NORWAY — “Double Vision” is a show of two artists, Judy Schneider and Judson Pealer, for the month of June at the Matolcsy Art Center, 480 Main St.

Pealer and Schneider are both interested in abstracted imagery. Color is a prime consideration for each of them. Schneider is currently making monoprints that feed her large work and Pealer is known for a bright palette. This show is a collection of paintings and prints that explore each of their individual processes and how they relate to each other.

Pealer has a bachelors of fine art from Ohio State University where he majored in painting, drawing and graphics. He is primarily a painter of acrylics on watercolor paper. He has been a member of Western Maine Art Group since 2018. He went into art asking “What is this abstract art all about?”

He writes, “I have always had art supplies nearby and over the years entered local shows to see what would happen. Getting into a show is often tough because so many retirees now take up the brush because it is something they always wanted to do. Then there are those who always knew. There are so many talented folks around us and I would rather collaborate rather than compete.”

He said “I paint intuitively and am always trying to create something new. I often paint with music on and I try to respond to where the painting wants to go. If I can pick up on that the painting will successfully go somewhere. It is like dancing. I usually have the most basic idea when I start then we are off to the races. This response approach means I could be working on several pieces at the same time going back and forth to different pieces. I also look to see if I ‘apprehend’ what the painting is doing. The ‘stop work’ on a painting is elusive. I can easily overwork a piece and end up with far more work trying to fix it. Yet, when it works and I find the zone there is a spiritual high that means I will be back soon. I am like that struggling golfer who finally hits one perfectly and that one shot means he or she will be back tomorrow.”

Schneider is a designer, painter and printmaker, living and working in Norway. She received her BFA in interior design from The University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a master’s degree in studio art form Maine College of Art & Design. She is a member of the Peregrine Press in Portland and The Western Maine Art Group in Norway. The Maine landscape persists as a critical part of Schneider’s art practice.

Interested in abstracted landscape painting as a way of mapping time in a non-linear fashion and reconsidering conventional modes of representation she continues to reevaluate or abandon pictorial narrative and focus on the structure of time. Density and layering are important; underlying images that are no longer visible are part of the structure. As she adds layers, memory become her guide. The images shift, flatten and open up again as representation recedes and something else takes over.

She writes, “I investigate place and memory through the landscape. My work is an exploration of place-making: land plus history plus culture. I am interested in the physical properties of a site and how they interface with the memories and feelings I have when I am there. I experiment with scale, value and texture associated with place and how my feelings about a particular location affect my use of these visual components. I am in pursuit of what is physically present, woven with memory, dreams and how the energy of ‘place’ is conveyed. Materials define space. Space combined with memory defines place.”

An opening reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, June 3. The gallery will be open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from noon until 3 p.m.

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.