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August Issue 2008
WICKWIRE Gallery in Hendersonville,
NC, Features Works by Lenore Barnett, Jane Desonier, Colleen Webster
WICKWIRE fine art/folk art ". . .where the heart finds art" in Hendersonville, NC, will present the exhibit, Chasing the Light, where from city to countryside, from seashore to mountains local artists Lenore Barnett, Jane Desonier and Colleen Webster portray shadow and form in oil with a strong sense of place. The exhibition will be on view from Aug. 1 - 31, 2008.
Lenore Barnett
Lenore Barnett is a Hendersonville resident who has consistently been juried into many national shows and won several awards such as from the New York City American Artists Professional League, The Sal Magundi Club, and Art League of Henderson County 2006 Best of Show, Hendersonville. She has been accepted several years into the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society Best of America and most recently the 2007 show and into the 2007 Eastern Regional Oil Painters of America exhibit held at the Weatherburn Gallery, Naples, FL.
In addition, Barnett's work has been accepted into the Fine Art Center 2007 Juried Exhibit, Highlands, NC. She was also included in the 2007 WICKWIRE fine art/folk art annual juried competition. Several prominent artists such as Dean Mitchell, Ted Goerschner, Burt Silverman, Everett Ray Kinstler and Mary Todd Beam have honored her with awards.
Barnett derives inspiration from ongoing workshops with well-known artists such as Charles Sovek, Skip Lawrence and Ned Mueller, as well as from constant study of the works and writings of such additional contemporary painters as Richard Schmid, Ted Goerschner and Paul Strisik. Her work is represented abroad in Sussex, UK and numerous areas of the southeastern United States including several galleries in North Carolina such as WICKWIRE, and in South Carolina as well as one in Tennessee.
Barnett finds the richness of oil the most satisfying medium for en plein air landscapes she loves to paint. "I'm highly motivated by strong, dramatic contrasts in color, composition or atmosphere," says Barnett "and most often find what I want to express in an intimate viewpoint. I am a frequent traveler and many of my works reflect my appreciation for the differences apparent not only abroad but also across the wide reaches of the US. My style is generally representational, with forays into impressionism when the subject particularly asks for it."
Jane Desonier
Jane Desonier's paintings have been described as looking as if "the light is coming from inside the canvas". They also have a strong sense of place, which people seem to identify with as somewhere they themselves remember. Desonier is an oil painter living in Asheville, NC, who paints light-filled landscapes inspired by the hiking areas and mountain farms near her home. Before moving to the mountains, she lived in Louisiana and earned a BA in Fine Arts with a concentration in painting from the University of New Orleans. She then attended the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts, an institution devoted to traditional art methods, for classical training. She has also taken classes and workshops with nationally known painters.
Desonier's work has been included in national
and regional juried shows with numerous awards including two Grumbacher
Gold Medallions. In 2008, she was awarded an Honorable Mention
at the juried exhibit at the Bascom-Louise Gallery in Highlands,
NC. For three years running she received Best -of-Show in the
Hendersonville, NC, City of Four Seasons in Two Dimensions
juried exhibit at WICKWIRE fine art/folk art and in 2005, she
received a First Place. She is a member of the Oil Painters of
America and participated in their 11th Annual National Juried
Exhibition in Chicago, IL in 2002. In 2004 and 2007, Desonier
was juried into the Scottsdale Artists' School "Best and
Brightest" exhibit and sale in Scottsdale, AZ. The World
Trade Center in New Orleans has purchased two of her paintings
for the corporate collection.
Says Desonier, "I love to paint. I'm a compulsive painter
and happiest with my brushes and oils. Putting beautiful colors
together on a canvas is a constant source of pleasure, but it's
also a skill that I take very seriously and always work to improve.
I also believe passionately that it is not only my privilege,
but my personal challenge to record as many of our old barns and
rural areas as possible before our mountains are changed irreversibly."
Colleen Webster
Says Colleen Webster who was born in upstate New York and now resides in Asheville, ". . . painting from life outdoors is a pursuit unlike any other. Within this living environment of the natural world I paint the effects of natural light in oil. The outcome is a realization of a particular time and place through my own experience and emphasis."
Webster is a plein air painter working exclusively in oil. Her paintings reveal the effects of natural light while conveying true color, value and mood of the subject. Painting en plein air (French for in the open air) requires leaving the safety of a controlled studio environment for painting directly from observation of the subject outdoors.
"Embracing the challenge of a quickened technique, since outdoor light is elusive and conditions unpredictable, is part of the process that inspires my work," adds Webster. Her family encouraged the development of her artistic ability by enrolling her in art instruction at an early age. At age fourteen she took instruction in oil painting for the first time. As a teenager she was accepted to attend the New York State Summer School of the Art at Fredonia State University. Webster sought out The School of the Arts High School, in Rochester, to continue her focus in art. By 1990 she was awarded a scholarship to attend the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She graduated in 1994 with a BFA in painting.
"Once I took my easel outdoors I was hooked.
Now that I have gone in this direction I only want to keep moving
forward. The mountains and natural beauty of western North Carolina
have inspired me to get out there and be intimate with nature.
My paintings are a reflection of that experience," says Webster.
In 2003, Webster was awarded the Regional Artist Project Grant
from Asheville Area Arts Council. Her paintings are represented
in galleries throughout Western North Carolina and are included
in private collections. Webster is a signature member of Western
North Carolina Plein Air Painters.
For further information check our NC Commercial
Gallery listings, call the gallery at 828/692-6222 or visit (www.wickwireartgallery.com).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2008 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2008 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.