Tall Grass Gallery is honored to welcome five nationally and internationally recognized artists with its new exhibit of pastel paintings – Ted Fuka, Mike Barret Kolasinski, Kathleen Newman, Mary Ann Trzyna, and Marikay Peter Witlock.
Each artist is a member of various elite artists’ organizations, including the Pastel Society of America, the International Association of Pastel Societies, the Chicago Pastel Painters, the American Society of Marine Artists, American Transparent Watercolor Society, American Impressionist Society, and Oil Painters of America.
Their works have appeared in numerous articles in art journals, magazines and books, are included in many corporate and private collections, and they have earned awards in hundreds of prestigious regional, national and international exhibitions.
JOY: Color, Light, Essence, Energy presents several works from each artist, including various subjects and viewpoints.
A reverence for the earth – nature, landscape, wildlife – its beauty and serenity, is inspiration for all five, and a desire to communicate to the observer the ever-changing light, vibrant color, forms and patterns discovered at different times of day, seasons, and weather conditions drives them to continue to search for new subjects for their plein air and studio pastel works.
Often these special places that are portrayed in their paintings – woods, prairies, rivers crashing against rocks, misty shorelines, the moon through clouds reflecting on lakes, the intense sun rising through tangled bare branches – convey memory, comfort, mystery, majesty, the passage of time.
While the natural world is the predominant source for the images in the show, also included will be still life, figurative works, scenes of life in the city, and the world of sailing on Lake Michigan.
Curated by Claudia Craemer and Debbie Craemer, JOY: Color, Light, Essence, Energy will open for viewing on Saturday, May 1 and continue through June 5, 2021.
All are welcome to visit the show during regular Gallery hours, 11am – 4pm, Tuesday through Saturday. Visitors are asked to wear masks while in the gallery, and the gallery will provide them for those who don’t have their own.
Tall Grass Arts Association, 367 Artists Walk, Park Forest, IL
708 748 3377 tallgrassarts.org