Studio Incamminati Exhibition

February-May 2024

 

Gregory Blue learned of Stroud Preserve in 2016, a Natural Lands' property of protected open space convenient to his studio. He began painting plein air returning to the site regularly to explore the diverse terrain, seasonal effects, and lighting over the course of the day. Over the next several years paintings began to accumulate and the experience inspired a project to understand and interpret the property.

 

This collection of Blue's work opens a fascinating view into the artist’s evolving process and approach. Blue's world vision is saturated with color and focused on the forms and textures of the natural world at various times of day under changing light conditions. The result of this patient, analytical exploration is a symphony of highly controlled yet powerfully dramatic works that resound with brilliantly colored, evocatively illuminated pastoral scenes typical of southeastern Pennsylvania.

 

The resulting exhibition is a deeply personal experience of Stroud Preserve. What began as a convenience, a place to paint plein air, became an opportunity to observe change over an extended period of time. That prolonged engagement of intense observation triggered memories of the artist's childhood, images of open fields and wooded hills that represented a time of innocence and imagination. They are the external landscapes he saw as much as they are the interior landscapes he felt.

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Dr. Sheila Barker, PhD

Executive Director

Studio Incamminati