July 2022: Michael Dickter, Faith Scott Jessup, Christian Burchard, Cynthia Toops.

Art has always been a means of expressing our encounters with and astonishment at the natural world. A piece of art is never a direct reproduction of what we see in front of us; it always bears our stories and connections with it. Birds, flowers, and animals all speak to me about our common experiences: connection and solitude, love and sorrow, permanence and impermanence. I paint to tell the tale of the beauty of life and hope.

A painting is created with marks and drips, paint and pencil, and a series of decisions and struggles. When done properly, a painting captures that exquisite and transient moment of creation, perhaps a touch of magic.