WILKES-BARRE — Dallas artist Sue Hand’s latest work will be exhibited at the Widmann Gallery at King’s College from Monday, June 6, through Friday, Aug. 12. Best known for her artworks in watercolor and her hexagon-shaped historical illustrations of mining, the exhibit “The Light in the Forest” focuses on very large canvases filled with thick oil paint applied in layers with a palette knife.
The multi-panel paintings of “The Light in the Forest” will depict Hand’s fascination with the forests of Maine and Pennsylvania. Through her paintings in the series, Hand hopes the viewer feels like they could step into the painting, walk through a beautiful forested place and with a few steps disappear behind the trees, as the peace and serenity of the place closes in around them. All of the paintings are polptychs, paintings divided into multiple panels of art commonly created by Renaissance painters. The largest piece, a triptych, measures 60 inches high and 12 feet wide.
The artworks are all painted in palette knife oil to achieve tactile as well as visual texture. The color schemes are natural but also “edgy,” mirroring the color surprises observed in the real forest which is not all “brown, green and gray.”
Hand is the founder of the Pennsylvania En Plein Air Society and the national miniature art organization, Cider Painters of America. She is also an elected signature member of the International Society of Marine Painters. Her work can be found in private and public collections throughout the United States as well as 10 foreign countries.
Hand will discuss the exhibit and display some of the sketches which resulted in the large works during the opening reception 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, July 15 in the Widmann Gallery, Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center, Wilkes-Barre, located between North Franklin and North Main streets.
The exhibition is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays; Saturdays and Sundays as arranged. The gallery is closed on national holidays and during scheduled breaks throughout the academic year.
For more information, contact Michelle Leonard, Widmann Gallery Coordinator, at 570-208-5900, ext. 5328.
