On March 22, 2014, from 6:00-8:30 PM, West Branch Gallery & Sculpture Park will celebrate the arrival of spring with the unveiling of its new gallery wing and two solo exhibitions. The new space will showcase representational paintings from nine different artists while Rebecca Kinkead’s solo-show, Local Color, will be displayed in the Main Gallery, and Tom Cullins' Recent Works can be viewed Upstairs at West Branch.
The new wing, Landscape Traditions, is the latest in a series of expansions made at West Branch Gallery & Sculpture Park over the past 12 years. With its completion, this cultural hub will have four distinct gallery spaces in its 3,400 square foot art venue, which is adjacent to the three-acre sculpture park. Predominantly representing and exhibiting artists whose work focuses on abstract painting and sculpture; the opening of the representational wing has been eagerly anticipated among the gallery’s growing clientele. “The new wing is a literal extension of our mission to bring our clients exceptional contemporary art and promote emerging and mid-career artists,” says Tari Swenson, Partner and Owner at West Branch Gallery & Sculpture Park, “Our decision to expand into this genre is very timely, there is now a great resurgence of interest in representational artwork.”
Landscape Traditions invites viewers to enjoy a range of styles and subjects, each equally complex, found in this genre. The inauguration of this new gallery space introduces the works of Garin Baker, Stephanie Bush, Julia Jensen, Susan Lynn, Gary Milek, Richard Sneary, Gabriel Tempesta, Kathleen Kolb and Tad Spurgeon.
Kathleen Kolb’s expressive landscape paintings hang in harmony with Tad Spurgeon's still lifes, While Kolb manipulates mood with color variation, Spurgeon paints with a limited palette, yet both artists brilliantly capture the nuances of light essential to the illusion of the three-dimensional form.
Influenced by the Dutch Masters, for over ten years Tad Spurgeon has researched techniques and materials of the 15thand 16th century painters while writing “Living Craft”, a Painter’s Process. Spurgeon explains, “Older painting made use not only of different materials and techniques, but of a different quality of time itself.” Spurgeon’s work provides viewers with insight into the early techniques of representational painting, and creates a reference point from which we can observe how the genre has evolved.
Rebecca Kinkead's Local Color will exhibit work for which the Vermont painter is best known: stylized figurative paintings of children basking in simple, tender moments, and loving depictions of Vermont wildlife that capture their quirky individuality. Kinkead’s use of palette knives gives a rich texture to her large-scale oil paintings from which the viewer can appropriate his or her own memory.
Tom Cullins' Recent Works, influenced by his yearly travels to Greece, reflect the aesthetics of place: crisp light, intense color, cubist composition, and the lure of negative space. An award-winning architect and artist, Cullins uses painting and photography to explore form, light, detail, and composition.
Both Local Color and Recent Works will be on display at West Branch Gallery & Sculpture Park through June 17, 2014.
About West Branch Gallery & Sculpture Park
West Branch Gallery & Sculpture Park is an indoor/outdoor art space open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 – 5 and by appointment.
