Exhibitions

Gallery One is pleased to announce the May show, “Between Earth and Sky.” open to the public May 3 through May 31, 2023.

“There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” states Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He is suggesting that there are things beyond the literal that we see in front of us, magical things that speak to our soul and spirit that need to be discerned in other ways but that are no less “real”. The May theme at Gallery One illustrates this idea. What really lies “Between Earth and Sky” is on the mind of the artists at Gallery One this month. In Eileen Olson’s oil painting, “The River,” the river depicted is not only a “river”. It is in fact, “a conglomeration of everything my mind has absorbed over my lifetime,” states the artist. “As I was painting this landscape from my memory it brought back so many pleasurable experiences for me. Those memories are included in the spirit of the river which is captured on her canvas.  

The literal answer to what lies between earth and sky though, is the “atmosphere.” Creating a sense of atmosphere in a painting creates a sense of depth and distance and can be achieved through shifts in the clarity, saturation, and color that occur when light is reflected from objects across varying distances and atmospheric conditions. In Dale Sheldon’s, “Lavender Scenery,” an acrylic, “beautiful rows of colorful lavender fill the space between the earth and the sky, low mountains in the distant background along with cool misty clouds in the sky complete the illusion of depth and distance.” While in Cindy Beyer’s pastel painting, “Genovia,” the artist creates the same magic with vibrant foreground color, a tiny distant village, and cool mountains and sky.  One can imagine how lovely it would be to wander through the quaint little village smelling the fresh flowers in the meadow. And quite literally, the “horizon” is the line that separates the earth from the sky. In Michelle Marshall’s acrylic “Gazing into the Future,” and in artist Joyce Condry’s oil painting, “Reflections,” we see a very stark horizon line. In a play on perception Joyce’s painting makes it hard to distinguish between the earth and the sky. “My painting may make you ask, “which side is up?” While Michelle’s makes us wonder, is the little girl walking into the sea for some summer fun, or is something more significant happening? The low horizon line in Mary Bode Byrd’s gouache painting, “Heron at Daybreak,” enhances the dominance of the heron while the vibrant complementary color palette creates a sense of drama. Atmospheric perspective combined with the technique of diminishing size of the objects as they vanish into the distant horizon in artist Lesley McCaskill’s acrylic painting, “Promenading on the Boardwalk,” creates a feeling of movement and energy, as well as a sense of place and time. Marybeth Paterson’s “Lunch at the Beach,” captures a moment along the Higgs Beach in Key West, one of those places where you are acutely aware of the earth, sea and sky. The relaxing, cool spot mimic their natural greens and blues and the slow pace the oceanfront brings.

In Artist Laura Hickman’s pastel, “Looking West,” and Cheryl Wisbrock’s watercolor “Stormy Clouds,”, clouds are incorporated into the compositions. Clouds being quite literally between “earth and sky” since they occupy the first layer of the earth’s atmosphere, the troposphere. Cheryl describes how “the sky was high and clear blue, the sea and sand were warm and welcoming, then without warning, dark clouds rolled in, under the bright sky and earth, casting shadows and creating drama.”