Fivesparks is presenting “Shared Vision,” an online exhibit of pastel paintings by five New England artists. The paintings depict an achingly beautiful New England landscape that could disappear at today’s intersection of global warming, inequality, and disease. However, these paintings remind us that the pink rock of Acadia, green fields, stony brooks, snowy paths, forests, and skies are still there for all of us to enjoy. This art attempts to hold on to a moment that will go away in the next hour with the changing light, in the changing weather of the next day, the next season, the next exploitation of nature.
The artists appear to share a transcendent vision of nature. Keith Demanche said he is interested in nature’s struggle with human activity. He said that despite the clear-cutting of forests, monoculture planting, and commercial development, it is important that an artist be hopeful that nature can prevail. Lisa Regopoulas loves to paint outside, “en plein air,” to capture her immediate impressions of the landscape. Michele Kenna described nature as “a home away from home.” Joelle Feldman seeks to record and share those moments of heightened awareness of natural beauty that she experiences on her walks.
While Pam Short’s paintings also depict nature, she says that the artists’ love of the pastel medium is their shared vision. Pastel, a chalk-like medium that is available in a large range of colors, intensity, and brilliance, is generally soft and tactile. The color is applied directly by hand, rather than mixed first on a palette, and it is that immediacy that the artists said they especially love. In separate telephone interviews, all the artists referenced, in one way or another, that the softness of the medium, the range of luminous color, and its immediate application allow them to spontaneously capture the image of a moment in time.
The show is accessible through the Fivesparks homepage (www.fivesparks.org) by clicking on the image displaying “Shared Visions.” The artists’ names will be displayed. Click on a name and the artist statement, followed by images of that artist’s work, will show up. Direct engagement with the artists is encouraged through their websites; the links appear under each of their photographs. The websites provide contact information, images, and prices.
Although viewing art online is not ideal, board president Mark Mikitarian said, “Fivesparks is striving to find ways to engage the community, given the restrictions on face-to-face interactions and the inability of people to visit art locally and in person.” As of last Friday, “Shared Vision” had between 800 and 900 hits and can be viewed throughout the month of August.
“Evening Glow” by Pam Short shows the Community Harvest barns on Prospect Hill Road. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)
“Forsythia Alley on Still River Road” by Joelle Feldman.
