“For me, animals endure our presence and attentions with a bemused tolerance so often lacking in our own species.”- Susan Brearey

“Forest Silhouettes,” a new collection of works by noted artist Susan Brearey, now on display at the J.H. Muse Gallery, will be celebrated with an opening reception December 17, 5-8 pm.  Brearey, along with artist Mike Piggott, will be featured at the gallery’s annual holiday party, Champagne & Chocolates.   Brearey’s works remain on display until January 15, 2010.

Represented by galleries around the country, Brearey makes her home in Vermont, where she is on the faculty of the Putney School.   Inspired by Vermont’s landscapes, as well as other wilderness, her paintings “employ an economy of detail which evokes both the archaic forms found in the primitive cave paintings of Lascaux and the elegant simplicity of Asian art.”

“When you look at one of my paintings, it is like the moment you see an animal, just before it flees,” she says.

Highly evocative, Brearey’s wildlife portraits hold spiritual magic.  I think of them as visions, as messengers from one space to ours.  They are here with us only momentarily, physically compressed, traveling from portal to portal.

Anthropomorphism is completely absent.  Brearey’s animals are practically faceless, symbolically universal.  Her palette is muted; she favors serious blues, dulled whites to silver; I see references to topographic maps in a few of these new works.  Maps…. or a tree’s inner rings, a forest’s way of revealing the years of its existence.

Brearey leaves it up to us to form answers to all the questions her paintings ask. Likely, a certain warning about our planet’s future is here; Brearey acknowledges that her paintings reflect her concern for environment and species.  Perhaps these paintings are prayers, or premonitions.

For more information on this and other exhibitions taking place at the J.H. Muse Gallery this month, log on to their website.

Item #2

Ring in the Season with Amy Ringholz’s Solo Winter Show & Reception, at Altamira Fine Art. The exhibition opens with an artist’s reception at the gallery (172 Center Street) on Friday, December 18, 5-7:00 pm. The show remains up until January 8, 2010.

I remember what I believe was Ringholz’s first show — or one of her firsts; she had a Takin’ it to the Streets booth, and she sold a lot of paintings that year.  Her signature “jigsaw” painting style was totally new.  Since then, Ringholz has become one of Jackson’s favorite local artists; her work could be called playful, but it is rooted in the artist’s deep reverence for the power of animals, and by our collective unconsious reverence for wildlife.  Her work is certainly energetic and vibrant.

Says Altamira’s Director Mark Tarrant: “Amy’s Holiday Show has become an annual happening where locals gather to celebrate the Season and her work. Amy’s bold works depicting our local wildlife on bright, colorful canvases are a fitting way to celebrate both the end of the current year and the beginning of the new one.”

For more information, log onto Altamira’s website here.

Item #3

Trio Fine Art – featuring art by Lee Carlman Riddell, Kathryn Mapes Turner, September Vhay and Russell Chatham – will be open the following hours during this Holiday Season:

December 22 noon-5pm

December 23 noon -5

December 24 10-3

December 29 noon – 5

December 30 3pm-8pm

December 31st 10-3

The gallery looks forward to seeing everyone during the Wednesday, December 3o Art Walk. Additionally, Trio Fine Art will be open during the winter on Thursdays only, 12:00 noon – 5:00 pm.   More information on Trio’s winter shows will soon be available.   www.triofineart.com.