ANNOUNCING LOUISA GOULD’S CONTEMPORARY ABSTRACT SHOW: LANDSCAPES OF COLOR

The Louisa Gould Gallery is pleased to present six contemporary abstract artists’ interpretation of “Landscapes of Color”: Val Rossman, Joan Konkel, Laura Roosevelt, Roberta Gross, Suzanne Hill and Jeanne Campbell. The show opens on August 8, 2013 and continues through September 16, 2013. These six artists use a variety of media to express their artistic visions: pastels on paper; acrylic on aluminum, oil on steel; acrylic, mesh and aluminum on canvas; and digital photography on paper. Enjoy light refreshments and meet the artists at the opening reception on Saturday, August 10, 2013, from 5-7p.m. Please also join us at the Gallery on August 22, 2013 at 6p.m. when Roberta Gross will be presenting an interactive discussion of the exhibit.

Val Rossman is a Philadelphia area artist who also exhibits in Maine and Vermont. This is her first exhibit on Martha’s Vineyard. While she uses wonderful line work and intriguing abstract shapes, it is her rich and vibrant palette that makes her art work so sensational. Val unabashedly loves color. As she states, “… I continuously try to express how colors are always making an impact on me. Such a basic statement, but (it is) much more complex to execute. Patterns, textures, shapes, lines and even sounds and smells all come into play in my abstract landscapes. For instance, while passing under an arch of yellow leaves I am bathed in a warm glow that is just so glorious. I want to share that experience in my work. I am still in awe of a beautiful sunset with its array of purples, oranges, blues, pinks, yellows and grays.” Through luminescent color fields, Ms. Rossman expresses for us the wonder that she experiences.

Joan Konkel, a Washington, DC based artist who exhibits nation-wide, was recently featured in the hard cover publication “100 Artists of the Mid-Atlantic” (edited by Ashley Rooney). She is exhibiting for the second year at the Louisa Gould Gallery. Her sculptural wall presentations, which range from 12 inches to 60 inches, imaginatively incorporate such different materials as metal mesh, aluminum sheet and acrylic paint, on canvas. She uses these materials to create a dynamic, visual surface in which light is both absorbed and reflected as it filters between the layers of materials and bounces off the mesh and aluminum. Depending on the light, colors and shadows shift and move as part of the composition. Even by changing position, the viewer shifts the role of light in her dynamic work. According to Joan, “The result is color unleashed from a single surface, color formed dimensionally, color that is occasionally graced by an inner light that manifests as iridescence.”

Roberta Gross, now a resident of Philadelphia, PA after 33 years in Washington D.C., exhibits in DC, New York and Philadelphia as well as on Martha’s Vineyard. She also works at the Featherstone Center for the Arts on Martha’s Vineyard where she teaches abstract and mixed media art courses. She has participated in all seven of the Louisa Gould Gallery’s annual abstract exhibits. For this exhibit, she exclusively used charcoal and pastels to achieve bold and dynamic abstract landscapes. She is not afraid of assertive black lines emphasizing the shapes of color creating what some have characterized as stained glass window landscape shards and fragments. Her paintings reflect a joy and confidence in using an array of colors in strong, forceful compositions.

Laura Roosevelt, a year-round resident of West Tisbury, is someone many Islanders know as a poet, journalist, and/or active community member. She is also an increasingly confident abstract photographer. In her third exhibit at the Gallery, her abstract photographs create glimpses of water and harbor scenes. She trains her camera on docks, buildings, and boats which she transforms into painterly colorful compositions of swirling patterns and distortions.

Suzanne Hill has been working with clay for over 35 years, producing a range of both functional and decorative pieces. For Suzanne, the two are inter-related: “ I am always working with the relationship of form to decoration.” She describes her current work as “…exploring the relationship between classical shapes and forms found in nature.” In her work, as in nature, no two pieces are ever exactly the same. She explains that her colors have been inspired by her explorations of coastal New England and the American Southwest. The driftwood handles on some of her pieces are inspired by the scrub trees found in these windswept landscapes.

Jeanne Campbell who exhibits in galleries on Martha’s Vineyard, Boston, and Montclair, New Jersey, has traditionally worked in representational photography, particularly of flowers and rocks. Recently, she has explored more abstract views of these subjects. As she states, “My eyes instinctively see patterns, rhythms, contrasts as light and shadows play on a scene, and I try to capture the beauty I am seeing and share it.” She and her husband, Malcolm, work as a team- she with her camera, and he with the computer to bring her visions onto Epson archival paper using Epson archival inks.

Please join us for the opening reception on Saturday, August 10 from 5-7p.m. The Louisa Gould Gallery is located at 54 Main Street in Vineyard Haven. Please call (508) 693.7373 or visit the website at www.louisagould.com to view the online show and for further information.