Collins Galleries | 5/1-5/21 | Orleans, MA

Growth and Rejuvenation

Collins Gallery’s Spring Invitational: Bringing in the May features five artists presenting fresh works that capture the energy of spring,

Welcoming the charm and brightness of the spring season is Collins Gallery’s Spring Invitational: Bringing in the May, running May 1 to 21. The exhibition features five artists—Kevin Foote, Russell Gordon, Christina Weaver, Katie G. Whipple and Noemi Zavoli—presenting fresh works that capture the energy of spring, with subjects ranging from whimsical florals and landscapes to subdued portraits and gentle still lifes. Noemi Zavoli, Country Mouse and Quince, oil on board, 20 x 14½"Dandelion Patch and Afternoon Crabapple, by Weaver, represent the artist’s recent move from working in the studio to painting in plein air, where she says she’s encountered new joys and challenges. “Flowers and foliage provide rich opportunities for the study of color, shape and form. Fleeting light, transient weather and moving components confuse the process,” says Weaver. “These two paintings document experiences with the natural world, where I aim to both control and embrace the chaos of my living, ever-changing subjects.”Kevin Foote, Headed North, mixed media, 24 x 16"Foote’s Headed North depicts the back of a woman’s head, her hair in an updo and adorned with wildflowers. In Prove It, a robin perches on top of a person’s head in profile. Both paintings feature the artist’s desaturated palette. “Headed North was [inspired by] my move back to the Midwest after living in Austin for a decade. Not only was I longing for closer family connections, but the excitement that comes with a season change. The beauty and magic that comes with a Midwest spring, I find so inspiring and electric,” says Foote. Russell Gordon, Goldfinch in Pear Blossom, oil, 6 x 8"

Zavoli brings to the exhibition a series of still lifes that feature wildlife in subtle ways. “This series of works is inspired by my passion for nature and by the idea of the ‘cabinet of curiosities’ of the 18th century,” she says. “These works, however, do not represent a collection of exotic oddities or novelties, nor are they substitutes for reality; quite the contrary, they are intended as botanical studies, as an exaltation of what surrounds me. My subjects are the plants and elements that belong to my daily life, which I come across and observe while walking in my garden, which mark the passing of the seasons.”Christina Weaver, Dandelion Patch, oil on mounted muslin, 10 x 12"Gordon says, “Goldfinch in Pear Blossom and Nest of Five Eggs are intended as a celebration of spring. Nest is a small tondo, or circular panel, portraying a glimpse into a mossy, carefully woven nest with five pale blue, slightly speckled eggs. And an inherently furtive glimpse into a seldom seen world, since, although we do not know where the mother is, we can be certain she will not allow our intrusion to go un-scolded.” The artist is influenced by both the Dutch Golden Era of still life painting and the naturalism of artists like John James Audubon, finding himself perpetually drawn to avian subjects.