Artist Talk

Kendall Arkay-Leliever

Holcombe

Arts 501

December 10th, 2019

Artist Talk

On December 4th, I listened to Mara Willams discuss Emily Mason’s work. Mara Williams is a renowned curator. Williams attended Syracuse and Boston College. She has led teams to build media production at the Sullivan Center. Williams serves as a board member for New England  museum and has had group shows with Janet Fischer and David Hawkins. 

The artist Williams explores is named Emily Mason. Emily is known for her work in color painting. She uses a number of techniques, mainly stain and blot to explore color and space. The paintings we examined used lots of movement and depth to create stories. As Williams describes,”they move us physically, emotionally, and spiritually with their interplay of colors, their coalescing forms…” At first glance I only saw a variety of like three colors, yellows, greens and blues but as the group discussed and Williams elaborated, I could see the time and complexity spent making the color and texture work in a way that emphasized the meaning behind the paintings. The way Emily Mason used color added depth, making me realize there was more to the painting than the top layer. At second glance there were shapes, more lines and objects such as trees and people standing out in the background.  As we went through the paintings, there was a lot to be learned that I didn't see at first glance. A point in the lecture that was convincing was the idea of abstractness, and the recurring theme of seeing multiple different ideas within each painting in the collection curated. This can relate to the real world in which at first glance some may see one thing whereas others can have a completely different view. Alike to when Mara Williams spoke with Emily Mason, Mason saw lavender when Williams did not. This artist talk not only opened my eyes to new painting techniques but to important lessons used not only in life but in the real world. Lessons that I can now incorporate in my own work as well...