The exhibit “Hammock Impressions,” on view at Dunedin City Hall, features the work of 13 students from artist Nathan Beard’s “Wetland to Studio” classes at Dunedin Fine Art Center. Just a stone’s throw from the art center, Hammock Park provides the perfect setting for students to learn about the intricacies and interconnections of our local ecosystem, as well as bigger forces of Nature at work. The impressions formed at Hammock Park strongly influence and inspire the art made in the studio.
The students take reference photos along the banks of the creek, focusing on the shoreline and the abstract patterns that occur on the surface of the water, as well as the rich layers of cloud and sky, solid and reflected plant life, the tannined detritus at the bottom, and importantly, the movement of the water itself.
Returning to DFAC’s studios, these artists spend the next 6 weeks working on multiple large paintings at a time. Using any kind of tool that can scrape, shoot, splatter, rub, or displace paint – turkey basters, syringes, condiment and spice bottles, sticks, string, corks, sponges – they experiment with different abstract techniques to build the textures and patterns of Nature. Perhaps you’ll recognize some Jackson Pollock here, some Helen Frankenthaler there. There are a lot of firsts in this class – one’s first big painting, one’s first abstract painting, one’s first acrylic painting. Most importantly, the class is open-ended, and students are encouraged to finish each painting either as abstractly or representationally as their journey through creative adventure takes them.
Each of these artists has a rich and varied background, but they are united in a deep desire to learn, in their willingness to experiment, in their courage to make mistakes, and in the perseverance required to work through it all.
The exhibiting artists include Colleen Baxter, Sue Beach, Diane Clement, Linda Culhane, Ellen Dargin-Knapp, Gillian Graffy, Sue Hand, Valerie Hart, Mary Louise Pollock, Diane V. Radel, Bei Steur, Monica Sword and Marilynne Wasielewski.
You can learn more about the artists and their process in this video: Hammock Impressions
“Hammock Impressions,” curated by Elizabeth Brincklow and Mary Childs, is on exhibit through October 16, 2022. You can view the exhibit when there is not a City Commission meeting taking place, during regular hours Monday – Friday, 8am-5pm. Before you go, check to see if there is a meeting by calling 727-298-3001 or by looking at the online calendar here: City of Dunedin Commission Meetings. Dunedin City Hall is conveniently located close to downtown restaurants and shops at 542 Main St., Dunedin, FL 34698, so seeing the exhibit and dining out will make for a wonderful outing alone or with friends.
Special thanks to the City of Dunedin, Jackie Nigro and the Arts & Culture Advisory Committee, Pop Up/Trend On, Nathan Beard and the Dunedin Parks and Recreation Department.
Share Article:
