David Witbeck
margaret Gerding
Alex Dunwoodie
Week Five of Spring Arrivals
April 2 — April 8
The work of three Maine Art Hill artists arrive for Week Five of Spring Arrivals. Below you will see a thumbnail of each piece. Click to make it larger. Works from these three artists are available online and at the main gallery at 14 Western Ave in Kennebunk. Come by or call 207-967-2803. Links to their artist’s pages, where you can see all their work are at the bottom.
APRIL 3 — David Witbeck
Having been a photographer for almost three decades, it’s a joy to be free of the bonds of objective reality,” says artist David Witbeck. “While photographs may occasionally trigger an idea, I never paint from them. Instead, I prefer to bend, stretch and twist things any which way they’ll make an interesting composition. My paintings are completely made-up. They are meant to be iconic rather than descriptive, creating a feeling, an emotional response, with somewhat generic symbols rather than accurately cataloging the particulars of an identifiable person, place, or thing.
A blank canvas is where I make the world as it ‘should’ be. Of course, my places and things have analogs in reality, but specifically, they exist only in my mind and on the canvas. They are irreverent fantasies of love of boats and the seacoast, respect and admiration for people who wrest a living from saltwater, and maybe just a little bit of envy or disappointment of never having been one of them. They come from years of observation, a good amount of imagination, and just a smidgeon of experience.
APRIL 6 — Margaret Gerding
My goal has remained constant throughout my career: to capture a single moment. As an artist, my job is to observe as much as to create. With every second that passes, light changes, colors adjust, and the slightest physical shift occurs in nature. Each piece is based on a real place, a moment I have experienced and been inspired by.
There is something unique about being alone with nature—a quiet that connects me. Only this solitude, outside or in the studio, allows me to let the landscape reveal itself. Living in Kennebunkport, I am immersed daily in the area of my greatest inspiration,” says Gerding.”It is a place where nature provides a lifetime of exploration and study. Where the fog can roll in at any moment and change the landscape. The greens of the marsh shift over to the warm ochre of autumn.
APRIL 7 — Alex Dunwoodie
I’m painting what I love, what grabs my attention and makes me pause. Mornings and evenings are particularly inspirational because colors can be intensified, and light can make the ordinary interesting. Boats, whether for work or play, merge with the seascape. And coastal trees stand out like resolute figures, and I appreciate their determination. In the waterworks, I want to convey the sensation of water, light, and motion. I want to depict a time of day, a sensation, and a moment.
Click the links below to see all these pieces and other work from these talented artists.