Feature Articles


May Issue 2001

Wickwire Gallery in Hendersonville, NC, Features Works by Sue Byrne Russell

Watercolor paintings by Sue Byrne Russell eloquently capture movement and emotion. Recorded are the experiences and images which are part of her life. Artist/Artisan is an extraordinary exhibition offered by Wickwire fine art/folk art Gallery in historic downtown Hendersonville, NC. The exhibition will be on view from May 18 through June 15.

Russell is primarily a figurative artist. She records her life with her soul and a sketchbook. She observes people involved in moments and objects in intriguing spaces, always sensing the rhythm of daily life. Simple line sketches spark ideas that passionately grow into a series of recordings based on a central theme.

Russell believes a good writer writes about what he/she knows. A good painter paints from the knowledge the creative vision produces. As she spies on life, she discovers incredible people working with passion at what they know and care about. With her paint-filled brush stroke she lets the enthusiasm of the moment emerge from the paper, sometimes quietly, sometimes with fanfare. The spontaneity of the sketch remains. The vibrancy of the original sketch lives within the expressive painting.

As a teacher Russell guides students to see movement as line. Students recognize basic geometric shapes in complex subjects and learn to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. Her stimulating series entitled Artist/Artisan does not merely record the details but vividly expresses passion through composition, colors and movement from that moment.

Artist/Artisan is a tale about Jule, his instruments, and his workshop filled with honey-colored light reflected from the wood that surround him. Jule lives in Oberhof, a German farming community of eleven families not far from a village, well known to Russell. He is a creator of musical instruments. He is self-taught, quiet and enthralled with his work.

In this series Artist/Artisan, the figure is not always prominent. There are interior views with architecture, still life, forms and machines. Russell's interpretation is expressive, realistic and abstract. There are dulcimers' wind chimes, door harps, long triangular stringed instruments, heavy curved trapezoids and ellipses. The room is filled with shapes and lines that surely dance and sway when the saw is silent and the Music-Maker is away. Russell's creativity brings to life a painted documentary of an artist of wood and music in his atelier. She recorded the only real difference between artist and artisan in the spelling of the words.

Working from a vision of old instruments seen in his travels, books and museums and adding his feelings, ideas and nuances, he skillfully changes blocks of wood into instruments that produce sounds truly more harmonious because he has put his Leidenschaft (passion) into them. Russell is tucked into a corner of Jule's workshop to observe and sketch in an atmosphere of light and shadow. She watched as the craftsman worked among his wooden friends. He sought perfection in tone and form taking time to play a Drehleier (hurdy-gurdy). Interestingly, the craftsman became the artisan became the musician became the artist and Russell had the pleasure of seeing the transformation.

For more info check our NC Commercial Gallery listings or call 828/692-6222.

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