Cummings and Ardan in exhibit at RAG
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Color explodes from the walls of the Old Bank Gallery at The Roxbury Arts Group in a vibrant exhibit of paintings by Barbara Ardan and Marie Cummings. The exhibit, on display through May 17th will host an artists’ reception on Saturday, May 3 from 3-5 pm. Gallery hours are Tues. – Sat. 10 am -4 pm and by appointment.
Both artists are watercolorists who bring to this traditional medium a whimsical and experimental approach. There are no pretty landscapes in this show, rather a range of arresting abstractions.
Marie Cummings, who makes her home in Treadwell, says “ I see life as multi-faceted, richly textured and complex- and so is my art. I paint with watermedia and use gesso gel and tissue paper to create the textures on which I apply my paints in successive layers. I utilize unusual materials as stencils for the pigments: onion bags, cardboard, bubble wrap, and stamps, among other things.” The result is a series of brilliantly pigmented, richly layered paintings. Cummings came late to painting after a business career . She began her studies in Experimental Watermedia at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center in Florida where she now teaches the same course. She is a signature member of the Florida Watercolor Society, signature member of the Internatiional Society of Acrylic Painters (ISAP), the Tallahassee Watercolor Society and full membership in the Society of Layerists in Multi Media ( SLMM). Her works are in the collection of the City of Clearwater, and various private collections.
Barbara Ardan , an Oneonta watercolor artist, has exhibited widely throughout the upstate region. The work in the current exhibit ranges from small, finely textured and nuanced abstractions to current work that utilizes frosted mylar as a canvas for acrylic, graphite, and conte crayon to stunning effect.