new paintings
September 20 - October 18, 2006
William Crosby
Camden Hills
acrylic on canvas
30" x 40"
"Both of these artists approach the idea
of landscape in a very abstract, interpretive way that's
almost musical," says Harbor Square owner Thomas O'Donovan.
He named the show "Earth Tones" as a way to describe
this feeling. "Bill Crosby has been a major presence
at Harbor Square for more than 10 years. His landscapes
feel very melodic to me-almost like a jazz piece. Ronnie
Wilson is newer to the Gallery, but she brings to her landscapes
the same mystical connection to the Earth. For me, looking
at the paintings of each of these artists is a physical
experience like listening to music."
Crosby divides his time between Plattsburgh,
New York, where he taught photography and painting at the
State University of New York for many years, and the home
and studio he and his designer/builder wife, Pat, are building
on the St. George River in South Thomaston. His paintings
are filled with energy and movement, and reflect his love
of the natural world. "My paintings have their own
life, and are not realistic renderings, but rather a personal
expression inspired by the continual experience of the natural
landscape," Crosby says. His inspirations include seasons
of the year, changing light, and atmospheric conditions
like "lifting clouds and incoming storms and the feel
of the wind." Of his abstract style, Crosby says: "My
composition is a play of shape and form and color and line.
The process of painting is like a dance-or the sound of
jazz. When I paint, I don't want all the answers right away,
and I don't want the viewer to have all the answers. I try
to capture the emotional side and the feeling of a landscape."
Portland-based artist Ronnie Wilson, brings
the same open-ended approach to her oil-on-canvas landscapes.
"I want my work to speak to people, but not just about
landscape," she explains. "Is it landscape? Is
it not? I want to leave that open to interpretation by the
viewer-to leave the boundaries loose so that people who
look at my paintings respond to the essence of what they're
seeing." Wilson, who lives near the ocean, also spends
a great deal of time outdoors. "Every day, I walk by
the ocean and check out the horizon, which is what grounds
me," she says. "The vastness of the horizon is
my reference point." For her, painting is a process
of listening and responding to "a suitcase full of
visual experience that spills out onto the canvas."
She likens the process to dancing the Argentine tango, another
activity she enjoys. "When I lose the distinctions
between leading and following, then the paint is painting
me."
Ronnie Wilson
Autmn Meadows
oil on canvas
custom framing
31"w x 17"h
