Kentlands Mansion Art Show, "Intersection"

The three exhibiting artists, Cathy Abramson, Lynne Oakes, and Elroy Williams diverge in approach, media, and style, but still find intersections in their work.

Cathy Abramson’s recent urban paintings are inspired by her photos of everyday events; sitting at a lunch counter, getting a watch repaired, having a cup of coffee. Her work probes the mysterious, temporary, and incongruous nature of chance encounters in the urban environment. It is about being in the moment yet creating an aura of nostalgia. The urban landscape is constantly changing and recording a fleeting moment or a fractured vision is essential to creating memories.The viewer is pulled into the painting as though witnessing an event but the subtext to her paintings reveals even more about life, memory and what lies beneath the surface.

Lynne Haussler Oakes paints the interactions between people that matter in life. Painting scenes of people enjoying themselves and each other is one of her favorite themes. Additionally, these scenes are often part of some personal pleasure. People are talking with each other, shopping, dancing, sharing a meal, observing beauty in a museum, or just relaxing. The locations of these scenes is largely the DC metro area, but her vacations have also provided lively subjects for her colorful work. While Lynne also paints still lifes and portraits, when she paints scenes of people having fun, she gets to experience the pleasure of the place all over again as she puts paint to canvas!

Elroy Williams’ work is more personal and eclectic. To achieve his goal of connecting with people and provoking thought through his art, Williams uses a variety of media, alone and sometimes in combination. Each medium affords a particular feeling for a certain theme or subject, he believes, and he works with pastels, oils, acrylics, watercolors, pen and ink, charcoal, graphite, found objects and intaglio etching.

Despite their different approaches the images of Abramson and Oakes create a vibrant urban landscape. The narrative of these images, as well as their color and intensity, speaks to cities that teem with life. Some of the pieces tap out the rhythm of jazz while others offer the quiet pleasure of contemplating art in a museum. Still others explore the isolation of passersby in a street after dark or the grit of city streets. Their work, like city streets — merges, diverges and takes the occasional U-turn. Williams’ work is more varied and can’t be described as urban, he isn’t constrained by genre and uses many avenues and media to express his vision.

Please join the artists at the opening reception for “Intersection” on October 21, 2014 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The reception and exhibit are sponsored by the City of Gaithersburg and is scheduled from October 17, 2014 to December 5, 2014. Kentlands Mansion is open to the public but is used for meetings and private events. Please call 301-258-6394 to schedule a time to view the exhibit. Kentlands Mansion Gallery is located at 320 Kent Square Road, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. For more details visit www.gaithersburgmd.gov.