WINNETKA – Vivid Art Gallery will host an art opening for Featured Artist Angela Saxon and Local Artist Lucie Phillips on June 1st at its monthly First Friday event. The event, which runs from 5-8 PM, is open to all and is free of charge. In addition to great art, there will also be refreshments and live music.
Saxon will be presenting new work at her exhibit Look/See. Based in the Leelanau Peninsula near Traverse City, Michigan, Saxon finds inspiration in the surrounding landscape of forest, lake, and beach. Saxon translates what she sees into a personal expression of color, shape, line, and light. The results are vibrantly colored abstract landscapes.
Beginning her work on location, Saxon first creates small paintings or drawings, then moves to her studio to translate her initial impressions into large canvasses. This allows her to capture the immediacy of ever-shifting natural settings and then meditate more deeply on her creations in her studio to make them more intricate and intimate. As a result of her process, her work typically moves from a detailed depiction of the scene into one comprised of more abstract shapes.
Says Saxon, “I am my truest self when I’m outdoors. Nature has been my inspiration for over 30 years. Recently, I became more observant of what was up close to me, beside me, all around me, absorbing the colors and the light. This careful, focused looking became exhilarating and informative. I saw SO much more than I ever had before. I strive to maintain this new skill of deliberate focus in looking at my subject and in painting. Foreground elements have become predominant in the work; I’m engaged with ferns and wildflowers and beach grasses and the like. These paintings are more detailed but also more atmospheric and the landscape is more abstracted.”
Also on display during the month of June will be works by Local Artist Lucie Phillips, who lives in Winnetka. Her exhibit, titled Horizons Interrupted, will include her most recent landscape paintings. This work is characterized by atmospheric depictions of sea and skies executed in pale tones accented by vivid strokes of color. She will be displaying artwork from her show Horizons Interrupted. Phillips, who works in oils, also paints figurative and abstract pieces in addition to her works being displayed at Vivid.
In addition to the opening at Vivid, Hubbard Woods will once again feature a “Cocktail Hop.” Stop by Vivid to see the work of these two artists, then browse the shops of Hubbard Woods. A number of neighborhood stores will be open and serving a signature drink. The gallery will be serving “Modigliani Mules.” Details are available at www.shophubbardwoods.com.
Submitted by Vivid Art Gallery
