Sunday Favorites: PAC's Scapes Exhibit is the Perfect Union of Country and Coastline

Tequila Sunrise by Cheryl Moody is oil on canvas and currently on display at PAC. Photo: www.cherylmoody.com

PALMETTO – Ever feel like a walking through the open prairies out east or viewing the low country grass flats of the Upper Manatee River? After working up a sweat, did you desire to find a path leading you directly to the beach? Given the opportunity, would you then jump in the water and swim out far enough so that the plant life on the shoreline looked minuscule in comparison to the open sky? Although this seems a bit far-fetched, it is achievable by visiting the Palmetto Art Center’s Scapes exhibit.

The exhibit features the works of two local artists, Maro Lorimer and Cheryl Moody. PAC proprietor Gretchen Leclezio created a union between painters who share many similarities. They both started painting at a very young age, they are both inspired by their Florida surroundings and both create outdoor scenes that are created from their mind.

"Offshore" is acyrlic on canvas by Maro Lorimer and is currently on display at PAC. Photo: www.marolorimer.com

“I want my pieces to be personal. Part of my sense of awe with nature is that I don’t feel I understand or know everything about it—there are many unknowns,” said Lorimer.  “I like it when people wonder about certain forms in my work.”

Lorimer’s "Offshore" series are abstract suggestions of unspoiled shorelines and marine wildlife. The acrylic paintings put the observer out on the water. The art is based on Lorimer’s memories of windsurfing and boating many miles away out to sea. All the paintings have a calming uniformity created by placing the horizon line near the top painting to give viewers the sense of vastness and uncluttered space that one would witness offshore.

“When there is uniformity, I settle certain aspects then I feel freer to experiment with others,” said Lorimer. “It’s almost like an anchor.”

While some of the paintings in the series had been created before the BP oil spill occurred in the Gulf, others reflect vulnerability of the ecosystem. After the spill, Lorimer said she had an increased appreciation of the beauty and fragility of the marine environment which influenced the paintings that followed.

As a child growing up on Long Island, Lorimer was first motivated to become an artist when she witnessed a teacher come into her father’s science lab and teach him and his coworkers to paint. Lorimer’s appreciation of space in her paintings may have come from her time spent in Montana and her fascination with nature. Her last series, Beach Paths, was inspired from trails leading to the beaches at Anna Maria. Two mixed-medium pieces in this series are now on display at the PAC along with the Offshore paintings.

"Terra Ceia Palms" by Cheryl Moody Photo: www.cherylmoody.com

Moody, who grew up in Bradenton, is inspired by “old Florida” landscapes. She uses impressionist techniques to capture pristine vegetation and ecosystems unique to Florida. Using brightly colored oils, Moody seems to bring hue into subject matter that would normally be represented differently. By using a different palate, she captures the natural beauty of her native state in a whole new tone.

“You have this picture in your head of things in nature and how they should be portrayed,” said Leclezio. “When you look at Cheryl’s work it introduces you to colors that your naked eye wouldn’t see; it is like a new realization of colors.”

Moody graduated from Florida State University but has continued her art studies a Ringling’s School of Art, Wildacres in North Carolina and the National Academy of Art in New York. She also studied with world renowned artist Wolf Kahn who is known for his combination of realism and Color Field, and known to work in pastel and oil paint.

One of the mixed media paintings in Maro Lorimer's "Beach Path" series Photo: www.marolorimer.com

“I paint because I like the energy of it -- the movement of the brush across the canvas. Tedious realistic painting is not my thing, it just wouldn’t be fun to me,” said Moody.

When she isn’t painting, Moody is learning to play the fiddle so she can participate in her husband, John Moody’s bluegrass band. He played at the gallery opening on April 8, 2011. His music compliments his wife’s work even when they’re at home practicing. It is not unusual to her music resonating from their house on the Manatee River.

Moody and Lorimer’s work will be on display until April 26, 2011. PAC gallery is open from Monday - Friday 10:00 – 2:00 p.m. and is closed on Wednesdays.

“I am very happy with the marriage of painters that Gretchen put together,” Lorimer said, “I liked how my paintings went from the beach path out onto the water. The addition of Cheryl’s work extends that range even further.”

The Palmetto Art Center
907 5th St W

Palmetto, Florida, 34221.
Right next door to Grower's Hardware Store