January, 2009
Landscapes & Labyrinths
Frances Fawcett and Margaret Nelson
Wednesday, January 7, through Sunday, February 1, 2009
Opening reception: Friday, January 9, 5:00-8:00 pm
Second reception: Friday, January 23, 5:00-8:00 pm (Gallery Night)
“Landscapes & Labyrinths”, a two-person exhibition of new work by Margaret Nelson and Frances Fawcett, will be the first show of 2009 at the State of the Art Gallery. Because January is a month for a number of art-related events in Ithaca, there will be two receptions for the artists. The first will be Friday, January 9, 5:00-8:00 pm and two weeks later, in conjunction with Ithaca’s Light in Winter Festival, a second reception will take place on Friday, Jan 25, 5:00-8:00 pm. This is also Gallery Night in downtown Ithaca. Both receptions are at the gallery, free and open to the public.
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Some of Margy Nelson’s art reflects the subject matter and precision she brings to her “day job” as a biological illustrator. The rest is her escape from precision into free association, in watercolor and “digital paint.” Here is what she has to say:
“Though normally an articulate person, I find myself to be inarticulate about my art. The meditative process of creation does not translate easily into words… Art, after all, is a visual, not a verbal, medium. So take a look at my images and decide for yourself what I am about. Whatever that may be, its exploration gives me great pleasure. I hope it will give you some pleasure too.”
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Acrylic landscape paintings — large and small, expansive and intimate — make up Frances Fawcett’s share of the show. One of her interests is capturing the gestures of line in grasses, wood and water. She likes to paint environments that invite the viewer in, or that the viewer can imagine inhabiting were they a different creature altogether — a small mammal or an insect — or that call attention to the interest and beauty of often overlooked places in the landscape.
This is not the first time these two artists and friends have collaborated on an exhibition. They are both members of the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators and this past summer, they organized an exhibit of sixty-five pieces of scientific illustration to hang at Cornell’s Hartell Gallery. Nelson says submissions came from all over the world and it was a very impressive collection.
This exhibit is funded in part by a grant from the New York
State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program.
