Two By Land
By Katherine Sandoz & Nicole Donnelly
By Katherine Sandoz & Nicole Donnelly
Two By Land is a
contemporary collaboration between artists Katherine Sandoz & Nicole
Donnelly. The works are made up of acrylic, oil, and water based on canvas are
on display at the Sheppard Contemporary Gallery. Two By Land portrays the experience of landscape. Each different
landscape can provoke different responses and emotions. The two artists use
abstraction, but each has a different approach in creating landscape pieces. Sandoz
is painter of detail. Her landscape abstractions are of actual places invoking
in the viewer intimate feelings and memories. Places such as coastal waters and
the Deep South are used. Donnelly’s works are of imaginary landscapes depicting
chaos and disarray. Using recognizable things in an uncomfortable and
frightening manner does this. A tree is overturned. A sky is horizonless,
giving the feeling of no end in sight. Each artist uses a similar color palette
but different techniques to achieve their works.
This Ship By Nicole
Donnelly
This ship by Nicole
Donnelly is a landscape piece using oil and acrylic on canvas. The size of the
piece plays a big part in its effectiveness. At a size of 44 x 64 in. the piece
can be overwhelming and as the artist says “information overload.” The piece is
an outline of an old sailing ship. The mast and sails can be seen in a thin
white color outline. The body and no other part of the ship is present. The
piece is divided in two with two different colors. At the bottom of the piece,
a gray green is used. The color is depicting dark mud like water. A darker blue
color is used for the upper part of the piece. The blue resembles a storm or
coming doom. The sky looks as if lightning could strike at any second. Around
the white outline of the ship’s mast, a red color is used. It looks as if the
mast and sails are on fire and the ship is going to be lost at sea. The emotion
this piece provokes in me is that of chaos and danger. In other works of Donnelly,
the same apocalypse and all out disasters are portrayed. Even with this piece’s
minimalist approach, this feeling is present.
(Snowscape) Big Moose
Lake By Katherine Sandoz
Snowscape by Katherine
Sandoz is a landscape piece using water-based media on panel. Unlike the works
of Nicole Donnelly in this showing, Sandoz’s pieces are much smaller. Snowscape is only 18 x 18 in. This helps
her theme of intimacy and emotion be achieved. The piece used the color palette
of grays with a mixture of blue and white. Like other pieces in the showing,
the piece is divided. From the middle to the bottom of the piece, a gray-blue
water feature is shown. The mixture of colors shows movement of the water in
various places. No area in this section of the piece looks the same. Just as
with the movement of water on a shoreline or beach, no area of water looks the
same. At the top of the piece, a rise in the land is depicted. This could be
portraying a hill or mountain. Above that, a cloudless gray sky is
present. This piece could be
portraying a number of places. I have no memories of being at a place like
this, but I’m sure someone visiting the gallery has. In seeing the piece, the
emotion of being there will be remembered. Even with the minimal use of colors,
a large amount of detail is present. By presenting this piece in a smaller
size, all of the details can be observed. I don’t feel that this piece would be
effective in a larger format.
Each artist in this showing presented landscapes of different fashions. Even with their similarities, each are very different is their construction and viewer response. As with any collaboration, it was enjoyable to see two different depictions of the same theme. This gallery shows that artists can present their own ideas and creativity on the same topic.