Art review
Benefit fills Meeting House Gallery
‘Finding Strength Together' raises funds for Horse Spirit Art Gallery in wake of flood
The group exhibit “Finding Strength Together” fills The Meeting House Gallery's customary space in the Oakland Mills Interfaith Center in Columbia. This particular show actually was put together with Ellicott City in mind, however, because it serves as a benefit for the flood-damaged Horse Spirit Art Gallery in Ellicott City.
Another nice thing about this exhibit is that the participating artists generally are represented by several works apiece. This strategy gives you a quick sense of their preferred subject matter, style and medium.
There are oil paintings by M.J. Kehne, for instance, that feature small boats that are out of the water and resting on dry land. Arguably the most striking artwork in the entire show, “Lewes Lifesaving Boat,” calls your attention to the horizontal bands of red and white that have been painted on the side of a boat that rests inside a shed whose architectural form also emphasizes a relatively low-to-the-ground horizontal quality.
The same artist's “Lewes Rental Boats” features three boats sitting on the beach, as if awaiting people to rent them. The shapes and colors of the boats all differ, and so you find yourself paying attention to such maritime detail.
Kehne does not remain strictly committed to this subject matter. In “Colorado Mountain Pass,” the artist depicts a panoramic landscape topped by a cloud-filled sky whose prominence is heightened via the crusty paint application.
A big sky also dominates in Laurie L. Hansen's oil painting “October Afternoon.” The farm scene down below is a tan-hued monochromatic field with barns off in the distance, while that cloud-filled sky is the main attraction.
A sensitivity to weather conditions also characterizes Deborah Maklowski's pastel “Sunlit Path,” in which various shades of green seem even more nuanced in tone owing to the patterns of sun and shadow playing across a modest path in the woods.
Whatever their medium, these artists have a sensitive approach to color. In Stephanie Boyer's Giclee print “Gossiping Pears,” there are five red pears lined up on a windowsill. The pears' reddish coloration makes them seem ripe and ready to eat — or at least ready to pose for a group portrait.
Color also is the featured attraction in Andrea Sauer's watercolor and pencil “Knockouts.” Its title refers to huge red roses on a compact bush. The watercolor medium accounts for the slightly melted appearance of these roses.
Whether working in black and white or color, the exhibiting photographers also take time to get the right visual look.
In Eric Hagemann's black and white photo “Eiffel Tower with Bench, Paris,” the nocturnal scene is illuminated by the many lights on the tower itself and also by street lamps whose flaring lights make them seem like glowing stars. This supplies ample artificial light to be reflected on a bench in the foreground.
Also taken in Paris, the same photographer's “Sacre Coeur Street View” is a color shot stressing just how snugly an ornate church fits into a neighborhood with narrow streets.
And this same photographer also has color shots that did not require a passport to take. His “Oriole Park at Camden Yards” is a straight-on view of one of its outside entrances and “Domino Sugars with Ravens Purple” is a nocturnal scene in which that Inner Harbor sugar factory is brightly lit by its mammoth neon sign and a nearby building has Ravens-appropriate exterior purple lighting. Other photographers are equally bold in their use of color. Chuck Aaron's photo “Heron Landing” is a tightly cropped image that shows a heron spreading its blue wings.
Among other mediums and methods in this group show, abstract painting is put on view thanks to a series of untitled acrylic paintings by Robyn Gavigan. Areas of color are packed together in these paintings, which seem alternately open and dense in mood owing to how much white paint is deployed within the colorful mix.
Rhona L.K. Schonwald's acrylic and paper “Sage Serenity” has a modestly scaled, abstractly painted rectangular piece of paper mounted on a much larger canvas. An olive green shade of paint has been applied to that canvas, thereby complementing the shades of green on the centered piece of paper.
Other mediums in this exhibit include wall hangings by Beverley Hunter, stoneware by Iris Grundler, fused glass by Christina Guercio and stoneware by Nancy McIntosh.
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