree, she became particularly interested in the hidden symbology and use of geometry by Leonardo da Vinci. Another significant influence was Turner and his revolutionary use of light. Elizabeth rarely paints in full light, preferring to lead the viewer from the shadows into the work where the focal point is illuminated. Since early childhood, Elizabeth has experienced ‘visions’. These experiences have imprinted her mind with extraordinary colours, feelings and energy. Elizabeth has had near-death-experiences several times during her life. The most recent was in August 2021, when she suffered severe Covid complications, pneumonia and sepsis. During her time in ICU, she experienced many powerful visions assisting with her healing. She has endeavoured to portray these in her artwork since her remarkable recovery. Each picture is providing the connectivity with nature, each other, and the wider Universe. She has developed her own painting medium by combining acrylic inks with other acrylic based substances, enabling her to vary the viscosity and texture. Many paintings start with words embedded onto the canvas, before she starts painting over them. These words are symbolic and emotive. They are never seen as part of the finished work. Each painting is intended to prompt an emotional feeling in the viewer, according to their own emotional state. They are designed to remind the viewer of forgotten aspects of themselves, and open doors in their minds to everything that they need within themselves.

Statement:

A painter and draughtsman, notes “My work is about light: about the conflicts of light and shadow, desolation and beauty, and about the emotional responses light provokes.”Linda earned both BFA and MFAs magna cum laude at BU, was a teaching assistant while an undergraduate, and a graduate teaching fellow in painting as a graduate student. After earning her MFA, Linda continued to teach drawing, design, and painting at Boston University, and other Boston area colleges. Linda has shown her work extensively. I have shown my work extensively including recent solo exhibitions at Five Points Art Gallery, Torrington, CT; the Atrium Gallery at the John Joseph Moakley Courthouse, Boston, MA; the Edward Hopper House, Nyack, NY; The Interchurch Center Gallery, NY, NY; the Newton Public Library Gallery, Newton, MA; and the Daniels Gallery HRCA, Boston, MA. My work was presented in notable group exhibitions at Dedee Shattuck Gallery, Five Points Art Gallery, Berkshire Art Museum, Monmouth Museum, American Women Artists and more. Skies offer the challenge of describing infinitely variable light, color expression and forms that appear three dimensional but also porous, translucent or reflective. My paintings, so dependent on one moment’s light, are also about temporality in nature and our lives. The ongoing metamorphosis witnessed in the clouds mimics the tumultuous forces and unstoppable sea of change we ride in life. Every attribute from fearsome power, stunning beauty to quiet sublimity has its moment reflected across the sky, and then disappears. I hope to impart the compositional magic of this random intersection of light, color and form; to hold the melancholy evoked by this metaphorical display of life’s fragility, to give testament to life’s volatility and emotional range, and to celebrate this elusive earthly moment when condensation and weather artistically create something so humanly resonate.

Statement:

Jan, paints and draws, conveying a story to the viewer. Exploring the concept of and personality of animals, landscapes/cityscapes, investigating the dynamics of the subject, including the manipulation of its effects. At times, rather than presenting a factual reality, an illusion is fabricated to conjure the realms of our imagination! Her aim within art is to tell a story and encourage creativity. The subjects are ones she knows well, and the creatures are ones she has spent time with. Jan is passionate about capturing an animal – “you must know its personality, or in the case of a landscape – it’s mood and dynamics, to create its vitality, emotion, passion”, and record that moment. Her preference is to work in Scratchboard with ink or watercolor and Claybord with watercolor, however, she works in most other mediums.