| Middletown Arts Center Hosting Kevin Macpherson |
| Tuesday, October 7, 2008 10:36:26 AM - Middletown Ohio |
Middletown Arts Center
Contact: Linda Fisler
513-292-4509
cincyredhead@gmail.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Middletown Arts Center To Host Artist Kevin Macpherson
And His “Reflections on a Pond” Painting Exhibit
By: Amy Jeynes, Free Lance Writer and Editor, Amy.Jeynes@gmail.com
In spring 2009, oil painter Kevin Macpherson will bring his unparalleled “Reflections On A Pond” exhibit to Middletown, Ohio, for its first appearance east of the Mississippi. Here’s why you shouldn’t miss it.
Fine art is like fine wine: Only experts can make it. Only connoisseurs can appreciate it. And, of course, older is always better . . . right? Middletown Arts Center in Middletown, Ohio, has been challenging those assumptions and changing lives through hands-on art instruction since its founding in 1957. “The Mac,” as it’s known to locals, is a gem of an arts center—spacious, inviting, and professionally equipped—that offers hands-on art classes to about 1,500 students of all ages and skill levels every year. As part of its mission to make artistic excellence available to all, the center has reached out across the country to bring an acclaimed oil painter and 195 of his paintings to Middletown in spring 2009.
About Kevin Macpherson
Artist Kevin Macpherson makes his home in Taos, New Mexico, and travels the world to paint. An heir to Claude Monet and the Impressionists in terms of both style and sheer technical skill, Macpherson prefers to paint outdoors (en plein air). His paintings are collected worldwide. Macpherson isn’t one to rest on his laurels. Along with a rare level of artistic skill, he also has a rare passion for teaching. He has written numerous magazine articles and two best-selling art instruction books: Fill Your Oil Paintings With Light & Color (1997) and Landscape Painting Inside & Out (2006), both from North Light Books. He is a sought-after workshop instructor who has taught in France, China, and across the United States.
“To teach someone how to ‘see as an artist’ can change a life,” says Macpherson. “I have had the pleasure teaching thousands of aspiring artists over the years. Most wish they had not put their art on hold for most of their lives.” Reflections on a Pond: The Exhibit Reflections on a Pond is a series of paintings Kevin Macpherson started in 1996, when he conceived a project that would be part visual diary, part exploration of light and nature, and part exercise of sheer will.
Macpherson resolved to do a new 6" × 8" oil painting of the same subject—the pond behind his home—every day that he could, until he had one painting for each day of the year.
The commitment he was making to himself was daunting. Would he have the stamina to paint the very same subject so many times? Would the results excite him, and would they excite anyone else? As Macpherson wrote in his painting journal: “We are so jaded and expectant of special effects and the ‘Wow!’ of something extraordinary. Will nature, just as God intended, entertain by its mere ordinary display of daily effects?”
Due to his frequent travels, it took Macpherson five years to make a pond painting for each day of the year—but he finished the project, and the labor was worth it.
The resulting collection of paintings makes a glorious case for the truism that nothing is more constant than change. In the painting for the cold evening of March 19, the distant mountains behind the pond are bright orange-red, showing off the effect of light that gives this mountain range its name: Sangre de Cristo, or “blood of Christ.” In the painting for July 1, these same mountains are a deep, cool greenish-blue; in October, the yellows and oranges of the changing leaves add warmth to the mountains’ faces. Come January, those hues are replaced by mostly icy blues—yet the artist doesn’t fail to notice the tinges of green and purple.
Claude Monet and other Impressionists of the nineteenth century sought to capture the fast-changing effects of light in their paintings. Likewise, as Macpherson painted his Pond series, he was less concerned with the subject of the pond itself than with the effects of light at different times of the day and year. Macpherson observed and captured the colors he saw, rather than putting down the colors one might think should be there. This keenness of observation is one of the foundations of excellent painting, and as Macpherson points out to his students, it can be learned. Once you learn to see in this way, his students say, you notice the surprising variety of colors in your surroundings, and every day becomes richer.
Many who see the “Reflections on a Pond” exhibit are surprised to learn that every painting in the series was done with the same four paint colors: Cadmium Yellow Light, Alizarin Crimson, French Ultramarine Blue, and white. Rather than buying tubes of paint in a rainbow of colors, Macpherson believes in mixing his colors from a simple palette of primary colors: a red, a yellow, and a blue, plus white. This technique of mixing colors from a “set palette” yields infinite color choices that, paradoxically, appear harmonious because of their common origins. It’s another of Macpherson’s guiding principles, and for anyone who hasn’t thought about color in this way before, it’s an epiphany.
Taking the Pond exhibit to new venues enables Macpherson to share his art and himself with a wider audience. The small scale of the pond paintings invites viewers to step up close for an intimate visual dialogue. Linda Fisler, exhibit chairperson and member of the board of governors at Middletown Arts Center, says, “Rarely do we get the opportunity to see such outstanding plein air paintings displayed in a setting as intimate as our center in Middletown. This exhibit is a rare treat.”
With her trademark energy and enthusiasm, Fisler talks up the forthcoming Pond exhibit and surrounding events. “Just imagine,” she says, “if you had been alive during Claude Monet's or Camille Pissarro's time, what a privilege it would have been to listen to them talk about their methods, their philosophies and their legacies, or to watch them paint. Well, this Macpherson exhibit and the other events are like that . . . a chance to see and hear one of today’s masters of Impressionism up close. This is a big deal! I think a lot of people are going to come to Middletown for the exhibit, and they’re going to be surprised by how much inspiration they take away. Art really can change people’s lives.”
THE EXHIBIT
“Reflections on a Pond,” a series of 368 paintings by Kevin Macpherson, will be on display from May 15 to June 15, 2009, at Middletown Arts Center, 130 North Verity Parkway, Middletown, OH 45042. Free: Donations gratefully accepted.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Opening Reception (by invitation only), May 15, 7:00PM–9:00PM at Middletown Arts Center.
Lecture by Kevin Macpherson, May 16, 1:00PM–3:00PM at Middletown Arts Center. Tickets: $75.00. Limit of 150 persons. To order, call Middletown Arts Center, (513) 424-2417.
Middletown Symphony Orchestra Concert Chorale, May 16, 8:00 PM at Dave Finkelman Auditorium, Miami University, Middletown, Ohio. Tickets and program information: http://middletownsymphony.com/ or (513) 424-2426.
Painting Demonstration by Kevin Macpherson, May 17, 1:30PM–4:30PM at Middletown Arts Center. Tickets: $95.00. Limit of 100 persons. To order, call Middletown Arts Center, (513) 424-2417.
Combination Package, Lecture Plus Demonstration: $150. One hundred of these specially priced packages will be available. The combination package includes an invitation to the opening reception. Order by calling the Middletown Arts Center, (513) 424-2417, and asking for the Lecture and Demonstration Package. PLEASE NOTE: Tickets purchased for single events cannot be upgraded to the full package later.
Children Paint Out: Reflections on a Pond Through Kids’ Eyes, May 12. Location will be at Smith Park, Tytus Avenue, Middletown, Ohio. Children in grades 1 through 6 will create their own paintings of the Smith Park pond with Kevin Macpherson’s help. Free. Limit of 15 participants. Registration required; call the Middletown Arts Center, (513) 424-2417.
SPONSORS
Creative Butterfly
North Light Books
Alliance Printing
Weigold Photography
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Middletown Arts Center
http://www.middletownartscenter.com
(513) 424-2417
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