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Valerie Norwood’s exhibit at forARTSake
that opened Friday, August 17, entitled A Painter’s Progress,
is an instructive and a visually pleasing experience. The interesting
subject matter that Valerie has mastered in her journey creating art in
the past few years has led her to uplifting places both physically and
academically, and as viewers, we are able to view her progress up close
and altogether in a unique exhibit of her work.
Some of Valerie’s oils, pastels, and
watercolors are studies done in classes and workshops. The challenge of
composing and rendering still lifes is a long and honored tradition.
Valerie’s arrangements are balanced and dimensional. The beauty of a few
or several objects comes from both the captured sense of form and the
surface textures.
Valerie’s mastery of watercolor
techniques enhances the visual effect of the exhibit. The figurative
pictures show a strong understanding of anatomy. Foreshortening is a
particular challenge that Valerie demonstrates she has resolved in the
oil painting titled Reclining Nude. Another oil entitled
Pensive takes her figure study into expressive realism. It
reminds me of a modern Whistler’s Mother. The Victorian
sentiment very much present in Whistler’s image is definitely changed
into a beautiful, youthful, introspective, and sensual woman in
Valerie’s. The watercolor array of figures includes golfers, dancers,
and a mermaid. Even her inanimate objects such as empty chairs and
abandoned tractors vividly remind us of the people we know who use them
right here where we live in the Adirondack foothills.
The landscapes in pastel are among my
favorites. They show the North Country in various seasons. Water
 scenes
from the Chateaugay Lake area predominate. Moving Water is
a close-up view that shows Valerie’s delight in the play of light on
water, the variegated colors, and use of movement in Nature. Her pastels
seem to skip over the paper reflecting beauty in a simple series of
directional strokes. With subtle blending of grays, Valerie solidifies
rocks protruding from the water. A flourish of greens and lines creates
thick overhanging grasses.
Indian Point
is an impressionistic jewel. Valerie’s
expertise with pastel is evident in epitomize clouds, sky, and water.
The slip of land and trees bring us into the scene in a dreamy and
romantic way. This vision reminds me of Degas’ comment about Monet,
“He’s just an eye, but what an eye!”
Valerie’s eye has also turned to winter
effects in Nature. Snow in Trees shows a striking vertical
pattern of trees against the blues and off whites of snow. The design,
colors, and mood are reminders of the more pleasant aspects of winter.
The pastel titled Autumn on Salmon
River is another tour de force in technique, composition,
and mood. It is perhaps one of the best in the exhibit. Large simplified
areas of color identify the water, land and trees. Warm colors contrast
with cool colors. The subtle blending of orange, yellow, and violet
become a wonderful whisper of deep autumn. It all blends to create the
warmth and simple beauty that we associate with October glow in the
Adirondacks.
Other landscape renderings are both bold
and dramatic. The one titled Deep Gorge is truly an
Americanized Cezanne. Scumbling and impasto techniques add to the
rocklike precipice effect looming before us. The foreground water and
background of trees and sky give the illusion of space, yet each is
handled as patchwork surfaces. There is both surface and space to
intrigue us.
Valerie has learned a lot from the
masters and pays tribute to them. Post-Impressionist Landscape
is an oil that exploits Gauguin-like color that is decorative or
expressive as well as Fauvist raw color. Trees and water
reflections take
on an excitement with her use of unusual and clashing color. The shock
of seeing emotional color rather than ordinary or expected descriptive
color grabs our attention and enables us to explore a new avenue for
design as well as expression.
The show is rounded out by many
accomplished images of flowers that are very accomplished. A series of
lily
 studies
is especially striking. Most feature multiple shapes in a pattern
against a dark background. One titled Water Lilies at Sunset
has an arced organization with a pink lily protruding in the center.
That sweet light that artists often seek is palpably present. A
small work titled Purple Poppies also has a unique angle
of view and definitely an attractive purple color scheme.
For us to see all of this, Valerie has
set up a sitting room atmosphere in the gallery at forARTSAke to allow
us to relax and contemplate the beauty that surrounds us. Her images
present us with a panoramic array of color and form. We can sit back and
take a journey through Nature as only Valerie can provide. What we see
is definitely proof that Valerie Norwood has artistically arrived.
It is possible to go to Valerie’s
exhibit that is open until September 8 at forARTSake to see the details
of her world in a variety of aspects. Enjoy this very creative and
natural artist and her creative views of life living in the North
Country.
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