These are my favorite first impressions when looking at art.
Ah…hum…huh…mmm…..ah……what? … Hum…ah!
Art that makes me question the very definition of art deserves first impressions from my senses rather than from verbal explanations. And yet questions also rush forward. Who decides what is art: the artist, the setting, the viewer? If I trip over roots on a forest path, are they just part of a tree? If I find roots in a gallery, do they become an art material?
The final exhibition of the 2024 season at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery invites us to Paths of Beauty. These works by six artists: Lisa Gibbons, Karen McDiarmid, Donna Naven, Jane Newman, Amy Robertson and Brigid Weiler invited me to think about “what is beauty in art?”
Deep Breath, the exhibition of work by Andrea Padovani currently being shown at the Old Schoolhouse Art Gallery, is a lesson in inspiration. The word is from the Latin—inspirare—meaning to breathe in or blow into. In art, inspiration is a power that cannot be commanded, but when present, moves the intellect and emotions with a sudden sense of awe. In considering how to look at Andrea’s work, I discovered that the titles of his paintings were a guided tour into the indicators of inspiration.
Even though art has been a continuing human dialog across thousands of years, and has been shaped and edited by cultural, political and commercial interests, art is meditation. Good art never stops revealing itself: in the process of its making, in the depth of its narrative, in the revelation of its mystery. These qualities of process, depth and revelation are key to profound meditation. Buddha is a Principle, currently exhibited by Tamara Dawn at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery, shows us how to overcome what we think we know about art, and celebrate what we don’t yet know.
Ear to Ocean by Ebony Rose, is currently on exhibit at the Old Schoolhouse Gallery. This show is an opportunity to ‘change it up.’ Ebony Rose is inviting us challenge our notions about how art and space relate.
