Carlton Gallery began its 38th Mid-Summer Group Exhibition with a drop-in reception on Saturday, July 25th. Art in all media by the gallery’s standing artists is a visual feast not to be missed. During this time “social distancing” is maintained throughout the gallery. This exhibition can be viewed through September 15th.
This Mid-Summer Group Exhibition offers new abstracted landscapes by Andrew Braitman, traditional landscapes and interiors by Connie Winters, plein air landscapes by Sharon Rusch Shaver, figurative paintings by Kate Worm and Arlene Mandell, equine and mixed media by Vae Hamilton, along with mixed media collage by Marion Cloaninger.
An “Appalachian Impressions of Landscapes” exhibit is presented by Egidio Antonaccio, Linda Apriletti and Freeman Beard. Each artist renders the landscape by their unique interpretation using oil, acrylic and watercolor.
Egidio Antonaccio is an exceptionally talented fine art painter whose impressionist landscapes show his love of nature. He paints vast panoramic views of hillsides and valleys, paths filled with flowering shrubs and azaleas, woodland waterfalls with native rhododendron and dogwood, pastoral farm scenes, mountain streams, as well as scenes depicting the changing seasons. He also has the inherent ability to paint the alluring light of nature as a focal in many of his paintings, as he balances the fluidity of the paints with the impressionistic realism he captures on canvas. Antonaccio’s exceptional artistic talent enables him to render landscapes which are filled with grace and flawless beauty.
Born in Italy, Antonaccio grew up with the influences of great Italian master painters all around him. He earned his degree from the Institute of Fine Art in Castrovillari, Italy and the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy with honors.
Florida native, Linda Apriletti, is a plein air landscape painter of immense talent. Painting outside allows her to observe and understand patterns in nature. Her focus is on mood and atmosphere of the landscape. She enjoys painting in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Maine, and Martha’s Vineyard, as well as coastal Florida.
As a child, Apriletti spent much time outside in nature and remember family vacations in the Blue Ridge mountains and hiking with her father. Even though her college degrees are in Accounting and Taxation, it was a natural evolution to blend her interests in art and nature to establish a career as an award-winning landscape painter.
The art of watercolorist Freeman Beard is realistic impressionism in which he captures the color, mood, and truth of his subject matter then finds its essence to make a beautiful painting. His love of the mountains and coast offers a wide array of paintable subjects, as well as flowers and wildlife.
Beard is a versatile painter having rendered a mural for a school in Kenya, Africa while on a mission trip. He also produced artwork for Inner City Schools in Durham County, Riverside High School, as well as Duke Hospital in Durham. Beard’s extensive talent which affords him the ability to paint wildlife rendered two cows for the city of Durham’s Cow Parade.
The paintings of Freeman Beard are represented in many private and corporate collections throughout the US, China, Japan, Holland, and Switzerland. He is a signature member of the Watercolor Society of N.C., an associate member of the National Watercolor Society and a member of the Durham Art Guild.
The monthly “Artist Spotlight” is on Debbie Arnold, a local painter of many years whose intuitive paintings are colorful, amusing, and contemplative. Arnold says,” My intention is to use the painting process to connect with my inner self and the invisible worlds of the soul and spirit. When painting as a spiritual practice, my focus is allowing the painting to lead me. I trust my intuition even though I don’t know where it is taking me, and I let go of judgment and comparison”.
The 38th Mid-Summer Group Exhibition will continue through September 15th. The gallery is located 10 miles south of Boone, 7 miles north of Linville or Banner Elk and 8 miles from Blowing Rock at 10360 Hwy 105 South in the Grandfather Mountain community. Hours are 10 to 5 Tuesday through Saturday and 11 to 5 on Sunday. Visit the Carlton Gallery’s website to view artwork, artist information or workshops
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