Reflections from Different Directions
Zanne Jefferies and Sheri Seckman
|
review
|
|
by Kevin Nance
|
|
Pastels are a wonderful and probably underused artistic medium. The depth and richness of a well-done pastel image—created with an amalgam of drawing and painting techniques—often exceeds that of an acrylic or even oil painting by a similarly skilled artist. Dusty or creamy, the chalky pigments can be layered on the paper without losing their individuality and vigor; precision and loosely blended effects can coexist in productive tension with one another. Easier said, of course, than done.
In “Reflections from Different Directions,” Arts Connect’s new joint exhibition at Central Bank’s John G. Irvin Gallery, Lexington artists Zanne Jefferies and Sheri Seckman demonstrate some of the medium’s yummiest possibilities. While their respective artistic visions are fairly conventional—they mostly go in for traditionally framed landscapes, either actual or imagined—they both show considerable skill at balancing hard and soft, sharp and gauzy. While their respective artistic visions are fairly conventional—they mostly go in for traditionally framed landscapes, either actual or imagined—they both show considerable skill at balancing hard and soft, sharp and gauzy. The result here is a group of accomplished yet modestly priced pieces that would grace many an art-starved living space. Jefferies has a number of middling, rather dutiful horse pictures here, but demonstrates a special feel for sensual flowers shown close up and personal.
|
Her star lily, pomegranate pink with dark speckles and protruding stamens against a dark background, packs an erotic punch. So do her rose, the petal tips lined with just the right amount of golden light, and her magnolia blossom, whose fragility is demonstrated by what looks like a nearby bloom torn apart and carried off by the wind. There’s a powerful psychological connection between the artist and her subjects in these pieces that comes through with clarity and force.
Seckman’s handsome landscapes, while naturalistically rendered, have a certain intensity in the colors and slightly stylized shapes that occasionally points toward an emotional realm beyond mere representation. “Sunset in the Meadow,” “Blue Sky on the Farm” and “Ghost Ranch”—the last presumably depicting some of the rugged New Mexico topography that once captivated Georgia O’Keeffe—seem to ripple with the charged sort of energy only generated by deep imaginative engagement with the scene. The artist doesn’t just put us there. She shows us how she felt about these places. Elsewhere, Seckman throws us a curveball in a series of collages, in which human figures are dropped into real and/or imaginary landscapes. In my favorite pair of these, two different sets of dancers perform in more or less fantastical settings, suggesting once again that all the world’s a stage. I’d snap up those tickets.
|
Star Lily - Zanne Jefferies
|
Rose - Zanne Jefferies
|
Magnolia - Zanne Jefferies
|
Sunset in the Meadow - Sheri Seckman
|
Ghost Ranch - Sheri Seckman
|
Blue Sky on the Farm - Sheri Seckman
|
