An illustrated children’s book, displayed as a storyboard, exists on a trail overlooking Round Lake at Green Lakes State Park – it’s between the upper and lower campgrounds and runs parallel to the street.
It is incredibly special. A magnificent way to engage children with art and writing in the fresh air while maintaining social distancing policies.
It is, like, finding a treasure without leaving the path. How cool is that?
Art is alive and well in Central New York. Art will always find a home here – find its way to you.
If you feel motivated to investigate this, there is something similar at Clark Reservation, as well. Those storyboards are placed closer together. They are in the open space between the playground and the museum. <3
Donna Atwood of Moravia, New York, is a former Science teacher turned full-time professional watercolor artist. Intuition is her guide.
She applies the watercolors (usually one hue per piece as a starting point) onto a variety of papers. Then she plays with abstractions and visual textures, adding found and household objects – plastic bags, rags, torn window screens – and weights to hold everything down until the next morning. When she removes the objects, she assesses what she has and begins to deliberate. She asks her husband what he sees, like a fun Rorschach test game and they laugh at the disparity of their visions.
Ultimately, she makes her own decisions about what she sees, as though the paper truly speaks to her alone. I delighted in her enthusiasm, positivity and passion as she spoke of this process when I met her at the First Friday event last night at Gallery 54 in Skaneateles, New York, where she is the featured artist this month.
Once Donna decides on the spirit animal, she goes to work rendering the composition focusing on the eyes. Tiny details are emphasized, allowing for the animal to disappear into the colorations. These are paintings that need to be seen in person. The photographs do not do them justice. They truly imbibe the artist’s joyful spirit.
Donna Atwood originals and prints are available for sale at Gallery 54 (54 E. Genesee Street, Skaneateles, New York 13152). If you would like to meet her too, perhaps ask her further questions about her process, Donna will be doing a demonstration at the gallery today (1:00-3:00 pm). <3
Excerpt from the gallery web-site
Even though Atwood was a science education major in college her interest in creating art, which began as a child, continued to flourish. It wasn’t until 2012 that she started practicing watercolor, she says describing her artwork as abstract impression. While she creates her share of surreal landscapes her preference, as the Gallery 54 show will demonstrate is for paintings of animals.
“I decided to create surreal animals and found many different ones lurking in patterns,” she notes. As she describes her work, the backgrounds start out as abstract colors and shapes, but “by manipulating shapes in to eyes, ears and a noses,” she can get the viewer to see” what she sees . . . “the face and body of a creature.”
Atwood is particularly fond of finding animals that are endangered or under represented in artwork generally. Many people, she notes, relate to specific creatures or what she calls “spirit animals.” She likes that viewers of her paintings relate to her whimsical version of “their animal” and that the colors or faces in her paintings make them smile.
“Keeping the background of a painting as untouched as possible allows the animal to grow from it,” she says, adding, “I want to express the presence of the animal, not highlight every hair or whisker.”
Atwood’s work has received awards at the New York State Fair and well as numerous local art exhibits. A resident of Sempronius, NY she has had artwork shown at the Cortland Public Library, the Dryden Community Cafe and the Gilded Lily gallery in Connecticut. Following her show at Gallery 54 she will have an exhibit at the Cortland Guthrie Hospital, from September through November and currently has work displayed at the Tully Artworks Gallery.
I drove to New Jersey on Monday. Visited with friends in Jersey City and Morristown, and stopped in to see my art exhibition at Summit Medical Group in Berkeley Heights. I love how easy-peasy it is to find your way around the country via Google maps/GPS, by the way. It is clearly the greatest invention to eliminate fear of travel. It was an effortless, fun-filled journey!
This place is so beautiful! Space Planner Elizabeth Wiech did a magnificent job installing this show. I feel lucky to be a part of it. It turns out that my work is the most abstract of the bunch. I picked up the artwork I had delivered that wasn’t used – actually my friend Anne had delivered it for me originally, and so this was my first time there. Everyone was so nice and helpful from the valet parking attendants and security people to the reception desk ladies and maintenance. Thank you, everyone! I am just so incredibly grateful for the experience.
The art exhibition is in the basement floor of the Lawrence Pavilion building in the complex at 1 Diamond Hill (Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922). Each artist is represented with an artist statement and information on how to contact them in order to make a purchase. A portion of sales will go to a pet charity – this is an animal-themed art show.
Eight of my paintings are there – from my 18″ x 18″ oil & collage Echolalia series.
The exhibition will continue through November 2016.
Contact Elizabeth Wiech at (908) 277-8806 for more information. This is a medical office building – she will know the building hours. The show is open to the public and can be accessed through a separate entrance with stairs leading to the basement floor or through the main entrance using the elevator.
