Liz Haywood-Sullivan. Traveling Light

Transcription

1 Liz Haywood-Sullivan Traveling Light

2 Front cover: (detail) Celebration This page: Your Table Awaits Opposite page: Village Dawn v o se A DIVISION OF VOSE GALLERIES OF BOSTON NEW AMERICAN REALISM contemporary

3 Liz Haywood-Sullivan Traveling Light October 8 - November 17,

4 FOREWORD Boston-area artist Liz Haywood-Sullivan is just the type of artist that we look for at Vose Galleries. She has immense talent, she is motivated and works hard, she garners awards and honors, and she is ready for the next step to appeal to a broader audience. She has been featured in three national magazines this year American Artist, Pastel Journal, and American Art Collector and has received widespread recognition and awards from many local and national professional organizations. We are very pleased to host her first Boston exhibition with over thirty-five striking paintings that are worthy of national exposure. Taking full advantage of the effects available only in the pastel medium, Liz s work shimmers with rich, pure color and velvety textures. Her sunsets are sensual studies in textural effects, her water scenes coalesce in delicate shadows, and her city scenes vibrate with light and energy. Because pastels require no drying time, Liz s paintings are fresh and spontaneous. Unlike other mediums, pastels are available in a rainbow of colors that, because they are not mixed on the palette, avoid the muddiness that can occur in oil paintings. Oddly enough, Liz often works on black paper to get more light into her subject. The artist explains, If I took a light-yellow pastel and put it onto a white paper, the yellow and white would look very similar. On black paper, however, the difference is clearer, and I end up using more color. These fine strokes placed side by side create an optical mix that results in stunning atmospheric effects. Layering from darker to lighter color values, she works from hard to soft pastels, a technique that gives her work wonderful translucency with amazing depth. During this process, the darker colors peek through from underneath, creating a glow that I love, the artist explains. My final touches are the highlights that I instinctively know will complement the strong darks. The piece doesn t sing until I add those final glints of light I live for that moment! Pastel has become increasingly popular in recent years as people are starting to appreciate the range of rich effects that can be created with pastels. For a long time pastels were considered a delicate medium, one that was easily damaged. However, because pastels are nearly 100% pigment they are more resistant to damage than oil, which can fade, yellow, crack or blister over time, or watercolors, which contain so little pigment that they can fade easily if unprotected. Some collectors object to the glazing that pastels require, but recent advances in non-glare glass greatly reduce reflections without distorting the picture. Framed without a mat, pastels can now look as substantial as oil paintings. 2 -Marcia L. Vose Director, Vose Contemporary Realism This Way Not That

5 Comm & Mass Ride On Pru View Louisburg Shadowplay 3

6 A few years ago, when I first met Liz Haywood-Sullivan, she was already an accomplished, talented and dedicated graphic designer. She then became enthusiastic about becoming the best and finest fine artist that she could be, and in a relatively short period of time she became an amazing artist of professional caliber. She paints with voracity and has her own unique style. She has an amazing sensitivity to light and color, which can clearly be seen in all of her works. She is constantly continuing to experiment and to grow. As an artist, and especially as a pastelist, she has the ability to stand next to them all, and I'm sure that in a few short years, she will be regarded as one of the best. Albert Handell Hall of Fame, Pastel Society of America, NYC LIZ HAYWOOD-SULLIVAN: ARTIST INTERVIEW WITH MARCIA VOSE After leaving a successful career in graphic design in 1996 to pursue your art full-time, you ve worked solely with pastel. What initially drew you to the medium? I initially chose pastel on a whim. My husband and I were taking a summer vacation to Taos, New Mexico, and were going to take a course each at the Taos Institute of the Arts. He found a photo class and I had a handful of options for the same week. My only experience with pastel had been with figure drawing on brown kraft paper, but I remembered how much I had enjoyed rendering the lights and darks of the composition. So I signed up. Expressing yourself through one medium for eleven years shows true dedication! How has your relationship with pastel become in your own words a love affair? Once I started using pastels I was seduced by the light, by the texture of the medium, by the immediacy, by the earthy feel of a pastel in my hand. When I paint with pastel, the pastel itself feels as if it is an extension of my fingers. The tactile experience is as if I am painting with butter. Perhaps some of the joy is the similarity to those first finger paintings from childhood, because there is no tool between me and my creation. I have tried other mediums but return to pastel very quickly, and I have never tired of it or lost interest. Painting a pastel is all about patience and delayed gratification, but the results are worth the discipline. (continued on p.7) 4

7 Boston Garden Stroll Homage to The Ritz 5

8 Commonwealth Sanctuary Reflections of the Hancock 6

9 Artist Interview (continued) Boston city scenes are a new addition to your oeuvre, and you ve completed a series of paintings of the Back Bay. Why the new direction? My husband and I lived in the Back Bay for four years, and we know and love the area. I am essentially a landscape painter, but many of my paintings contain architectural elements. At one point I did architectural renderings, and love the hard edges of man-made shapes juxtaposed against the softer forms of nature. However, I needed to find a way to "paint" Back Bay, not do architectural renderings of it. My mindset with the series is that the buildings are secondary to the landscape elements. Even though in This Way Not That (p.2) the building is dominant, in my mind the building is just a backdrop for the single tree in front of it. In Your Table Awaits (inside cover), the painting would not be the same without the tree trunk that suggests an unseen sidewalk and the out-of-frame canopy of leaves that cast their shadows on the awning below. Using this approach, the Back Bay area presents itself with unlimited landscape subject matter and becomes a joy to paint. (continued next page) Back Cove Birch es 7

10 Downeast World s End Artist Interview (continued) Your paintings are wonderfully intimate and emotive, scenes that are compelling to a wide audience. How do you maintain a universal appeal while painting the landscape that surrounds you? As I have developed as a landscape painter I have realized one indelible guideline the validity of painting what you know. That is why so many of the paintings in this show are from places I have known intimately: from the Back Bay in Boston, to the North River on the South Shore of Massachusetts, to the coast of Maine. I am an intuitive painter I paint what I see and feel and I can only paint what inspires me. I need to know the place, understand the light, the lay of the land. I sense the contours of a landscape when I paint as if I am walking upon it. I hope that the viewers will look at a painting and it will transport them take them to a place they recognize. That s what I m going for: the light of memory, an intangible which people relate to in my work. (continued on p.10) 8

11 Reflections of the Day 9

12 Artist Interview (continued) Why Traveling Light? The title of this show represents several things to me. It suggests the passage of light that plays in and throughout my paintings. They are my meditations glimpses of how light strikes the world around us, often in ways that most people never take time to notice in their busy daily lives. My challenge is to capture a fleeting moment of day, and I strive to be true to that representative passage of light. The title also relates to the subject matter in this show. I have chosen to portray images found throughout New England, traveling from shore to forest, through the seasons, and from rural to urban. Perhaps most importantly and profoundly, it describes the process of my painting itself. When I am in the moment of my painting the world drops away, time stands still, and daily minutiae becomes insignificant I truly travel light when I am at the easel. Herring Run 10

13 Orange Glow Road Trip 11

14 Knickerbocher Farm Waiting for Spring Eventide 12

15 Winter Blow 13

16 LIZ HAYWOOD-SULLIVAN: ABBREVIATED CURRICULUM VITAE SELECTED ART AWARDS Academic Artists Association Honor Award, 56th National Exhibit, 2006 Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, Pastel Society of Maine Award, For Pastels Only, 2006 Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, Pastel Society of America Award, For Pastels Only, 2005 Festival of the Arts, Best of Show, North River Arts Society, 2005 Allied Artists of America, Pastel Society of America Award, Fall 2004 Connecticut Pastel Society "Renaissance in Pastel" Annual National Exhibition, Dianne Bernhard Gold Medal for Excellence, 2003 Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, Best of Show For Pastels Only, 2002 The Pastel Journal, Third Annual Pastel 100, Dianne Bernhard Gold Medal for Excellence, 2001 Festival on the Common, First Place, South Shore Art Center, 2002 Duxbury Art Museum, First Place, Annual Winter Juried Show, 2001, 2005 Festival of the Arts, Best of Show, North River Arts Society, 2001 Quincy ArtsFest, Best of Show, 1999 Celebration NATIONAL EXHIBITIONS Butler Institute of American Art, Selections from PSA Annual Show, Winter Pastel Society of America, 34th Annual Exhibition, NYC, Fall 2006 Allied Artists of America, Annual Exhibition, NYC, Fall 2004, 2006 Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club 108th Annual Exhibition, NYC, Fall 2004 Academic Artists Association 54th, 56th National Exhibit of Contemporary Realism, 2004, 2006 Connecticut Pastel Society "Renaissance in Pastel" Annual Exhibition, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, For Pastels Only, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 Butler Institute of American Art, Pastel Invitational, Spring 2003 Pastel National, Wichita Center for the Arts, Spring 2002 International Association of Pastel Societies, Santa Fe, Spring

17 SOLO/FEATURE SHOWS Vose Galleries of Boston, "Traveling Light", Fall South Shore Conservatory, "A Shared Love", Hingham, MA, 2006 Duxbury Art Complex Museum, "Complex Conversations", Duxbury, MA, 2005 The Dolphin Gallery, "Fields and Farms", Hingham Library, 2003 The Landmark Gallery, South Shore Art Center, Boston, MA, 2002 James Library/Center for the Arts, North River Marsh: A Yearlong Homage, 2002 PUBLISHED ARTICLES American Art Collector Magazine, October The Pastel Journal, "Lighting Up the Sky", October American Artist Magazine, "Dynamic Darks", May Southwest Art Magazine, Annual Pastel and Watercolor issue, April 2005 The Artist s Magazine, "On the Rise - 20 Emerging Artists", January 2004 The Artist s Magazine "For the Love of Pastel", August 2003 The Pastel Journal, "Showing Locally By Design", September/October 2002 The Pastel Journal, "Massachusetts Artist Turns from Technology to Art", March 2002 TEACHING Black and White, Weekend Workshop, Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, 2005, 2006 Advanced Pastel Studio, North River Arts Society, Fall Intuitive Pastel Landscape, North River Arts Society, Fall North River Arts Society, Young Masters Art Program, Summer North River Arts Society, Children s Program Coordinator/Instructor Bright of Day EDUCATION Rochester Institute of Technology Department of Fine and Applied Arts Bachelor of Fine Arts with High Honors 1978 Degree in Environmental Design Layout and design by Elizabeth W. Vose and Liz Haywood-Sullivan Writing by Marcia L. Vose, Liz Haywood-Sullivan and Elizabeth W. Vose Special thanks to Carey L. Vose, Assistant Director of Vose Contemporary Printing by Capital Offset Co., Inc., Concord, New Hampshire Copyright by Vose Galleries of Boston, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 15

18 Glorious 16 Back Cover: SunSet I, SunSet II and SunSet III

19 EXHIBITION CHECKLIST Back Cove Birches 12 x 30 inches Commonwealth Sanctuary 36 x 24 inches Herring Run 36 x 24 inches 2006 Orange Glow 10 x 10 inches 2004 SunSet I 36 x 24 inches 2005 Winter Blow 24 x 36 inches Boston Garden Stroll 36 x 24 inches Downeast 16 x 16 inches 2006 Homage to The Ritz 36 x 24 inches Pru View 16 x 16 inches SunSet II 36 x 24 inches 2005 World's End 12 x 18 inches Bright of Day 16 x 16 inches 2006 Calm 15 x 50 inches 2005 Celebration 20 x 20 inches Comm and Mass 16 x 16 inches 2006 Eventide 12 x 36 inches Fish out of Water 16 x 16 inches 2006 Garden View 16 x 16 inches 2006 Glorious 24 x 36 inches 2006 Knickerbocher Farm 16 x 16 inches Louisburg Shadowplay 16 x 16 inches Lupine and Birch 18 x 18 inches 2004 Night's Approach 12 x 18 inches 2003 Reflections of the Day 36 x 24 inches 2005 Reflections of the Hancock 36 x 24 inches Ride On 12 x 12 inches Roadtrip 36 x 24 inches SunSet III 36 x 24 inches 2005 This Way Not That 24 x 36 inches Village Dawn 12 x 30 inches Waiting for Spring 12 x 30 inches 2006 Your Table Awaits 20 x 36 inches Calm 17

20 VOSE 238 Newbury Street Boston, Massachusetts Telephone Toll Free G ALLERIES OF B OSTON info@vosegalleries.com D EALERS IN F INE PAINTINGS FOR S IX G ENERATIONS ESTABLISHED 1841