Corrected and updated Aug. 12, 2022
The title of the current exhibit at Fivesparks, “Expressions of Color and Mystical Landscapes,” is apt. The paintings by Heather Kehney display a demonstrative use of bright color in abstract compositions, and those of Maria Gresock reflect emotive landscapes, plants, mushrooms, and rocks in blues and earth tones.The complementary pairing of these two artists presents a visual dialogue about abstraction and representation, the use of color, and styles of making marks that may or may not become representational.
Kehney describes her paintings as “expressions of emotion that you can’t always find the words for so it comes out in color,” and later the phrase “emotional landscapes” came to mind. She said her painting process was “a balance between intuition and intention.”
“Stubborn Spring” by Heather Kehney. (Courtesy photo)
Kehney’s abstract paintings in the large gallery burst with prominent patches of vibrant colors. Textures and colors uncovered from previous layers of paint add depth to the canvasses. Several paintings incorporate thread and semi-hidden objects.
Creating her paintings of interior emotional landscapes requires some active movement, standing and facing the canvas head-on, scraping and tearing away layers of paint, overpainting with large brushes, and adding small details, sewn stitches, scratchings, or writing into the wet paint.
Gresock’s pictures, on the other hand, are imaginative depictions of an exterior botanical world. Her palette is generally of earth tones with contrasting magenta, purple, and other bright but natural colors.
She works contemplatively, close to the surface. The tiny marks in wet paint detailing plants, curling leaves, tree bark, underground roots, tangled tendrils, and weaving vines draw you in for a close-up look to speculate about the tools she may have used to achieve her effects, tempting you to touch the painting to see if its textural effects are real.
Even though her images are recognizable, Gresock says her inspiration is spiritual and “just emerges,” so much so that she herself sometimes wonders, “Where did this come from?” Even a recent realistic mountain landscape was painted in that meditative state, without reference to an outdoor scene, which she says is her typical approach.
But she may have acute observational and memory skills for the subjects she is drawn to. For instance, she said she went through a period of studying mushrooms, and her paintings of them, though from imagination, have an empirical quality.
Both artists spoke of their desire and hope that their art connects with the viewer emotionally, therapeutically, and spiritually.
The show will be up until August 27.
Editor's note: In the print version of this article, artist Maria Gresock was mistakenly named as the creator of "Stubborn Spring." The correct artist is Heather Kehney.
