|
In a program called "Ships, Slips & Boats
Afloat" four accomplished creators of nautical works, each an area
resident, will display and discuss products of their individual art forms at
the Cape Museum of Fine Arts, Tuesday, April 17, 7PM.
Besides shown in slides, some of the artistsı works will be on exhibit in the
museumıs entrance gallery.
Part of the "Tuesdays with the Muse" series, the program will bring
together William R. Davis, a fine arts oil painter in the style of the Hudson
River Valley School; Denton Miller, who photographs boats in ways the average
viewer fails to see; Hillary Osborn, plein air painter inspired by the harbors
of Provincetown; and Rob Wadleigh, an acclaimed builder of model boats,
particularly yachts.
Their program will also help launch The Twelfth National Exhibition of the
American Society of Marine Artists, which opens at the museum April 28.
Among the most prestigious of its kind, the exhibit will be returning to East
Coast for the first time in nearly a decade. "Weıre honored to have been
selected for the showing," said Gregory F. Harper, director of the local
institution, which was recently named "a star museum" by the New
York Times.
Davis, a Harwich resident, is one of the New American Luminists who, says one
critic, produce works that "take on some of the functions of religious
icons: they encapsulate not only the subject matter, but also, by implication
the creative, contemplative process by which the work of art is
produced."
Davis combines a natural artistic ability with his capacity for observing the
finely honed details found in his
"beautifully finished small oils." In 1987 he made history by
becoming the subject for the first solo show at the
distinguished Mystic Maritime Gallery, where all twenty of his works sold at
the opening reception.
Miller, with his camera's eye, sees light and shadows that mesmerize viewers
of the scenes he frames
on the Cape and islands. A number of his pieces have graced covers of
magazines and pages of calendars.
In 1996 his shot of Nantucket's Great Point Light won "Best Overall"
in Cape Cod Life's Annual Photo Contest.
A resident of Hyannis, Miller is known for "capturing a precious moment
in time that can never be seen in quite the same way again." He strives
to find the beauty, he says, that goes unnoticed in today's harried pace.
Osborn paints "to witness the beauty of nature and express that
experience." According to one
critic, Osborn's "color arrays are both subtle and intense. These
contradictory virtues allow her paintings to 'read' well from a distance
without appearing overworked."
Another writer has said "Osborn's work is quiet, almost like the stance
one takes in the unexpected presence of a beautiful wild bird. The
breath is held back a little." Her work in contemporary realism is
"definitely influenced," she says, by Fairfield Porter.
A resident of Pocasset, Osborn received her formal training at UMass, Amherst
and at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. With roots that go
back many generations on Martha's Vineyard, Osborn says art pulls her
"like a magnet," perhaps in part because "it's in my
blood."
Her great uncle, Lowrie Warrener was a famed outdoorsman and artist who was
one of Canada's landscape painters known as the "Group of Seven."
Osborn has received numerous awards and is a member of the Copley Society in
Boston.
Wadleigh's clients make up a long waiting list, for it often takes months for
this masterful builder of model boats to complete a single, miniature yacht.
Each piece evidences a special combination of using the right materials
as well as an artist's eye for scaling down the dimensions of a boat and
giving great attention to color, metal work and woodwork.
Wadleigh has gained many worldwide admirers of his models of yachts designed
by such naval architects as N.B. Herreshoff, John Alden, Sparkman &
Stephens, Joel White and Aage Neilsen. His models are as
accurate inside as they are out.
At the recent Mariners' Museum Ship Model Competition, the Marstons Mills
resident received the gold
medal, testimony to "his artistry, skill and extraordinary talent."
The Cape Museum of Fine Arts is on the campus of the Cape Playhouse Center for
the Arts, Route 6A,
Dennis Village.
Admission to the Tuesday program is $6.50 for members with an Art Discovery
Card. Regular admission is $10 for members, $12 for others. For
information, call 508-385-4477, Ext 16.
|
ART
TALKS
GET
YOUR FREE E-MAIL ADDRESS AND BOX NOW!
