Nature on Canvas at Lanning Gallery
Originally Published: June 29, 2016 7:15 a.m.
Lanning Gallery in Sedona opens a new exhibition to showcase the unique techniques of artist Judith Monroe as she creates mixed media landscapes that literally bring nature onto her canvas. The exhibition opens with a reception "1st Friday," July 1st, from 5-8 pm.
It took a natural artistic evolution and disparate influences to bring Judith Monroe to her current means of artistic expression. She grew up under the influence of an artistic mother who taught her to mix colors and draw in perspective.
Monroe took her first photography class at California State University in Sacramento and it was an illustration professor who first encouraged her to incorporate photography with other media.
Monroe worked as a photographer then a graphic artist before taking a couple of years off to have her children. But the distance from her artistic energy became unbearable. Monroe returned to the darkroom and, feeling that color films weren't conveying what she felt and remembered from scenes she wished to present, she began hand-coloring.
This traditional process led her to add visual layers to her photographs right in the darkroom with photograms (placing objects directly onto the surface of photographic paper then exposing it to light); she began adding watercolors and pencils to her prints.
This led to her current technique of coating a black and white print with an acrylic medium which, as it dries, pulls the ink out of the paper. The images on this transparent film are now the base of her mixed media paintings. Twigs and leaves may appear within layers of acrylic glazes, pencil, wax pastels and a final coat of protective varnish.
The resulting landscape imagery, with dominating photos that bleed into abstracted landscapes of color and texture, hidden elements of text and sketches, and multiple layers of physical materials all combine to capture an unmatched experience of nature. Her work has been featured in STYLE Magazine as well as on HGTV and has won numerous awards. Her images have been published by Recycled Paper Greetings and in the international publication, The Best of Photography Annual. Artwork by Judith Monroe is in public and private collections throughout the U.S.
Stop by Lanning Gallery to enjoy this newest exhibition. "Experience of Nature: The Art of Judith Monroe" runs through July 10.
See Facebook.com/LanningGallerySedona or visit on Pinterest. Lanning Gallery, 928-282-6865, mail@lanninggallery.com, www.lanninggallery.com. At Hozho, 431 S.R. 179, Sedona.
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