bsp;Elisabeth Strong, Michael Mulley, Patricia Schwimmer, Mikel Doktor, Jerome Greenberg, Elizabeth Leader, Jacqueline Welch, Doreen DeBoth, Joe Cascio, Candace Masters, Iris Kirkwood, Lukia Costello, Michael Morgulis, Julie Leatherbarrow, Chris Liberti, Michael Mararian, Daniel Rodgers, Bruce Adams, Ken Payne, Christina Cooke, Elise Anne Brooks, Frank Cravotta, Jackie Albarella, Gary Melius, Melissa Campbell, Jeff Quigley, Nancy Moran, Vincent Alejandro, Patti Harris, Eileen Graetz, Rita Argen Auerbach, Dianne Baker, Norine Spurling
Over the holidays we will be highlighting a number of members of Buffalo Society of Artists (BSA), so that you might support them by purchasing original works of art. Thanks to Paul Rybarczyk at BSA for helping me put these together. Visit the BSA website to learn more about the institution – one of the oldest continually operating arts organizations in the country. Next up on our list is artist Beth Pedersen:
Beth Pedersen, a former recent president of the BSA, grew up in lower Westchester County in close proximity to NYC and all the visual art any child could hope to see. Half of her summers were spent in the city and the other half on a dairy farm in New Jersey. She developed a strong connection with the earth, nature and the natural environment. Entering undergraduate school in New Paltz, N.Y. as a realist, she was overtaken by the freedom of abstract expressionist painting which continued to develop as a powerful way of expression for her throughout graduate school at U.B.
“My bird series began several years ago quite spontaneously and interrupted my usual approach to painting and printmaking.
“The series developed after observing repeated visits by bands of crows to my own feeders. Living in the same rural environment for the past 30 years, I had never encountered such insistence by so many birds for such a long period of time. In 2004 and again in 2007 they cawed and croaked making insistent attempts to communicate, all the while provoking chases with the ‘regulars’. In those years they nested in my white pines and took over my yard. It was an invasion. There was no way to ignore them. I began producing monotypes of crows and then ravens, finally leading to increasingly more detailed drawings in colored pencil. I then began to research the fascinating corvid family, discovering the differences between crows and ravens. This was my attempt to understand their mystical messages that some Native American cultures believe they are sending or perhaps just a way to deal with their insanely loud behavior.
“Since the early 80’s I have always used my art to explore the environmental issues of the day. My subject matter is gathered from written articles about how society is impacting the environment and this is the departure point that provides the basis of my visual imagery. So, past series have dealt with man and the built environment and landscape or bodyscapes, any of which have been subjected to society’s carelessness. I always say I prefer to work in an abstract way whether painting, drawing or printmaking but here I am drawing representational images of corvids.”
Some of these drawings and a monotype are currently on view at the new…
Meridian West Gallery (learn more)
1209 Hertel Ave.,
Buffalo, NY 14216
716-768-3805
The exhibition runs through January 3, 2013.
More Greater Buffalo artists and artisans…
Robert Schulman, Paul Klonowski, Betty J. Pitts-Foster, Carol Case Siracuse, Alejandro Gutierrez, Paul Alico, John Sargent, Deborah Stewart, Pat Pendleton, Kristin Damstetter, Alana Adetola Fajemisin, Sarah and John Cozzemera, Rob Hopkins, Jennifer Seth-Cimini,&n
bsp;Elisabeth Strong, Michael Mulley, Patricia Schwimmer, Mikel Doktor, Jerome Greenberg, Elizabeth Leader, Jacqueline Welch, Doreen DeBoth, Joe Cascio, Candace Masters, Iris Kirkwood, Lukia Costello, Michael Morgulis, Julie Leatherbarrow, Chris Liberti, Michael Mararian, Daniel Rodgers, Bruce Adams, Ken Payne, Christina Cooke, Elise Anne Brooks, Frank Cravotta, Jackie Albarella, Gary Melius, Melissa Campbell, Jeff Quigley, Nancy Moran, Vincent Alejandro, Patti Harris, Eileen Graetz, Rita Argen Auerbach, Dianne Baker, Norine Spurling
bsp;Elisabeth Strong, Michael Mulley, Patricia Schwimmer, Mikel Doktor, Jerome Greenberg, Elizabeth Leader, Jacqueline Welch, Doreen DeBoth, Joe Cascio, Candace Masters, Iris Kirkwood, Lukia Costello, Michael Morgulis, Julie Leatherbarrow, Chris Liberti, Michael Mararian, Daniel Rodgers, Bruce Adams, Ken Payne, Christina Cooke, Elise Anne Brooks, Frank Cravotta, Jackie Albarella, Gary Melius, Melissa Campbell, Jeff Quigley, Nancy Moran, Vincent Alejandro, Patti Harris, Eileen Graetz, Rita Argen Auerbach, Dianne Baker, Norine Spurling