Dawn Stafford 2001"
"The Timmel Collection's" October Exhibition "Dawn Stafford 2001" will be new oil paintings by Saugatuck resident impressionist artist Dawn Stafford. Opening Saturday, October 6, Dawn's paintings will be featured for the entire month of October. Her work will be represented by 15 recent paintings (above " Tulips and Narcissus," a 28" x 34" oil on canvas).
Dawn's mix of impressionistic and expressionist style brings to the canvas as individualistc interpretation of traditional subject matter. In the eye of the impressionist there is a visual explosion of colors as they are effected by light and atmospheric conditions, yet in the heart of the expressionist lies an emotional desire to express the subjective.
I'm still trying to figure out why I'm so fascinated with the color blue? I'm even painting people blue! We are attracted to certain colors for the physical vibrational healing they offer us and of course every color embodies universal symbolic and metaphorical meaning. A beginning painter soon realizes that some colors can drink you in like quicksand and others will jump right off the canvas and onto your shoe. Perhaps my favorite thing about color is that, like music, when colors are in harmony - they sing .... so, what is the song of blue?
Kandinsky wrote:
The power of profound meaning is found in blue, and first in it's physical movements (1.) retreat from the spectator, (2) of turning in upon its own center. The inclination of blue to depth is so strong that its inner appeal is stronger when it's shade is deeper. Blue is the typical heavenly color. The ultimate feeling it creates is one of rest .... In music a light blue is like a flute, a darker blue a cello, a still darker blue a thunderous double bass and darkest blue of all - an organ."
Stafford's 2001 Collection will include some small blue paintings on paper in addition to her canvases of versatility in color, size and subject. Her largest canvas to date, 4 1/2 feet by 6 feet, creates the illusion of stepping onto a pathway through a grove of sassafras trees.
I wanted to capture the luminous yellow green that is present in the landscape only in early spring, which was when I started it. It is truly an enchanting forest worthy of my effort in repeatedly hauling such a large canvas across a field to reach it!"
This past summer Ox-bow employed Dawn to teach a drawing, watercolor and oil painting class through the "Art on the Meadow" program which is designed in hopes of involving local residents in Ox-Bow's artistic resources. This winter she plans to hold a class in The Timmel Collection gallery as well as a non-instructed evening of figure drawing which would be open to all. Dawn Stafford's studio will be located at The Timmel Collection starting October 25th through April 15th, 2002. The hours will be 10 AM - 5 PM Friday through Monday. For further information on dates and fees, contact The Gallery at 857-7274. All of Dawn's work is available for previewing at thetimmelcollection.com
"The Timmel Collection" is located at 133 Main Street on the Village Green is open daily through October 24th 10 AM to 5 PM.
