This August and September, Susan Powell Fine Art will be showcasing 11 women artists whose expansive talents transform any subject into a moment of beauty suspended in time. Showing landscapes, seascapes, still life, figures and more, featured artists include Kathy Anderson, Julie Beck, Kelly Birkenruth, Grace DeVito, Laurie Flaherty, Sue Gilkey, Anne McGrory, Cora Ogden, Deborah Quinn-Munson, Katie Swatland and Jeanne Rosier Smith.
Kelly Birkenruth, An Abundance of Beauty, oil, 16 x 12"
“It’s very empowering to be included in this group of incredibly talented women artists,” says Ann McGrory. “Personally and professionally they are some of the people I admire most.” McGrory painted Fox in the Moonlight after observing and photographing the animal on her property. “I wanted to capture its regal and confident attitude, against the snow and early evening moonlight,” she explains. Incorporating gold leaf for the sky and moon adds a luminous depth to the pastel work. “My hope is to pass on to the viewer that sense of awe and appreciation that I get whenever I have an encounter like I did with this fox.”
Ogden shares McGrory’s delight to be in the company of these artists. “Historically most women artists worked in certain genres, mainly because of societal mores. For decades now women can freely choose to simply express their personal vision without boundaries," says Ogden. They are celebrated for the creativity of their brain and hard-won skills just as their male counterparts.”
Jeanne Rosier Smith, Energized, pastel, 12 x 36"
Ogden’s own work has evolved dramatically over time from large constructive sculptures underpinned with philosophical commentary to less-laden images of beauty that offer sanctuary and healing of spirit. Nature’s Treasures is testament to her ability to provide this. “Hellebores give us the hope of spring with all its new beginnings, and the humble nest and egg promise new life.” she says. “This is a painting to inspire quiet, joyful contemplation. For me, a still life is an entire small world of captured time, multidimensional space, and the architecture and dialogue between objects. It is rich and complex.”
Sue Gilkey, West Cork Sheep, oil, 20 x 30"
Kelly Birkenruth’s portrait An Abundance of Beauty exudes a sense of calm in the midst of chaos. A riot of loosely painted flowers in the background frame the model and burst into the foreground in the form of the two tightly-rendered roses in her hands.
Grace DeVito has always looked to the masters of the past for lessons on technique. “It’s taking these lessons and applying them while still maintaining a timelessness in the work that is the tricky part,” she says. One way she achieves this is by applying classical methods to 21st-century subject matter. Dancing in the Dark depicts the artist’s garden roses in the early evening light. “It’s also a metaphor for the human condition, that we are trying to find meaning and love in our lives before it’s too late,” DeVito says. It’s also a nod to the 1931 song of the same name written by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, and the lyric: “We’re waltzing in the wonder of why we’re here / Time hurries by, we’re here and gone.” “Seeing the roses swaying in the evening light, some in early bloom, others spent, reminded me of that song and the emotion that goes with it,” says DeVito.
Grace DeVito, Dancing in the Dark, oil, 16 x 20"
The ocean’s constant energy and motion inspired Jeanne Rosier Smith’s show piece. “That peak of thin, translucent water at the crest, especially when illuminated by sunlight passing through, always gives me a jolt of excitement,” Rosier Smith says. “I especially enjoy zooming in on the action point in a wave, and the elongated format of Energized allowed me to emphasize the strength and power in its moving energy.”
Cora Ogden, Nature’s Treasures, oil, 20 x 30"
Kathy Anderson can’t get enough of pansies when spring comes around and she immortalizes their beauty in A Glass Songbird. “The variety of colors and patterns keeps me constantly excited for so many different compositions,” she says of her subject. “For A Glass Songbird it was fun to work on color harmonies with the glass bird repeating colors in the pottery and the pansies.”
Making Their Mark, which will be on view at Susan Powell Fine Art from August 18 through September 23, was in part inspired after Powell read Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Artby Mary Gabriel.
Anne McGrory, Fox in the Moonlight, pastel with 18k and12k gold leaf, 20 x 9"
“I was thunderstruck by these five pioneering women who entered the male dominated world of abstract painting and changed the future of American art,” says Powell. “For decades, women artists have pushed themselves towards innovation and excellence to be noticed in a traditionally male arena. This show celebrates the exciting advances in subject matter and techniques that these 11 artists offer.” —
Susan Powell Fine Art 679 Boston Post Road • Madison, CT 06443 • (203) 318-0616 • www.susanpowellfineart.com
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