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Artist: Kathleen Galligan

Katy Elliott — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:00:23 +0000

Passages #1, oil on linen, 10″ x 10″

I came across Kathleen Galligan’s work looking through an art auction at Maine College Of Art (MECA) in Portland, Maine. Her oil series expansive and quiet struck a chord. I contacted Kathleen originally regarding Passages #1 (above) and I then asked if she would be willing to share more about the series with all of us. A beautiful response from Kathleen below.

I love your paintings. Can you tell me more about the oil series?

Kathleen Galligan: Approximately ten years ago, I shifted from working from life—either through plein air studies, or my own photos—to painting instead from my memory and imagination. It was liberating and exciting! I would start with some broad dark shapes of color, which might either be land or water, and see where my process took me. I had no plan and was willing to embark on a journey of exploration.

The oil paintings are aerial images from a previous solo exhibit, Uncharted Shores, at Greenhut Galleries, Portland, Maine. The title is a metaphor and has a personal dual meaning. The paintings were oil on canvas, linen or panels and as this was my first solo exhibit in which I had chosen to work exclusively in oils, I was venturing into uncharted waters. In each previous solo exhibit spanning my 30-odd year career as a professional painter, I exhibited only pastels, with two exceptions when I integrated a few small oils.

The title also serves to describe my relationship to the paintings, which are aerial perspectives of water and land’s interactions. Over the two years which I took to paint this series, I embarked on an adventure, exploring a terrain that was new, uninhabited, wild and waiting to be discovered. Completely imaginary, the journey was a process of exploration of places that were unfolding before me, yet I was the creator. I did no preliminary studies, no visual plan was in place for each painting. One thing I knew I wanted to do, however, was to create a believable sense of expansive distance, which I think I achieved in these paintings.

The seed of this series had already been germinating a few years prior to the exhibit in Portland. I had been working from an aerial perspective in pastels which culminated in an exhibit entitled Updraft, at the same gallery. At that time, I was seeking to gain a broader perspective of our earth. As an environmentally concerned individual, I hoped to make paintings that were celebratory and majestic. As those pastels developed, civilization was present with suggested ports and harbors, without literal detail, but there nonetheless.

This time I painted images of non-existent natural shorelines and found myself in an exhilarating exploration of unknown estuaries. I contemplated our world before we inhabited it, primordial, without civilization—and produced a totally fabricated series of coastlines and waterways, using light and color to communicate their magic and mysteries.

The places, all imagined, yet created by an informed imagination, hopefully suggest this primordial world. Creating places of interest that are both familiar and unfamiliar simultaneously, might invite the viewer to begin their own exploration of these uncharted shores. I am pleased that, from what people have said and written, I succeeded.

Where do you draw your inspiration?
KG: For most of my professional painting career, my inspiration has been drawn from the small, everyday wonders of the natural world.

Do you paint indoors or out?
KG: I think of myself as a studio painter more than a plein air painter. I do, however, teach plein air workshops and love to travel to paint the landscape (view travel series paintings). I think it is a wonderful way to exercise one’s skill as a painter, a great way to be out in the open air and a personal way to pay homage to what I love about what I am painting. So, I do work both indoors and out, but painting inside my studio allows for more creativity and imagination.

How often do you paint? Do you have a set schedule for studio time?
KG: I seem to have a seasonal cycle related to where I live. Maine is a state with distinct cycles of life born out of the seasons. Summers are all about coming out of a winter hibernation, intensive gardening, breathing the sea air, greeting and housing friends and relatives; and for the landscape painter such as myself, painting and teaching plein air painting. It is a time to be out there in an extroverted fashion. Work in the studio is infrequent. At summer’s end, and as autumn nears, while there is some work in the garden harvesting and preparing for winter months, there is more time to retreat to a place of quiet, reflection and creativity. My studio is the venue for this retreat. I can focus well during the autumn/winter and spring months and I try to enter my studio each morning during the week. Of course, it doesn’t always happen, life does have a way of interjecting itself. But if I can put a couple of hours into work in the mornings, and then again after lunch, that’s a good day.

Have you always been an artist?
KG: I have wanted to paint since as far back as I can recall. As a child I would draw any willing relative, copy photographs in pencil or watercolor, and when my great aunts took me and my sister to Cape Cod for a week each summer, they knew they could leave me to watch the portrait artists in Hyannis, while they wandered through the nearby shops. I would be riveted to the very spot they left me as I gazed transfixed by the magic before me. I received academic training in art and earned my BFA (in the Illustration Dept at Philadelphia College of Art, now University of the Arts) in my late twenties, after I had already completed college at a liberal arts school and had been in the work force for a few years.

Who are your favorite artists?
KG: That’s never easy to answer; there is an ebb and flow of both influential artists and artists who I simply appreciate for their work. Sometimes they are contemporary artists, other times, historic. Some are people I know, Maine artists, such as Linden Frederick for his realistic, nostalgic and beautifully painted low-lit scenes of Americana; Dozier Bell, whose work is somewhat dark, but gorgeous and inspiring, moving from the large-scale and ethereal to the very corporeal, detailed and small war drawings. I am fascinated by Cornelia Parker’s conceptual installations. She is a British artist who at one point was short-listed for the coveted Turner Prize. I think she does remarkable work of significance.

I love Wayne Thiebaud’s lushly painted urban scenes, Gustav Klimt and the charm of Vuillard. The paintings, both oils and watercolors, of John Singer Sargent were early inspirations. Rooted in the study of Illustration, I am still appreciative of some classic illustrators such as N.C. Wyeth, Arthur Rackham and distantly in that category, the pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones.

Kathleen Galligan
website: kathleengalligan.com
Kathleen is represented by a number of galleries including Greenhut Galleries in Maine. Click here for a full list as well as additional works, contact information and purchasing.

Ephemera #2, oil on canvas, 24″x 24″

Illuminations #3, oil on linen, 12″x 12″

And So It Begins, oil on linen, 30″x 32″

All images are courtesy of Kathleen Galligan

Artist: Lulie Wallace

Katy Elliott — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:45:41 +0000

I came across the work of Charleston based painter Lulie Wallace a few weeks ago on Armas Design. The colors and textures grabbed me. I love still life paintings especially when flowers are the subject matter. Lulie is represent at Gregg Irby Fine Art in Atlanta. Check out her website to learn more about her paintings and to find recent works. Above and below a few of my favorites.

Images Courtesy of Lulie Wallace

Eric Ravilious: Greenhouse Watercolors

Katy Elliott — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 16:04:04 +0000

The Greenhouse: Cyclamen and Tomatoes

I’m still in full obsession mode for Eric Ravilious. Yesterday I shared a few photos of his pieces for Wedgwood spotted at Andrew Spindler’s shop in Essex, Ma.

Above “The Greenhouse: Cyclamen and Tomatoes” (1935) was recently picked as a top ten favorite watercolor by the Observer’s art critic. Laura Cumming writes,

Ravilious’s greenhouse has the atmosphere of a dream. Everything is in perfect order, yet there is no sign of a gardener, unless perhaps God? Door opens on to door, on to door. The perspective is pristine, the painting so clear, light and symmetrical in both form and content, the white paper burning through the foliage like sunlight. It is the greenhouse from paradise. Ravilious is the lost genius of British art: his plane crashed over Iceland during the second world war. His body was never found.

“The Greenhouse: Cyclamen and Tomatoes” will be on display at the Tate Britian as part of the Watercolour exhibit through August 2011. Below “Cucumber House” included in Ravilious’s Greenhouse series painted in 1935. The watercolors can also be purchased as a giclee prints through artrepublic.com.

Cucumber House

Spotted: Eric Ravilious For Wedgwood

Katy Elliott — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 21:52:16 +0000

I’m realizing I have serious crush on Eric Ravilious. I spotted a platter with a sailboat back in 2008, fell in love with his landscapes last spring and over the weekend came across a collection of pieces Ravilious did for Wedgwood at Andrew Spindler’s shop in Essex, Massachusetts.

Eric Ravilious born London in 1903 began his career as a muralist. He studied at Eastbourne School of Art and at the Royal College of Art. He studied under Paul Nash and became friends with Edward Bawden. Ravilious’s watercolors and woodcuts gained him significant attention in 1924. He went on to design earthenware pieces for Wedgwood depicting a garden series and my favorite Persephone or Harvest designed in 1938 and then produced in 1952.

When I happened upon Ravilious’s work on Sunday I wondered why his pieces stop me in my tracks and makes we want to buy every piece obsessively? The colors are outstanding but the imagery is so simple and clever. When I was remarking on the plates with Andrew we talked about how the plates would be just as beautiful with or without the center motif. But together the combination is stunning.

So how do you get your hands on a few pieces of your own? Andrew Spindler seems to be the only collector I know of stateside. Of course there is always ebay, auctions etc. You can learn more about Ravilious pieces he did for Wedgwood in this book. Or call Andrew; he’s very knowledgeable and can help you start a collection of your own. I had a hard time resisting the nine pieces he had available of Persephone for $375.

Also, be sure to read this write up about Ravilious in the Guardian and check out this exhibit at Fry Art Gallery till August in Essex (England not Massachusetts). And if you can stomach the shipping from the UK pick up Ravilious in Pictures: A Country Life by James Russell, the third book in a series depicting his watercolors.

Andrew Spindler
163 Main Street
Essex, Massachusetts
(978) 768-6045
spindlerantiques.com

Samantha French @ Left Bank Gallery

Katy Elliott — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:01:21 +0000

I’m a huge fan of Samantha French’s paintings. I dig the beach and pool themes and slightly abstracted figures. The palettes hum and draw me in. Samantha has a new show that opens today- June 13th at the Left Bank Gallery in Essex, Connecticut. The paintings featured above and below will be on display at the gallery. Gorgeous, right?

Left Bank Gallery Essex
10 Main Street
Essex, CT
(860) 767-0449

All images courtesy of Samantha French

Old Marblehead Harbor Postcard

Katy Elliott — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:38:07 +0000

I found this old postcard at Abbot Hall (our town hall) for 25 cents about 6 months ago. It’s my absolute favorite find! I keep it tacked above my desk reminding me how much I love walking out to Fort Sewall in the summertime. I think we have the most beautiful harbor in New England! On the back it’s reads: Harold M. Gorman, Marblehead, Mass.

Bella Foster @ Art Since The Summer of ’69

Katy Elliott — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:17:13 +0000

It’s been rather gloomy the last few days and I needed a jolt of color to wake me up! Painter Bella Foster has an exhibit in New York (opened November 6th) through December 19th. I’m sure it will be a feast for the eyes. I’m adding to my must check out list.

Bella Foster, Interior
Art Since the Summer of ‘69
195 Chrystie Street
#303, 3rd floor
New York

Images Courtesy of Art Since the Summer of ‘69 gallery.

Painter: Grace Hartigan

Katy Elliott — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:14:42 +0000

I found this image on All The Mountain’s blog this week and I can’t stop looking at it. It reminds me that I need to get back to painting. Having a studio in our house hasn’t worked out. My “space” becomes a place to drop sails and 2 x 4s. No matter how hard I try working from home and having a studio it’s not working out. I’m searching for an inexpensive space in town I can go to for some solace.

The painting above by Grace Hartigan was shot by Gordon Parks for Life magazine. I really really love it! It’s big, colorful, and abstract. My kind of painting. Have a great weekend!

Sara Elizabeth Block Printers Studio

Katy Elliott — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:40:44 +0000

Over the weekend I visited Sarah Elizabeth Block Printers studio in Rockport, Massachusetts. The thirty year old shop is a living museum honoring the work of Folly Cove artist Sarah Elizabeth. Established in Gloucester in 1938, the Folly Cove Designers were a guild of designer-craftsmen that grew out of a design course taught by Virginia Lee Burton Demetrio. After the designers disbanded in 1969, Sarah Elizabeth continued block printing and in 1974 opened the Sarah Elizabeth Shop.

Today the shop is run by her apprentice, Isabel Natti. Isabel started block printing as a weekend job, and now, after thirty years continues to print the linoleum blocks she has designed and carved. The prints include scenes of nature and marine life on the coast of Cape Ann. The prints are available as placemats, runners, cards, and wall hangings. My favorite is Oceanside a multi-block wall hanging depicting a fish company in Gloucester.

Above and below a photos from inside the studio. Isabel is shown sitting in front of her 150-year old Acorn Press—a press she inherited from her Aunt Lee Natti. To find out more about Sarah Elizabeth including shop hours and purchasing info visit: sarah-elizabeth-shop.com.

Sarah Elizabeth Block Printers
5 Whistlestop Mall
Rockport, MA
(978) 546-6541
sarah-elizabeth-shop.com

Artist: Mikael Kennedy

Katy Elliott — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 15:42:37 +0000

Spring is complicated in New England. It teases us with warm summer days and then blasts us with cold damp rain. The rhythm is unpredictable.

I came across the work of Michael Kennedy last night on themainemag.com. To me his images conjure the feelings of those cold, wet to your bones, spring days. The air so thick and damp it wets your entire face with mist. The photos seen above and below are from a series called, Odysseus. To learn more about Mikael’s work and photographs click over to his website: mikaelkennedy.com.

Interested in finding more work by my favorite artists and photographers? Click here to view 165 of my favorites.