Solace Unfolding
Mareva Millarc and Cathy Osman
November 10th, 2022 - February 1st, 2023
Artist Talk and Gallery Reception
Thursday, January 5th, 2022
5:30pm to 7:30pm
SNOW DATE: Thursday, January 12th, 2022 - 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Paintings by Mareva Millarc
Folley Hall Gallery
Mareva Millarc (she/her)
Inspired by the love of painting and the awe of natural phenomena that I come across in daily life, I immerse myself into each piece guided by pure intuition and insight.
Working with oil, acrylic, ink, or mixed media, and through layered application of bold line-work, organic shapes, and vibrant colors, my creative process unfolds moment to moment, and each piece reveals its own identity. Rather than perfect balance, what I seek is structural unity and visual harmony of the interplay among texture, shape, and color.
I eagerly explore the wild places where hidden feelings dwell. Free of representational reference, my paintings are an abstract translation of my inner and outer world, leaving it up to the beholder to trust their interpretation, and find their own connection and meaning. So as you journey into my pieces, as Wendell Berry put it, I invite you to “come into the peace of wild things… come into the presence of still water… rest in the grace of the world, and [be] free.”
Works by Cathy Osman
Copley Studio Gallery
Cathy Osman
The foundation of my work grows from a deeply felt respect and connection to my natural surroundings. The work is a synthesis of the observed, and the need to re-invent the world through my processes. Drawing, mark-making, printmaking and collage focused on the particularity of materials provides me with a means to reconsider the appearance and character of things.
The environmental and biological stresses affecting our world have been the primary subject of my large-scale collages in the past number of years. This past winter I began by returning, again and again, to the beauty of the flower often including reeds and decomposing leaves
I turned to nature’s perfection - the flower - giving solace, unadorned, and temporal.
My optimism and persistent denial of the approaching pandemic allowed this pleasure. But slowly, unquestionably I could sense those feelings being replaced by fear, confusion and apprehension. The flower motifs began to be incorporated with lungs, and human silhouettes twined together in a congestion of mark and color.
I worked daily on making mono-prints. They grew in number. By late summer over 60 images had accumulated. The progression of images echoed my individual isolation as well as my shared anxiety for a suffering world.
The work is all collage based. I am constructing images using the raw materials I create through the printing press. I layer drawn image, texture, and color forming a substrate made dense with an overlay of marks and assemblage, which coalesce in multiple ways.
Recently I have returned to oil painting. The fluidity of the paint lends more gesture and scale to the work while maintaining my interest in the complexity of the “built” image.
Having recently retired from Marlboro College where I taught visual arts for over 20 years my practice as a maker continues to grow and evolve. As an artist/teacher I have had the benefit of engaging daily with students on the profound relevance and complexity of investing within ones artistic practice.
Cathy Osman