Natural Patterns: Flora and Fauna

Abstracted botanical paintings by Ellie Snow, figurative sculpture by Lynn Wartski. In the gallery July 23^rd through August 25^th. Opening reception during Hillsborough’s Last Friday Art Walk, July 26th, 6-9pm.

For painter Ellie Snow, painting is an escape, a window into a fairy tale world where she can ponder the beauty and complexity of life, and the stories that repeat themselves, like patterns, through time.
 
Snow’s artworks begin with nature photographs taken while exploring. “At home, I collage, edit, and make double exposures to create a scene that is playful and mysterious. I think of each painting as an introduction to a story about life’s fits and starts, imperfection, darkness, light, magic, weirdness, and beauty.”
 
Snow loves the plants she paints, but is equally interested in the real and imagined history of where they grow and the shadowy spaces surrounding them. “Are these shadow spaces a sanctuary, a refuge, a nest? Or do they draw us into some darker, more ominous place? How does perspective filter what we see and how we interpret it? In this complicated world, how can we decipher what is real and what isn’t? How do we hold all this joy and grief?”
 
Last year artist Lynn Wartski started to treat the surface of her anthropomorphic sculptures as an additional canvas. She created animal figures that had bold flowers, nautical “tattoos”, and wintery motifs on them. Liking the results, Wartski decided to carry that idea into the sculptures for this year’s show - but with a twist. “Instead of just thematic or decorative elements, I began with creatures that had distinctive natural patterns, known in the fashion world as “animal prints.” I altered and morphed those distinctive markings.  What emerged is a rather unique menagerie. Among them are a “tie dyed” giraffe, a paisley pony, and a “zentangled" zebra.”
 
In a piece titled “Yuri,” Wartski paid homage to dear friend, a writer and quilt artist, by creating a wall hanging sea turtle. The turtle’s shell appears to be a crazy quilt of felted sections and fabric from Yuri’s quilt stash. A different type of natural pattern, a life cycle, is honored in her sculpture “Brood XIX.”  This cicada with a megaphone recalls the multiple weeks of this late spring that had an insect driven soundtrack. 
 
Natural Patterns: Flora and Fauna will be on display at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts from July 23rd through August 25th, 2024 with an opening reception during Hillsborough's Last Friday Art Walk on July 26th from 6-9pm. Music at the opening is provided by “Lars Barbary and the Close Shaves.”
 
About the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts:
The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts is owned and operated by 21 local artists and represents these established artists exhibiting contemporary fine art and fine craft. The Gallery's offerings include painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography, photomontage, jewelry, glass, metals, encaustic, enamel, and wood. 121 N. Churton Street, Hillsborough, NC 27278. Phone: (919) 732-5001. The gallery is open 10am-6pm Monday - Saturday, and 12pm-4pm on Sunday. More information can be found on the HGA website: http://www.HillsboroughGallery.com