Fresh water/ Watercolor show features old friends and new faces
Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Nov 10, 2000 by Mark Arnest

Viewing the Pikes Peak Watercolor Society's annual members' exhibition is like visiting old friends and making some new ones. There are recollections, reconnections and surprises in this extensive exhibit of work by the 46-member society.

The friendly atmosphere isn't a surprise, because the society is as much a collection of friends as an organization of artists. Some paint together. Several have studios in the same building in Old Colorado City.

Don Van Horn is still painting strikingly beautiful renditions of ugly scenes, such as "CNW Tracks South," with an almost jaundice- colored sky over a Chicago railyard. Carlin Kielcheski is still a master of horses and western scenes; the color in Mary Helsaple's work still has a joyous vibrancy; "Medicine Bow Gateway" shows Rene Young still conveying quiet, mystic moods; and Penny Stewart's special touch with vegetation is intact in her glowing, autumnal "Tuscan Gold."

Among new faces are Diane Cornish, whose "Pears & Lace" is a cute visual pun involving fruit and the human form, and Luther Williams, whose "Twilight at La Palesia de Nuestra Senora Del Espiritu Santo Goliad" evokes a gloomy, almost eerie mood.

Viewers looking for surprises will find plenty even among artists whose work they thought they knew. The swirl of activity in Mary Ann Bransby's "Dead Horse Point" is typical, but the light-toned palette isn't. Kathryn Kelso has painted mountain streams beautifully before, but never with the frigid intensity of those in "Ice on the Rocks" and "Spring Rocks."

Tom Owen seems to be striking out in new directions in "Monjas Patterns," a lovely scene from the Mayan ruins of Uxmal. Lorraine Watry's "Fall is in the Air," with the delicate colors reflected in the water, is simply the loveliest painting I've seen by this artist.

And there are artists whose work covers so much ground that some surprise is a typical reaction. Sara Howsam's trio of "Hummingbirds" shows them as they may conceive of themselves: energetic, robust and not at all delicate. Dennis Palsgrove's "Agawa Canyon, Ontario," is striking in its sparseness, as the hills disappear into the mist in an almost Asian manner. The squiggly neo-petroglyphs of Betty Ross' "Chaco 1" and "Chaco 4" are hypnotic. Mariya Zvonkovich's nine-panel "I-80 Iowa" is one of the exhibition's most stunning works - though in my heart I can't believe Iowa looks so much like Oz.

Although the Watercolor Society has a broad definition of watermedia, the vast majority of these works are traditional watercolors. Only a few are acrylics - including a trio of appealingly warm landscapes by Collins Redman - and a handful of multimedia works that include Gwen Fox's expressive, richly colored abstract collages.

The works by Fox, Ross and Victoria Greene show that, though representational art has made a comeback in the past decade, abstract art is by no means on its way out.

The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Jim Logan, a longtime member who died in May at the age of 63. Even those who didn't have the privilege of knowing the man will mourn the loss of the artist, represented here by a group of works, each with a distinct palette and feel.

Especially memorable are the lush, green "Creede Suburb," with its wonderful evocation of space, and "Alone But Not Lonely," in which you almost can hear the gurgle of the stream that winds its way across the painting.

If you go

WHAT: Pikes Peak Watercolor Society's Annual Members' Exhibit and Sale

WHEN: During Pikes Peak Center events; also 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and Nov. 18, Dec. 2 and 9. Show is up through New Year's Eve.

WHERE: Pikes Peak Center, 190 S. Cascade Ave.

ADMISSION: Free; 632-3676

ALSO: Business of Art Center director Rodney Wood will lead a gallery walk of the exhibit noon to 2 p.m. Saturday.

ONLINE: Work by some Pikes Peak Watercolor Society members is available online at www.pcisys.net/~ppwsart/

Copyright 2000
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Bibliography for "Fresh water/ Watercolor show features old friends and new faces"
Mark Arnest "Fresh water/ Watercolor show features old friends and new faces". Gazette, The (Colorado Springs). Nov 10, 2000. FindArticles.com. 23 Sep. 2006.

 

Top of Page