West Brattleboro, Vt. — “The Right Balance,” an exhibit of paintings by Guilford artist Susan McDormand, is showing through December in the foyer and other gallery spaces at All Souls Church UU (ASC). The public is invited to meet the artist and gain insights into her work at an artist’s reception on Saturday, November 10, from 2 to 4 pm.
McDormand began painting at the River Gallery School in Brattleboro more than 20 years ago. “Ric Campman and Lydia Thomson inspired and encouraged me. Today I continue to paint in oils, on beautiful papers, often implementing pencil and pastel. As the piece develops, I begin to have a mirror . . . it seems to be about intuition, color, and a language being written. For me, painting is so much about blending movements of color together.” The work reflects her goal of creating harmony in life as well as in artistic expression.
A majority of the fourteen works in the show are on 30-inch paper and were created in a variety of combined mediums. A number of them also include a subtle touch of gold leaf. A mix of older and recent work, this collection includes both landscape and figurative subjects worked with a combination of care and abandon, most expressing the artist’s thoughtful, even “mystical,” interpretation of the world through which we travel. Her “Dreaming of Spring” was a blue-ribbon winner at this fall’s Guilford Fair.
All Souls Church is at 29 South St., just over a mile from Exit 2 off I-91. Take a left at the flashing light by the village green, pass the new fire station, and head up ASC’s wooded driveway across the road to a large parking area. Handicapped parking is down a lane that heads to the right at the crest of the hill.
Gallery hours are otherwise weekday mornings from 9 to 12, during Sunday worship and other public events in the building, or by appointment. For further information, call the church office at (802) 254-9377.
