One Washington Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
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ARTISTS OF THE MONTH: Gail Gang, Mike Foley & Mindy Trafton
Local painter Gail Gang and stone sculptors Mike Foley and Mindy Trafton will be exhibiting their work at “The Annie” in Gloucester during the month of May. Gail’s work expresses her love of color and form in energetic still life and landscape paintings. Mike and Mindy are sculptors of Cape Ann stone, and offer a wide variety of natural and abstract subjects.
Painter Gail Gang
I paint to connect with myself and to allow color and form to do their magic. Subject matter is usually a vehicle for expression – I choose not “what will make a good painting” but what I know will work for me in some not-yet-understood way. Though I am familiar with the abundant rules and practices regarding still life and landscape painting, I try not to be constrained by them. I hope each painting will guide itself, often resulting in an unforeseen but satisfying statement. This process makes for the most fulfilling work I can imagine.
The paintings in this show come from a new energy that’s been present in the studio since my November 2011 show, Seeing the Near and Dear. There I exhibited works inspired primarily by my connection with the home. The spirit and title of this current show is Persistence, a nod to my drive to learn through reworking familiar themes and a desire to take the expressive quality of my work to a new level.
Several paintings here build on an old theme, particularly the tulips and sunflowers. Where possible I’ve included earlier versions of those. Some are pictures exhibited earlier – but with a new coat of paint. I’ve also included a couple of favorites borrowed from local collections.
Stone Sculptors Mike Foley & Mindy Trafton
Michael Foley
My work strives to create objects which communicate my perception and views of the world around me, while sharing these views with the common man. And I see the world as one blessed with natural beauty, both in the creatures with which we share our planet, and the wondrous laws of geometry and mathematics which rule the universe. I feel that each of us is drawn to the beauty of natural stones because they represent our worldly origins and are the very sources from which the beauty of nature and humanity descends.
My work brings me great pleasure, as it transforms that which is already beautiful to an expression of the world as I see it, while leaving the handprint of mankind on the stuff of the earth for many thousands of years to come. I often wonder about the man or woman who, upon discovering my work eons from now, will ponder the times from which it came. And I hope that the forms of my sculptures will provide a clue to our distant descendents in time, as to the way the world was many many years ago.
Mindy Trafton
My sculpture in stone is an extension of my love of nature, and is my pallette of expression for the beauty which surrounds me. So often, when touching the crust of the earth on sun drenched shores or in dark deep forests, the stones speak to me in the words which are their natural forms. And when I set tool to stone, I let each one guide me down the path which allows me to shape it to it’s final and lasting form. Influences of wind, water and facial expression drive my hammer as I create that which seems always to have been there.
And I sometimes worry that expressions in stone such as these have fallen by the wayside in our hectic world and in our very homes. While most of us will have the fruit of the painter’s work on his or her wall, the beauty which flows from sculptures is so often absent. My greatest wish is that each man, woman and child will be able to read the profound record of lasting beauty in the form of each stone I have set free.
ART AT THE ANNIE
We invite local artists to show your work in our elegant gallery. We will regularly select paintings, photography, sculpture, textile arts, historic artifacts, bizarre oddities… anything that meets the aesthetics of The Cape Ann. (In other words, we reserve the right to graciously say “no thank you.”) There is no charge to show your art. If you sell something, 25% to the house. Contact info@TheCapeAnn.org and send us digital photos of your work. Please do not bring artwork to The Annie unless it is requested. Thank you!
