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TOM MORTON / ROOTS May 4-27, 2023 Opening Reception: May 4, 5-7:00 pm Art Forum: May 18, 7:30 pm (Click for video) |
CLICK BELOW TO SEE MORE Image Gallery Video of Art Forum: May 18 at 7:30 pm Tom's Morton (August 2021) Interview 2014 |
TOM MORTON / ROOTS
In ROOTS, long-time member of Gallery A3 Tom Morton looks back over more than three decades with a mini retrospective and also displays a group of recent works, including paintings and drawings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, and charcoal.
The works range in time from 1988 up to 2023. All reveal Morton’s use of vibrant, saturated color, often achieved by layering oil pastels over paint, and other personal touches, reflecting a visual play between observation and abstraction. This visual play extends to subject matter, which also moves between abstraction and observation.
Many of the pictures represent landscape subjects, such as flowering trees and their foliage, and others appropriate to this spring season. However, a number of recent works, such as Underground Roots, while visually abstract, also act symbolically, expressing the beauty but often difficult chaos and claustrophobia of our technology-saturated world.
Morton first came to the area as a college student, then left after graduating from Amherst College. He was drawn back to the town he loved, and he enjoyed teaching, both art and music, until retiring to devote himself to painting full time.
Art Forum Online
An Art Forum Online on Thursday, May 18 at 7:30 pm, offers an opportunity for informal conversation with the artist. Click here to register for this online event, which is free and open to the public. This Art in Community program is supported in part by grants from the Amherst Cultural Council, Pelham Cultural Council, and Springfield Cultural Council, all local agencies, which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
In ROOTS, long-time member of Gallery A3 Tom Morton looks back over more than three decades with a mini retrospective and also displays a group of recent works, including paintings and drawings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, and charcoal.
The works range in time from 1988 up to 2023. All reveal Morton’s use of vibrant, saturated color, often achieved by layering oil pastels over paint, and other personal touches, reflecting a visual play between observation and abstraction. This visual play extends to subject matter, which also moves between abstraction and observation.
Many of the pictures represent landscape subjects, such as flowering trees and their foliage, and others appropriate to this spring season. However, a number of recent works, such as Underground Roots, while visually abstract, also act symbolically, expressing the beauty but often difficult chaos and claustrophobia of our technology-saturated world.
Morton first came to the area as a college student, then left after graduating from Amherst College. He was drawn back to the town he loved, and he enjoyed teaching, both art and music, until retiring to devote himself to painting full time.
Art Forum Online
An Art Forum Online on Thursday, May 18 at 7:30 pm, offers an opportunity for informal conversation with the artist. Click here to register for this online event, which is free and open to the public. This Art in Community program is supported in part by grants from the Amherst Cultural Council, Pelham Cultural Council, and Springfield Cultural Council, all local agencies, which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
