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Pastels Chicago:
First Biennial National Show 2007

June 15 - July 10, 2007

Palette & Chisel
1012 N. Dearborn
Chicago, IL 60610
tel.: 312-642-4400
office hours: Mon-Thu 10:30a-6:30p; Fri 10:30a-5p
http://www.paletteandchisel.org
http://www.chicagopastelpainters.org

Pastels Chicago: First Biennial National Show 2007 offers a dazzling display of virtuosity in the pastel medium, here as 'pastel painting' in which oil pastels are used to entirely cover the working surface in a manner analogous to that of oil painting. Landscapes and contemporary genre scenes comprise most of the 75 works on view, with an occasional portrait or abstract work. It is the landscapes which carry the day with their emphasis on plein air views and renderings vivid with sunlight and color, combined with a rigorous attention to competence and technique -- Impressionism, with discipline.

Like the Impressionists, the pastel painters of Pastels Chicago have the same shimmering focus on light and its effects on delineating the texture of natural features, from satiny to hard. River views are a frequent subject here, affording the opportunity to illustrate complex foliage as well as delicate reflective effects that show the artists' thorough understanding of light as it leaps from surface to surface. Scenes of rivers in early autumn, with the first touches of red and gold on the leaves of the high branches reflected in the moving water, represent a particularly satisfying experience in these renderings. The scene and its basic masses serve as a foundation for an exploration of the ways in which illumination touches each element differently: the river surface, the midground foliage, the distant trees which atmosphere renders as vaguer masses of lighter value.

To an interest in the spontaneous effects of transitional light, that fascination which first awakened among the Impressionists, the pastel painters add the discipline of a greater involvement with detail. Scenes are vividly and sharply rendered with a realism, itself infused with intensity by the dazzling properties of its color. The pastel medium offers the richness of an oil painting, in fact, is comprised of the same pigments used in oil painting but bound in a soft solid crayon. In Pastels Chicago the artists display their adept creation of color effects, which must be built up using differently-hued pastel crayons as the medium does not allow mixing. And at times, it is a skillful handling of the absence of color that is compelling. The convincing snow effects of First Snow by Brian Sauerland show an application of the skills of using negative space, the untouched white of the paper, creating a snowbank with its wine-dark creek that has all the crisp chill of a scene freshly happened upon.

In the pastel paintings of these experienced artists, color does not simply reproduce the hues of nature but adds brilliance and intensity. Both the Chicago Pastel Painters and the Pastel Society of America are sponsors of Pastels Chicago, the first biennial national show. Pastels Chicago is at the Palette & Chisel through June 10, 2007.

Pastels Chicago was juried by Margaret Dyer. Artists featured in Pastels Chicago are (CPP denotes membership in Chicago Pastel Painters, PSA in Pastel Society of America): Elaine Augustine (MPSA), Darlene Bock, Laverne Bohlin, Ken Landon Buck, Linda Dellandre, Reven Fellars, Patty Fischer, Jessica Fine (PSA), Judith Fowler, Nancy Freeman, Ted Fuka, Lynn Goldstein, Gerrie Govert, Tom Graham, Ray Hassard, Jean Hirons, Ben Jurevicius, Mike Barrett Kolasinski (PSA), Paula J. Kuehl, Michael Latala, Stacy Leeman, Dee Leppin, Sam Liberman, Bill Littlejohn, Kelly G. Martin, Liz Jorg Masi (PSA), Fran Mazur, Nancie King Mertz (CPP), Lynn Miller, Carol Molepske, Phil Monteith (PSA), Barbara Noonan, Andrea Pejeau (PSA), Nancy Pinzkie, Annette Plettau, Cheryl Powell, Jerry Power (PSA), Cynthia Richards, Becky Hicks Roesler, Junko Ono Rothwell (PSA), Cheri Saffro, John Sagartz, Kay Sandler, Brian Sauerland, William A. Schneider (PSA), Aaron Schuerr, Stacie Seuberling, Pat Sheppard, Marilyn St. Clair, Camilla Stoltz (PSA), Pat Suggs (PSA), Vianna Szabo, Mel Thompson (PSA), Duane Wakeham (MPSA), Carol Strock Wasson, Alice McMahon White, Gary Wick, Mona M. Witt, Suzanne Wolfe, and Al Zerries (PSA).

--Katherine R. Lieber

Katherine R. Lieber has edited ArtScope.net's Visual Arts reviews since 1998. Ms. Lieber is Editor and Associate Producer for ArtScope.net.