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Exhibition Catalogue Bucks County Artists: A Cross Section Hicks Art Center Gallery Exhibition Narrative
The visual arts in Bucks County have a fascinating history. While enjoying close proximity to the cultural and commercial offerings of New York and Philadelphia, Bucks County has attracted artists for decades and the area continues to do so. As the Delaware River and its environs provided vital resources, sparked economic growth, and offered visitors many sites of unchallenged beauty, William Penn's county certainly remains widely famous for its art. Through the years, many famous artists have resided here and established the region as a well-known artist colony. This exhibition, continuing the ever-popular series of shows hosted by the Hicks Art Center Gallery, allows us to view new work by a selection of Bucks County's fine artists. This year, I am proud to feature the work of Nancy Allen, David Graeme Baker, Mark Grasso, and Elise Redfield. These artists have been selected for the quality of their work, for their dedication to their selected medium, and for their connection to both the contemporary art world and to Bucks County. An important, yet often overlooked facet of Bucks County art history remains in that many of the most influential artists associated with Bucks were not native to the county. These masters visited the region and found inspiration among the county's quaint towns, rolling hills, and placid waterways. The Pennsylvania Impressionists provide a prime art historical example of this uncharacteristic American art tradition. While we, as residents of Bucks, have undeniably embraced this particular group of fine artists, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is documented that most of the members of the New Hope School were not originally from Bucks County. The majority of these revered artists were attracted here resulting from an enchanting summertime visit to the area or a desire to stay close to the their alma maters, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts or the Art Students League. Yet, these artists who relocated to Bucks remain vital to the establishment of our home as a major artist colony. The Bucks County Artists: A Cross Section exhibition hosted by the Hicks Art Center Gallery at Bucks County Community College is an established event. I am very proud to act as guest curator and I hope visitors are both informed and intrigued by my selections. I feel that it is the curator's role to spark dialogue about art and I expect that such conversation will take place within the gallery and well beyond its borders. With that in mind, I have compiled selected works by four of Bucks County's talented artists and, as an accompaniment to these works, I have assembled a small group of works by artists who have been influenced by the county that we call home. The art included in the display loosely titled Inspired by Bucks boast international reputations, museum exhibition records, captivated collectors, and enviable career paths. In addition to their impressive resumes, they share a common link--all of them have found inspiration for their artwork in Bucks County. The artists include: Walter Baum; Nolan P. Benner, Jr.; Ron DeLong; Jill Hoffman; Frank Lind. The impact of Bucks County art remains far-reaching and as evinced by the art currently on view in the Hicks Art Center Gallery, Bucks County is a vital site for progressive and innovative artists both near and far. Perhaps the artists that we recognize as Bucks County's masters were born and reared elsewhere but many beloved artists found intellectual, personal, and artistic connections to the county including familiar names such as Daniel Garber, Edward Redfield, Morgan Colt, Fern Coppedge, Louis Bosa, and William Lathrop. These artists became synonymous with the art legacy that existed here. These artists represent the importance of Bucks County on the international art scene and this creative tradition continues today. As a source of inspiration, Bucks County cannot be overlooked in an exhibition that focuses on Bucks County art. This fact reflects both our county's history as well as our county's art. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my colleague, Fran Orlando, for her work pertaining to this exhibition. As longtime Director of the Hicks Art Center Gallery and Artmobile, Fran's contributions to art and art education in Bucks County are prominent, influential, and nothing short of remarkable. I thank her for sharing her expertise, dedication, and enthusiasm with me as she embraced my curatorial viewpoint and allowed my thoughts about Bucks County art to be expressed through this exhibition. Fran's sincerity, intellect, and professionalism proudly represent the mission of the Hicks Art Center Gallery and the impact that Bucks County Community College has had upon the visual arts. Please contact me if you have questions concerning the show. Enjoy the exhibition!
Dr. Lori Nancy Allen Artist's Statement With a love of detail, my work was traditional, modern, and at times, sculptural. An interest in jewelry and gemstones, their color and light led me into a period of experimentation with stained glass. Creating pictorial windows, I took inspiration from nature and decided to express in greater detail. This process led me to painting on glass, a process that requires kiln firing. Alternating between the making of jewelry and glass, I produced art for many years. A trip to Peru inspired a period of glass painting and eventually led to combining the art of fusing glass with painting. My current work stems from this period of creating visual textures and patterns in glass. Curator's Note Nancy Allen's extensive art background as an artist/educator coupled with her experiences as an avid traveler have informed her work and resulted in some of the most inspiring pieces of stained glass that have appeared in this area in many years. In the tradition of the highly respected and revered Bucks County stained glass artists like George Sotter and Anton Albers Jr., Allen employs various methods and techniques to her stained and fused glass work. She often paints on glass, sand blasts surfaces, and even slumps forms in order to attain the captivating visual effects and forms. Her stained and fused glass work, reminiscent of the De Stijl art movement of the 1940s, are among some of the most sought after pieces in galleries, museums, and private collections. She has studied art in Florence, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, and Santa Fe. View exhibition checklist of works by Nancy Allen. Artist's Statement In a simple sense my paintings are realist scenes, interior and landscape, still life and portrait. They are my attempts at understanding the links between my sense of visual harmony and my emotional response to a scene. The paintings have become vehicles for examining and preserving the moments when the visual and emotional elements create a poignant dialogue. I look for paintings in the residue of time passing and falling quietly around - in silvery scenes containing the stillness following an event. Searching for an evocative landscape or carefully posing objects in a still life, have become processes of both questioning and defining my aesthetic. In the process of painting and creating the illusion of space, I pursue these moments when my aesthetic sense and reality converge. Curator's Note Following his art studies at Wesleyan University and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Baker remains committed to the fundamentals of fine art showing his love of pigment handling, his classical method of draftsmanship, and his truly inspired painting process. View exhibition checklist of works by David Graeme Baker. Artist's Statement My artistic influence is based largely on process. Initially, it is my thought process that proves of interest as I view paintings, drawings, or sculpture by various artists. But the artistic, formal process fully informs my work. The interaction between a work of art and the viewer, the decision as to whether or not I can relate to that work of art, and the work's total effect are vital to my art. I work predominantly as a draftsman and produce art using pen, pencil, charcoal or ink. I strive to compose images that are simple yet captivating. While I enjoy the essence of realism, I am not restricted by realistic or photo-realistic imagery. I use photography as a tool and proceed with a work of art by learning from the lessons and rules of 2-D and 3-D design as movement of my drawing instrument occurs. In this method, I allow images to resemble life's moments as captured through time. The seascapes that I capture exist along the East Coast as well as at places which are native to Bucks County and in the areas of New Jersey. They all reflect my love of the outdoors, my play land, and my inner spirit. My work is, I believe, highly interpretive and hopefully, a visual beginning to the viewer's own story. Curator's Note In the tradition of American art, Mark Grasso has embraced the landscape and the seascape in meticulously prepared works on paper using the varied tools of the draftsman. His ability to captivate the viewer with scenes and sensations result in moving images of man juxtaposed with his environment. Vistas of the American romantic era are the backdrop for Grasso's intention when considering his contemporary art. The expansive American landscape paintings in the grand manner style popularized by Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, and Frederick Church are recalled by Grasso as he fuses the familiar, like the New Hope Train Station, with the extreme or the fantastic. These spirited compositions reject color as their focus, and instead, use the neutral values and tonalities to attract the viewer. Introspection is the aim and art is the process. View exhibition checklist of works by Mark Grasso Artist's Statement I was born in Bucks County and was exposed to great art from an early age. From that beginning, my love of art and curiosity about art continued. My great grandfather, Edward W. Redfield, painted in this area and my study of his work helped me to reach maturity in my own work. It takes years for an artist to reach maturity. I believe that an adequate foundation can act as a springboard for later creations of art. I am happy to display my recent work in this invitational exhibition at the Hicks Art Center Gallery. Curator's Note Like the art of the early modernists, Elise Redfield's work is enticing and bold, bright and permeating, spiritual and progressive. Her selection of formal elements and dedication to the landscape as well as the figure provide examples that derive simultaneously from ancient art sources and from American and European modernism. In Elise's work, she allows these art historical elements to coexist with the tenets of her own brand of Bucks County Impressionism and Modernism. The great granddaughter of Bucks County master, Edward W. Redfield, Elise has found her own artistic voice and has developed a strong command of her medium. Her pieces evoke a vibrant sense of color and form and, as expected, her background focuses on the art history that informs the work of accomplished fine artists. A student of Nelson Shanks, Elise Redfield studied at the Art Students League, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and in art academies abroad. View exhibition checklist of works by Elise Redfield Walter Baum
View exhibition checklist of works by Walter Baum. Nolan
P. Benner, Jr.
The Allentown, PA painter, Nolan P. Benner Jr., remained committed to the history of Bucks County landscape painting. He often traveled from his home in the Lehigh Valley to paint outdoors or en plein aire in the manner of his esteemed teacher, Walter Emerson Baum. The beauty of the rolling hills of Quakertown and Sellersville located in Upper Bucks County are conveyed to viewers by Benner in his work, Fields and Farms. View exhibition checklist of works by Nolan P. Benner, Jr. View exhibition checklist of works by Ron DeLong. Jill Hoffman Art educator and artist, Jill Hoffman, lives far from Bucks County but embraces the area in her printmaking. Hoffman lives in Austin, Texas and teaches art and art education to children and adults. When the occasion arises to visit friends in Bucks County, she finds comfort in the friendly conversations and the beauty of the county's historic homes. The manner in which many of Hoffman's friends have homes that are decorated in a style that differs significantly from those in her native southwest have produced ideas and subsequently, new work for Hoffman. Her work, Vase relates to the gathering of friends alongside beautiful objects that make a house a home. The outline of the painted vase is one of a series of decorative objects depicted in the Texan's large-scale prints. Memories of Hoffman's family home are subtly recalled by the employment of a small silhouette of the state of Texas in the foreground of each work in the series. View exhibition checklist of works by Jill Hoffman.
Frank Lind
Frank Lind is a highly accomplished and well-respected artist. The longtime Professor of Painting and Dean of the prestigious Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Lind's work is inspired by Bucks County also. Lind visited Bucks County and captured images for many of his paintings here as well as in nearby towns along the Delaware River. A good example of the painter's Bucks County work is the oil on canvas painting called Frenchtown. This work, an intimate painting of a stone bridge bathed in light shows the mastery of this contemporary American master with landscape compositions and color. Lind's painting unites 19th century realism with 20th century modern painting through his majestic brushwork and ability to show the interplay of color, light effects, and reflecting water. View exhibition checklist of works by Frank Lind. Vincent Romaniello paints from his studio in suburban Philadelphia. His interest in Bucks County art derives in many of his group figural compositions such as the work Noah. Romaniello joins the biblical subject matter with the contemporary attention to large-scale canvases and the relationship to the history of painting. Preparing his work in the Renaissance tradition, Romaniello works with the grand subjects of the Bible as was the method of the Newtown painter, Edward Hicks. Hicks, best known for the Peaceable Kingdom, was a sign painter in Bucks County whose work has been embraced by scholars nationwide. Similarly, Romaniello's work deal with history stories and the impact of the group figure composition common to Renaissance and Baroque art.
Article in December 2000 issue of American Art Review Written by Masterpiece Technologies Inc.'sdirector and exhibition curator, Dr. Lori, this article was published in the December 2000/January 2001 issue of American Art Review (p.122) and features the exhibition Bucks County Artists: A Cross Section and Bucks County Inspirations. This exhibition is on view at the Hicks Art Center Gallery on the campus of the Bucks County Community College, Newtown, PA until December 18, 2000. American Art Review is available at your local newsstands, Borders® Bookstores, and Barnes and Noble® Bookstores. Dr. Lori Dr. Lori, director of the fine art resource www.DrLoriV.com and the full service art gallery Masterpiece Technologies Inc. in New Hope, PA is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Wesleyan University, and she earned her Ph.D. in art history from The Pennsylvania State University. She has taught art history at the Pennsylvania State University, the State University of New York, Bucks County Community College, Newtown, PA and at the Yale University Art Gallery. She has held museum positions at the Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA, and the Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA. She recently published a new book titled, Seymour Lipton: An American Sculptor which deals with Abstract Expressionism and post-war history. She has published catalogues and articles on American artists including Jackson Pollock, Milton Avery, Emile Gruppe, and contemporary masters, Jeanne Wilkinson and Frank Lind. Her article on the work of Seymour Lipton was accepted and published by the nationally distributed magazine American Art Review. Education: Please feel free to contact me with your questions and comments concerning this exhibit. Dr. Lori
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