SEEING NATURE IN DIFFERENT WAYS
A landscape painting is one way of experiencing nature. Judging by the profusion of landscapes in the Women’s Art Association of Hamilton’s annual juried exhibition, experiencing nature just got a lot easier.
This year’s show, the 121st, at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, offers paintings, drawings and photographs created by WAAH members working in a variety of styles.
Best in Show went to Susan Outlaw’s “Fog Path,” a big evocative oil painted in a lifelike style. Outlaw’s landscapes are often inspired by places close to her home.
“Every morning before I start painting I go hiking through Spring Valley woods in Ancaster,” she tells me. “I have painted many pieces from this area.”
Outlaw lays out a wide welcoming path in the foreground and lets it wind its way into the mist somewhere in the distance. The path is flanked by bare trees whose branches contribute to intricate patterns that take up more than half the pictorial space.
“‘Fog Path’ is a reminder of the quieter times in the valley, serene and still,” she says.
“This particular day was mild but damp and all the earthy scents danced about, a rich aroma to remind us that the woods are indeed living.”
Krystyna Smolen takes a more abstract approach to landscape in “Misty Sunset.” Her piece recalls the misty landscapes of British artist J.M.W. Turner.
Generous lashings of red, yellow and orange dominate. The small circle of yellow sun barely anchors this dynamic mixing of earth and sky.
Smolen earned an Honourable Mention. So did Vicki Ferras for “The past is ever present.” This rural landscape with buildings near water boasts a sharpness of line that differs from Smolen’s more painterly style. Ferras treats the hilly, rocky land as a series of irregular shapes contained within dark lines.
The winners were not the only ones to shine. Jolanta Stanisz’s “Fall Paradise” sparkles with brilliant reds, blues and yellows.
The verticals of the screen of trees in the foreground encourage us to move upward through rows of loose horizontals, most of them packed with small animated patterns.
Maggie Collins takes to paradise in a different way. She fills her “Paradise” painting with all manner of circular abstracted shapes that seem to grow and diminish in front of our eyes. Blots and drips suggest the artist working quickly and spontaneously.
Other strong contributions include those from Callie Archer, Carol Bristow, Jodie Hart, Sharon Lee Hiscocks, Claudette Losier, Pat Martin, Susan Pearson, Marcela Prikryl, Maria Sarkany, Alison Sawatzky, Sylvia Simpson, among others.
The only problem with this exhibition is a rather sparse offering of works. Twenty-three pieces do not represent the many talented women artists in the WAAH. Give us more, not less.