Lynda Ater
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A Retrospective
May 3 - 28
Above: Lexicon, 44" x 66", charcoal on paper, 2017
In January of this year, Lynda lost her husband to a rare oral cancer. In an unimaginable twist of fate, she has recently been diagnosed with a rare brain cancer. With admirable
courage, Lynda is facing what we all must experience -- the end of our life.
For many years, Lynda’s artwork has explored the challenge of transforming the threatening images of the cancer cells that she analyzed as a laboratory scientist into dynamic compositions and graceful paintings. Following her appreciation of Josef Albers’ work, Lynda has continually experimented with variations of color interaction. Her admiration for traditional ‘women’s work’ (i.e. quilting and handwork) has led her to explore the creation of patterns, both organic and geometric.
Lynda’s background in scientific inquiry has merged with her artistic sensibility to create
a unique and stunning body of work.
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”
- TS Eliot
Above: Suspension 1, 36" x 36", acrylic on canvas, 2020
GALLERY TOUR
Back Room
Gallery
be-mused explorations
Barbara Black
Above: Sunset Landscape, 2022, acrylic on paper, framed 16" x 12"
Barbara Black paints forms, colors, and shapes in and out until the composition acquires a meaning and a congruency for her. She also uses bits of unreadable writing that are symbolic to her of the elusive clues to the meaning of life and the conflicts among belief systems.
Seven years ago, she began pouring watery paint mixtures on her works on paper to begin a painting. She discovered when she returned to the studio the next day, the pigments in the abstract pourings had moved around. They often created recognizable images, especially of animal life, but occasionally humans, and landscapes. The muse often hid the meaning of these forms and choices from her until later.
These heavy black forms and the indecipherable messages come from the muse and Black’s unconscious fears that we in the world are not taking the steps needed to preserve all forms of life into the future on this planet. The featuring of cat imagery paired with her poet friend Cathy McGuire’s poems about her rescues of feral cats touches something very deep in Black that hates to admit that there is deliberate neglect and abuse of all living creatures.
Fishbowl I
Janice Yang
Fruition
I started this painting, Fruition, during my residency at Golden Artist Colors in New York in 2021. This annual residency program is awarded to three artist-educators around the world who receive the National Scholastic Art Award. I experimented with various mediums and techniques from the workshops and my ideas for the painting kept evolving during the process. I received so much support and hospitality from Mark Golden and his family, that I felt as if my hopes and dreams as an artist were getting closer.
As a Korean American immigrant to the United States, my journey to reach my dream as an artist and to find a sense of belonging has been always challenging. I am often torn between two very different cultures and expectations. The experience I had during the residency made me realize how I should not be afraid to take risks and that I should never stop believing that my dreams will become a reality. The peaches in Fruition represent my hopes and dreams, and are inspired by Korean folk paintings. Peach orchards in Korean traditional culture symbolize a dream land or life after death.
Janice Yang Fruition, mixed media on canvas, 46”X35”, 2022
