Virginia Bryant: To The North

New work by painter Virginia Bryant will be shown at the Azarian McCullough Gallery at St. Thomas Aquinas College. Inspired by numerous galleries on the Rue Royal in the French Quarter where she lived from 19891991, many showing work from Hudson Valley painters, To the North refers to Bryant’s own relocation to the Hudson Valley from Florida last year.

About her painting the artist says, “My proclivities for the mystical and the sublime are tempered by a strong drive towards balance. My preoccupations with balance relate to surroundings that are dangerously out of balance. If I can achieve harmonious balance in the diminutive spaces of my paintings, this message can be manifested outside of it too. Informed by the wabi sabi tropical baroque terrain of southwest Florida which acted as my chief visual inspiration during my time there, I am habituated to using natural environments as my primary inspiration. The new palette of the northern environment is blue, cooler and more greyed.”

Trained as a classical dancer, the gestural orientation of Bryant’s paintings are outgrowths of early experiences as a dancer, performer and choreographer in San Francisco where she also worked as a fabric, costume and garment maker and designer.

While in Florida she worked as an art educator, founding the West Wing Gallery, which under her directorship brought artists to Naples from all over the country. She continued independent curatorial activities under the auspices of Art Projects from her time in San Francisco in the 80’s ending in the last project of 12 artists in “Aspirants Shamans & Mentors”, bringing acknowledged masters together with local artists.

Virginia Bryant: To the North runs from October 10th through November 6th.

A reception and artist talk is scheduled for Wednesday, October 26, from 4:30 – 6:30 pm.

For more information go to stac.edu/amag.