Betti Pettinati Longinotti: Under Brother Sun and Barbara Rizza Mellin: Summer Solace: New Asian Brush Paintings

Exhibition dates: May 30 - June 30, 2018
Gallery Hop: Friday, June 1, 7 – 10 pm
Artists' Reception: Sunday, June 10 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm including an Artists’ talk at 2:00 pm

Betti Pettinati Longinotti
Under Brother Sun
As an artist, I have a love for painting living things and my hope is that my observations promote the idea of honoring creation. As a Franciscan, my spirituality and way of life promotes a love and respect for creation. Continuing through this series of works, I find that my pieces are a celebration of color within the seasons and living things, thus my exhibition title, Under Brother Sun.

My initial inspiration for this series came from viewing the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition, Living Modern in 2017 at the Reynolda House, Museum of American Art, and her paintings of leaves. Over the years I have desired to paint autumn leaves as a still life. The size of my canvases, desiring to work large, required me to work from photographs, which I took myself. I recently heard a piece about Cézanne, saying that his still life compositions of fruit, often rotted before his paintings were complete, and he began to work from artificial fruit. That makes me feel a little better about working from photos. I am a purist as a painter, but know I would never be able to work this large, directly from life.

Having a love for the process of the observational in painting, I gathered my visual sources of autumn leaves, varieties of leaves and colors, and then followed through the colors through winter and spring. Gathering first from my home, then in my surroundings, visits, and short day trips. As I continued through the seasons I felt a sense of more expressiveness and freedom to depart from the original photographs.

Process and memories of painting- As a young adult artist, I used to use white lead in my painting as a textural foundation. Because of the toxicity of this material, you cannot find it any longer. I am now using matte gel medium to apply and provide underground texture for my painting.

This is the first time I have painted on pre-stretched canvas. I learned to stretch canvas when taking oil painting classes at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art), and it was introduced like a rite of passage for a painter.

Many people attribute my reputation as an artist, as a glass artist, which I am. I am also a painter and was painting before beginning in glass. My painting actually led to my development as a glass artist. As a painter with oil and glass, I find that I continue to love creating intensity with color.

I am inspired mostly by painters: Georgia O’Keeffe of course, Gabriele Münter, as I see a touch of the Fauvist style in one of my paintings; and Phil Koch, one of my painting professors at MICA, whom I follow his work and exhibitions.

Betti Pettinati Longinotti works in drawing, painting and flat glass.  She received a BFA from the Maryland Institute, College of Art and her MA from the University of the Arts/ Philadelphia, in Art Education with a studio major in Glass; an MFA in Visual Arts through the Lesley University College of Art and Design. Her work has been shown internationally. Betti is a juried member of Artworks Gallery and Piedmont Craftsmen, and the American Glass Guild.

 

Barbara Rizza Mellin
Summer Solace: New Asian Brush Paintings
What Mellin loves about Asian Brush Painting is the simple elegance of the natural subjects, plus the real and apparent spontaneity of the the process. Less is more. The idea is to capture the essence of the image rather than a botanical study. She uses traditional

Chinese bamboo brushes, Sumi ink, and Chinese watercolors on handmade paper. Mellin is an award-winning painter, printmaker and writer. Her art has been shown in juried exhibition throughout the US.  Locally, she is a member of Artworks Gallery, Associated Artists, Muddy River Art Assoc. and WS Writers.  She has also been a member of Oil Painters of America, Women Painters of the Southeast, Printmakers of NC, and the International Mezzotint Society. She received the Arts Council’s ArtPop Billboard Award for one of her Asian Brush Paintings.

Mellin relocated with her husband from the Boston area about 10 years ago. She holds a graduate degree in Art History from Harvard, where she received the Crite Prize in Humanities. She writes a column on art and travel in For Seniors Only, and a bi-monthly column for Renaissance magazine. As an art historian, she loves preserving and reinterpreting classic techniques for modern-day viewers.

Caption (Mellin, Irises, Sumi ink and Chinese watercolor on handmade Nujabi paper.)

Attached Images:
Betti Pettinati Longinotti; Out the Window, Snow Day; Oil on canvas
Betti Pettinati Longinotti; White Oak Leaves in Autumn; Oil on canvas
Betti Pettinati Longinotti; Tree Top, Early Spring, Alexandrina Magnolia; Oil on canvas
Betti Pettinati Longinotti; Camellia Blossom; Fused Glass bowl
Barbara Rizza Mellin, “Foxglove”, Fuchsia”, “Glads”.

 

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