July 2009
Light and Motion
Terry Sauve "Back Road"
Terry Sauve
"Painting the Light"
Oil paintings
Terry Sauve displays her landscape oil paintings, “Painting the Light,” which capture the magical quality of light falling over a scene in nature. Sauve’s paintings evoke a sense of expansive stillness, a quiet moment where the viewer can take a peaceful respite. Many of Terry’s landscapes are inspired by Ashland scenes.
Sauve states that for her, “painting the landscape is the process of enticing a scene to emerge and reveal itself on the canvas. Painting en plein air allows me to see, feel and respond to the scene viscerally and intuitively. I strive to capture the light, the mood, the time of day and the season. I am especially drawn to paint the first and last light of the day, when trees are bathed in a warm hue and the distant hillsides glow. As an artist I feel it is my role to push the color to a heightened state of vitality. Compositionally, I adjust elements of shape and pattern to create interest and to draw the eye into the scene. My aim is to paint so that the viewer will want to go inside the painting and live there.”
Terry Sauvé has been painting in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1996, after settling there to attend the Academy of Art College. She has studied with some of the area’s best painters including Brian Blood, Craig Nelson, William Maughn and Randall Sexton. Her method includes taking photographs, making sketches and/or color studies on location. From these references she works on larger finished paintings in her studio. Here, she transmits what she has absorbed from studying color and light in nature into her paintings. She has received national recognition, being included in the 2007 Paint the Parks “Mini Top50.” Her prize-winning work was included in the Academy of Art’s Annual Spring Show for four consecutive years and published in the “New Fillmore” monthly newspaper (Oct. 2002).
S. Springer "Red Haired Dancer" Mosaic
Susan springer
"The Figure In Motion"
Mosaics and Sculpture
Susan Springer’s move to the beautifully restored historic Nininger Building last July 2008 resulted in the integration of her ceramic studio with the gallery, allowing for a working studio where visitors can view her work in progress, chat about the art process, and partake in art workshops, poetry readings, and other social events. The dance studio upstairs enhances the sense of community the building evokes, and has inspired Sue’s “Abstract Dancers” series. “I’ve always been drawn to the human form, particularly the human figure in motion, and like the idea of the unexpected. I enjoy abstracting motion and line, and the resulting play on dimension.”
Susan Springer has been drawn to the ceramic arts, including tile, sculpture and pottery since the early 1970’s. Beginning with thrown pottery, she has “progressed to sculpture, public commissions, murals, mosaics and custom handmade tile.” After studying in Portland, she moved to Mississippi and established Beechtree Pottery, a working studio and gallery. Through the 1970’s she participated in the craft fair circuit in the Southeastern United States. After moving to the mountains of Illahe, Oregon, she continued her ceramic work, began tilemaking and taught ceramic classes at SWOCC for several years. She began a course of Graduate study at the University of Oregon, completing an MFA in 1984. As a thesis project for her Masters degree, she completed a public art commission for the City of Springfield, Oregon. This ceramic relief mural is located in the Springfield City Hall and titled, “Between the Rivers.” She has since completed numerous installations, donor recognition, private and public commissioned projects, including “Rio Amistad,” the mosaic placed at the Calle Guanajuato Overlook in Lithia Park, Ashland. Her most recent project took place this past spring at Helman Elementary School in Ashland. As part of an “Artist in the Schools” program, Springer worked with 10 classes to create tiles with student designed images from their favorite books to decorate the courtyard benches outside the school’s new library.