Stacey M. Schultze
Artist's Statement—Stacey was born in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts. Her artwork reflects her no nonsense approach to life. Bold colors and lines occupy compositions subtly littered with weighty concepts. Her passion for creating works of art began in high school and grew at Gordon College where she received a BA in Fine Art. As an adult, raising a family became a priority but it never shut out her creative spirit. Pursuing an art career and recognizing this as her calling has been both freeing and intense. Today Stacey is a Marine wife and homeschooling mother happily following her dreams to create and share art with her community and the world around her.
The "Seen and Unseen" exhibit in the Member's Gallery focuses on the light within and the beauty seen. A gentle shift in movement through color to bold line and form invite the viewer to sit with each piece. Nuances within the layers are unveiled, a curiosity peaked, and a subtlety revealed, giving shape to light and highlighting beauty. Exploring both the figure and abstraction, giving way to classical limitations, these paintings yield a familiarity that pure abstraction can rarely achieve and an intimacy that realism denies the viewer.
Using the figure as a place of departure, a gestural charcoal line and the play of color pushing and pulling develop form. This brings your eye through the painting and back around again. There is a vibrating harmony between the brightness of the paint and the directness of line. The paintings achieve a rich texture through many layers of ink, glue, paint, and charcoal, leaving the viewer with something new to see at every glance. Each figure conveys an emotion, accentuated by the use of color, line, form, space, and abstraction. The paintings in "Seen and Unseen" achieve a shared cohesive, planned quality through the reworking of numerous sketches, and yet they maintain a freshness that echoes abstract expressionism. The energetic manner in which the liberal use of paint and vibrant color choice are applied propels the expressive quality of the work. Atmospheric space created by tonal shifts gives a sense of spirituality while remaining grounded in reality.
The sensitive subtleties in each painting create the illusion of space and luminosity. Creative internal tension through the use of color within the piece shows just how malleable the space is. The ephemeral quality of a gesture drawing is elevated to a finished and more polished piece. Color relationship is as much the subject of the paintings as the figure. This abstraction plays an integral part throughout the layers of each painting, pushing one to live outside oneself even for a moment, diving into the world of the painting.
Lorri Tucker
Artist's Statement—Painting for me is the joy found in the attempt of putting life's complexities to paper or canvas. Using medium, I reflect the emotional pitch in the painting I wish to convey. In my watercolors I strive to liberate the light-hearted beauty of everyday life. There is a natural order and beauty to God's creatures and creation that I endeavor to release in my watercolor. In my oils I reflect the turmoil of man’s impact on his environment and his fellow man. I try to capture the fractured disharmony of man's attempt to control God's world. I see my work as a way of conveying calmness and peacefulness or emotional distress to the viewer through my choice of medium, brush strokes, colors and subject matter.
For the FCCA "Seen and Unseen" art show, I have chosen watercolor which is a softer, lovely medium that hearkens back to a simpler less chaotic time. However as in most of my paintings, there is a shadow of uneasiness under the surface either in the subject matter or the way it is painted.
As an artist experienced in oil, watercolor and acrylic, I have been trying to capture God's handiwork for over 35 years. I have studied under Professor Salter at Kennesaw College in Georgia, Professor Michael Phillips at the College of Charleston and numerous Fredericksburg/ Northern Virginia artists. Like many artists, I find that I need someone else’s perspective to learn new ideas, techniques, textures and even to see mistakes in my work. It is through community we become better artists. I feel privileged to be a part of this great group of artists.
