Forces of Nature
Stephanie Roberts-Camello | Deborah Pressman | Lia Rothstein | Marina Thompson
E. N. Wennberg Gallery
July 26-August 24 | Opening Reception: Friday, July 26, 5-7 PM
Please join the artists for an informal conversation on Saturday, July 27 from 3-4:30 PM, click here for more information
The exhibition Forces of Nature brings together artists Deborah Pressman, Stephanie Roberts-Camello, Lia Rothstein, and Marina Thompson in a group exhibition where natural elements, memory, and environmental themes are deeply integrated into each artist’s ideas. However, one chooses to define “forces of nature,” whether referring to physical, natural, or imaginary worlds, there are commonalities at play: elements of movement, change, color, texture, flow, evolution, growth, and dynamism, to name just a few. Initially, these four artists came together as colleagues through New England Wax, a regional juried membership group, but they have utilized a wide variety of materials in this exhibition.
Deborah Pressman’s images of melting icebergs disappearing into the blue-green sea are her response to global warming and its devastating effect on glaciers that have survived since the Ice Age.
Stephanie Roberts-Camello’s encaustic relief work folds in family history with old letters, organic materials, and eco-printing and leads us to a time in history when the forces of nature were harsh, unpredictable, and detrimental to the whole country.
Lia Rothstein’s sculptural work, utilizing biodegradable and sustainable biomaterials, illustrates the strength and fragility of our oceans and the interdependency of their life forms. The pollution of our seas and marine life by plastics created with fossil fuels is a primary concern of the artist. Flux and ephemerality are expressed with translucent natural materials and organic forms made from chitin, a material found in the exoskeletons of crabs and other crustaceans.
Working in thin layers of pigments and beeswax, Marina Thompson focuses on how light transforms color and shape. Color constructs luminosity, building complex layers of illusionistic, rhythmic, pictorial space. Her two-dimensional paintings invite the viewer to participate in deciphering the fore, middle and far grounds within her elusive geometry, biomorphic shapes, and shifting perspectives.
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