“Architecture of the Durango Area” is the title of an unusual exhibit in the upstairs gallery at Create Art & Tea. It opened June 2 and will be open through the end of the month. What’s surprising is the range of vision and media, from a watercolor of Mesa Verde stone masonry by J. Milton Beens to Rosemary Juskevich’s ghost-like Victorian house seen almost hidden by tall grass. What area painters and photographers have chosen to submit clearly expanded the initial call for entries.
Twenty-eight works are on display, and they invite quiet inspection. Juanita Nelson’s “Afternoon Light,” a small, intensely quiet pastel, garnered first prize. Two oil paintings earned second- and third-place ribbons: Maryellen Morrow’s “Suds on 2nd” and Jeri Friesen’s “Homestead Remains.” Juror Matthew French-Holt, owner of Art Supply House and Custom Frames, made the awards during opening night ceremonies.
Nelson’s pastel and its companion, “In Full Bloom,” reveal an eye drawn to fleeting moments and telling fragments. Instead of portraying a whole house from one of Durango’s history-laden streets, she renders partial views. It’s as if a flowering tree against an ordinary house caught her eye and made her stop to take in the shock of beauty. Or, Nelson noticed a simple porch with a patch of old snow and the flickering shadows of bare, late-winter trees. That’s the breathtaking image in “Afternoon Light.” What Nelson has expressed in both of her pastels is a singular and intense emotional experience. That she chose partial views and particularly shadows suggest time fleeting and time passing.
If you go
WHAT: “Architecture of the Durango Area,” an art exhibition.
WHERE: Create Art & Tea, 1015 Main Ave.
WHEN: Now through June 30. Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays. Closed Mondays.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.CreateArtandTea.com or call (703) 431-9649.
Morrow’s bold oil painting of a building on Second Avenue is extremely different. Seen from above, the brewery has been re-created with slashes of paint delivered with a palette knife. It’s a blunt, quick elucidation of a scene with an entirely different result than Nelson’s meditative lens. Morrow gives us an urban landscape, not unlike many of her earlier works, which carried the tradition of American Realism forward from Edward Hopper on into the present. Masterly in her semi-abstract technique, Morrow’s evocation with its suggested sense of humor in the title, is a welcome addition to this theme show.
In contrast to the other prize winners, Friesen’s small oil painting, “Homestead Remains,” is a tight depiction of a rural scene. With its high horizon, the old wooden buildings are seen from above. Friesen’s skillful rendering with dry brush adds to the sense of a different moment in time – seen and quietly and deftly communicated.
Kathy Myrick’s “Silverton Memory,” a splendid digital photograph of a rural façade with more than one outdated sign, brought a sense of irony to the exhibition. Look carefully and admire how Myrick framed her subject and included primary and secondary focal points, the latter could easily be missed. The title adds to the artist’s point of view and is not to be dismissed.
Juskevich’s haunting pastel of the Aspaas House is another creative response to the exhibit’s title. Instead of a clear and lucid rendering of a historic Victorian house, she has foregrounded wild grass and trees, almost hiding the structure in the tangle of nature. By doing so, the painter has added a layer of mystery, decay and time.
Several prints by the late Dan Nicholl have been included. Juror French-Holt made a point to give “The Strater Hotel” an honorable mention ribbon.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
