“Barns & Bridges” Exhibition February 18-March 31, Featuring New Works by James Coe, Elissa Gore, Peter Batchelder and more!!

Opening Reception February 18, 4-6 pm

Often taken for granted, man-made structures that inhabit the landscape counterpoint natural forms and provide visual interest. In February, Windham Fine Arts presents an exhibit titled, simply, “Barns and Bridges”. Artists often draw inspiration from and translate these utilitarian structures into visual poetry. We observers respond to the familiar settings rendered in arrays of light and stroke. Whether capitalizing on the dramatic lines and sky-dissecting forms of bridges in a variety of lights, capturing the more traditional romanticism of snow-covered barns in bucolic settings, or shade-dappled covered barns sheltered below the limbs of trees - the works recall a walk in the country, a drive over a river, a quiet sitting in a cool interior. Some of the works on display are classic exterior landscapes with bridges and barns set deep into the middle distances. Other studies are pseudo-interiors, examining the half-dilapidated barn and its striking angles and shadowy beams. Each in its own way draws you in, inviting vicarious exploration of these artfully intimated spaces.

Painter Elissa Gore, describes her experience of a bridge beyond her window: “Over the course of an hour at dawn the color of the northwestern sky behind the bridge changes from lavender to pink to gray to blue. The bridge is normally a pale gray color. But standing like a giant mirrored spider, it takes on the color of the eastern sky opposite that’s hidden from my view. First it changes to gray, then green, next pink, onto yellow, and finally a pale blue gray. When a storm comes in from the north, the sky turns slate and the bridge nearly white. In the evenings, there are a variety of sunsets showing the bridge in silhouette. At night, the lights trim the bridge like gemstones… Originally I emphasized the sweeping panorama but about five years ago I began small square paintings in oil that compare the changing color combinations in just the section where sky, water and bridge intersect. This project is ongoing, with more than 70 images so far. The most recent is two days old.”

We are delighted that “Barns & Bridges” will feature an assortment of these colorful new paintings by Elissa Gore, arranged in grids that suggest a kind of architecture of their own. We are also pleased to have canvases by WFA favorite, James Coe, that embrace the comfortable image of barns nestled into their environs with strokes and daubs of impressionistic light. In addition, we welcome Chad Smith, pastellist, Mary Padgett, and oil painter, Peter Batchelder to Windham Fine Arts!

Get a first look, meet the artists & enjoy refreshments in the gallery. Please join us for the Opening Reception, Saturday, February 18th, 4 - 6 pm!

Artwork by Elissa Gore, “Bridge Studies”  Oil  8 x 8s