Transition To Abstraction — Five Painters, an exhibition showcasing a collective of local artists, will open in September at the Great Falls Library. The show features a group of experienced painters who began working in more abstract painting after exploring other mediums and styles. The artists represented, Parinaz Bahadori, Roberta Pruett Beasley, Elizabeth Freire, Linda Jones, and Jan S. Heginbotham, include two sculptors and an architect, and all are a part of the Great Falls Studios group.
The exhibition is scheduled to open at the Great Falls Library, Large Meeting Room, on September 3 and runs until September 30 or thereabouts. The library’s hours are 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Mon. and Tues. and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Wed. through Sat. If the room is locked, please ask someone at the information desk to open it. Since it is an active meeting room, visitors who wish to view the exhibition at a specific time are advised to call ahead to check that a meeting is not taking place.
Parinaz Bahadori is a former architect-turned-artist who has always loved calligraphy, poetry, words, and fonts. Besides color and shape, she is intrigued by the abstract shape of letters as well as their meanings. Sometimes she incorporates Persian poetry and letters in her work, or she might be inspired by a word or song in English or another language. Peace in Pieces, a 9-part painting, can be moved to create various abstract permutations.
Roberta Pruett Beasley’s acrylic and mixed media collages are her current focus, inspired by travel photographs. “In Santa Fe, the skies and mountains lent themselves to the color-blocking and layers of paint and paper… shapes become abstracted rather than realistic, capturing the feeling of a location. Colors create the atmosphere of a place and time of day. They reflect the beautiful light in those large, open spaces.”
Elizabeth Freire writes, “A landscape is a composition of forms, colors, scent, light, and other natural elements that make each artist’s experience and reaction to it unique, whether it be expressed in a figurative or abstract format. In these very trying times when being “Outside” was not often an option for most of us, turning inward meant visiting the gardens of thoughts and places where the heart is happy. Mine was creating a landscape with colors and shapes.” Elizabeth is also a sculptor.
Linda Jones writes, “My paintings reflect an intimate relationship with nature, and although my style tends towards realism, it portrays impressions of my perceptions, sometimes leaning to more abstract paintings derived from nature. I work in a variety of media: watercolor, acrylics, pastel, and mixed media. The paintings in this exhibit result from wandering along the shore beach-combing, beside ponds and creeks, and through the woods in my own backyard.”
Jan Heginbotham writes, “This has been a highly experimental period for my art, even before the pandemic. These oil paintings use my bronze and plaster sculptures, made over decades, as a starting point. Sometimes they are quite abstracted. Other times they are part of an interior or landscape. I was trained as a figurative sculptor and then transitioned into more abstract sculpture. I’ve done the same thing with painting, except the paintings are sometimes even more abstract.”
The artists note that with so many having spent so much time at home for more than a year, they hope to open a window into other landscapes and images for viewers to enjoy. The artwork is available for sale and contact information will be available at the exhibition.