Nature Walk

 

Lumiere presents "Common/Ground"

The work of Jim Mott and Adam Smith 

thru September 27th, 2024

We have been going to see gallery shows and recently we feel a renewed energy from the creative community.

This month there are two new exhibitions that might stimulate your imagination and take you on a nature walk. One show is at Lumiere,  which is around the back at 100 College Avenue in Rochester.  "Common/Ground"  features the work by two close friends - Jim Mott who is a painter, and Adam Smith who is a photographer. They share a love of being outdoors, and they both exhibit a knowledge of and an engagement with our landscape.

Jim Mott  paintings at Lumiere

I have been following the progress of Jim Mott over the years, and I first wrote about his itinerant artist project back in 2002 for American Artist Magazine.  The editor at that time was Stephen Doherty who was himself a plain air painter, and he was interested in Jim's project.  Jim's style - a form of realism captures the time of day in clear color and composition.  He often paints outdoors on modest size panels which are featured in this present show.

Adam Smith and Jim have known each other for years.  Adam's photos have a dynamic which in the photo below is implied by a movement forward of the image.  Other compositions have a classic serenity.

Adam Smith photos are part of "Common/Ground"

Adam Smith at Lumiere, 100 College Avene, Rochester, NY

We are lucky to have so many gifted visual artists in our  area, and I urge you to go out and see what they have to offer.  Just  yesterday, we were at the opening of a show that is also devoted to nature, seen from a different perspective.  Gloria Betlem is the artist and the show is being presented in an exhibition space called the Williams Gallery in the First Unitarian Church of Rochester.

What makes this show unique is the attention to detail for an unlikely subject - and that is - portrayals of  lichens in each new composition.  Gloria said that she is interested in abstraction,  and she found this subject  for her recent series of pastel drawings when she was out on a hike in Florida.  She writes in her artist statement that she has been on the lookout for these beauties growing on trees, rocks, or on any surface they choose to live.

"Happy Rappi", pastel by Gloria Betlem in the Williams Gallery

The work that Gloria Betlem has created for this exhibition is a six - year long survey of different species of lichens which she see as her muse!  This  is a blend of art and science, and something that also requires great skill and tenacity to bring across as  a work of art.  She has a way of engaging the eye in each stroke of color from her pastels and  you will want to know more about how she finds such interesting subjects!

Gloria Betlem's pastels at First Unitarian Church, Rochester, NY

 

Renewal

 

Lydia Boddie-Rice

at Joy Gallery, 498 1/2  West Main Street, Rochester, New York

Today, I write about "Renewal" as a stage in the life of an artist.  To renew oneself, is to spend time getting back to the basics, to feel more like oneself inside and out.  Part of this life as an artist is to be able to spend time in the studio creating new paintings and also be able to go out to galleries and look at what others have produced.  Our community, here in upstate New York, has great creative drive and there seems to be renewed energy since the pandemic, which finds a voice in recent exhibitions that have opened this week.

I am impressed by the artworks I found at the Joy Gallery on West Main Street in Rochester ( call for information at 585 436-5230 ).  Created by Lydia Boddie-Rice, in a solo exhibition she calls: " Rising on the Wind", one finds unique paintings and collage on view.  We parked outside and opened a door to a whole new experience of art that implied movement and character.  The motion considered by the artist is one of soaring into the sky, and many of the artworks on view  conform to the shape of a kite, but that's not all!

Lydia Boddie-Rice really understands her subject and I am reminded of the statement written  by Maya Angelou, "And Still I Rise".  Lydia's art is about uplifting the human spirit, and it is more than plain portraiture.  Somehow we engage in seeing into the personality of the people she portrays - starting with self-portraiture in her painting "Heliotrope 1".  She is at the center of our attention with her face in the middle of a giant sunflower.

Lydia Boddie-Rice in "Heliotrope 1" at Joy Gallery

In another self-portrait she is at work at two stages in life - one, as a youngster with a paintbrush riding the waves, and then as the older and wiser woman she has become.

Self Portriat , 2023

Many of the artworks in this show start out as collage, and she is also working with water based oil paints giving a different look to the original paintings.  She also makes prints of many of the works she creates and offers these for sale at the gallery as well.  In one of the kites she features my colleague, Luvon Sheppard , and she calls this work "Sanctuary".

"Sanctuary" by Lydia Boddie-Rice

The artist Lydia Boddie-Rice is well tuned to the efforts that artists must make to engage an audience and her online presences is well orchestrated, so take a look at her page on Instagram, or her website at:

boddieworkscreations.com

https://www.boddieworkscreations.com › ab                       

                                                                

Lydia Boddie-Rice at Joy Gallery,,  498 1/2 West Main Street,  Rochester, N.Y.