07 Nov BEYOND THE MOUNTAIN
MARCH 15 – APRIL 26, 2019
Beyond the Mountain is a celebration of the natural world and a look at how humans engage with the landscape. Martha Armstrong and Jessica Singerman will exhibit paintings and drawings that explore the storytelling power of nature, the feel of moving through outdoor space and the accompanying sensations of motion and changing light. This exhibition examines the intersection of the outdoor experience and art and will also include a “paper mountain” in the gallery space, along with a video projection of skies. Beyond the Mountain aims to create a sense of wonder and to evoke the aliveness of the outdoor spaces that inspire us, from mountains and valleys to skies and fields.
MARTHA ARMSTRONG
Martha Armstrong is among the most accomplished of modern-day painters. Armstrong paints intuitively and she works passionately to record the landscape as it exists in her view. She paints by looking – intently and intentionally – and has noted that she is often overwhelmed by the beauty of seeing. Known for her landscapes of natural shapes, sometimes wild and jagged, Armstrong uses strong brushstrokes to stack blocky shapes of color into an extraordinary scene. She tends toward abstraction, yet a concrete image is always present. A former dancer and teacher of ballet, Armstrong’s work subtly reflects images of movement and rhythm. Her works are best understood as abstracted realism where forms, composition, color and light have a simplicity and power – their intensity of focus on feeling and seasonal changes are ambitious exercises in reconciling geometry and gesture.
Martha Armstrong studied at Rhode Island School of Design and Smith College. She has been featured in more than fifty solo exhibitions nationally and internationally, and ninety group shows. She has been a Visiting Artist at more than two dozen institutions around the country and the world, including American University in Washington, D.C., the School of Chicago Art Institute, Hollins University in Todi, Italy, and the American Academy in Rome. Her paintings are in dozens of permanent collections, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the Wharton School in Philadelphia, Hallmark Cards headquarters and the RCA Corporation. She is also in private collections around the world and has been profiled in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and several local publications.
JESSICA SINGERMAN
Jessica Singerman’s artworks are joyous celebrations of nature. As a child, Singerman frequently moved around the country and the world. During these times of constant change, nature and time spent outdoors served as her anchor to her inner self. As a result, she cultivated a deep love of nature that is revealed in her work, which pulses with vibrant color and depth.
Singerman studied at the College of William & Mary and the University of Delaware. Her watercolors are the subject of a book, “Little Watercolor Squares,” published in 2017, and her award-winning paintings and drawings are exhibited and collected internationally. Singerman lives and works in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
MORE ON THE PAPER INSTALLATION AND VIDEO PROJECTION
With paintings, the experience as a viewer is of the two dimensions of painting. Singerman yearned to create something larger than a painting, something much bigger for people – an immersive experience that would be evoke the sensation of being in the presence of a mountain.
Singerman settled on the idea of a mountain of paper cranes. The installation with be created with more than 1,000 hand-folded paper cranes suspended from the ceiling. The flock of birds will form a mountain in the gallery space. The area of the mountain will be thirty feet long, ten feet wide, and thirteen feet at its highest point.
The second part of the installation is Singerman’s Sky Project. The artist crowdsourced photos of the sky from all over the world and will project them in a continuously changing loop on walls of the gallery’s enclosed pocket gallery. The Sky Project is a reaction to the outdoor experience as filtered through cell phones. For many people, the experience of the outdoors is based entirely on what would make a good social media post. The Sky Project asks us to consider how we can continue to have unmediated experiences in nature with the constant distraction of telephones in our lives.
Located in the heart of South End, Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art represents a robust variety of artists and a broad range of mediums – museum quality glass, sculpture, painting, drawing and collage. Our artists and their work respond to a global environment that is culturally diverse, technologically advancing, and multifaceted.
ITINERARY OF EVENTS
Friday, March 15, 2019: Opening Reception with the Artists | 6:00-8:00pm
Saturday, March 16, 2019: Coffee, Conversation and Paper-Folding with the Artists | 11:30-1:00pm