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By DIANA BIRD
Rappahannock News Special Writer
“The 7th Annual Gallery Artists & Friends Show,” which opened at the Middle St. Gallery on Jan. 3 and hins through Feb. 14, represents the expressions of many of our resident artists and others working m a variety of mediums.
As such, it is impossible to comment on in its entirety, and the remarks below do not pretend to pick out even the best pieces on display.
If there is one principal focus of this eclectic show, it is portraiture and figure making. Each artist’s exhibit is a statement of how she or he senses a mission.
One of the most beautiful paintings is Tom Spande’s “Morning [Sun,” an oil on canvas of a young woman sitting in an old wooden rocking chair, reading and writing, with her back to an alcove window flooded with light. This is hardly a portrait since the hair of the sitter’s bent head covers the brow and eyes, and only a shaded mouth and nose are visible.
I feel Tom is celebrating the joy of painting. The joy is expressed by the rendering of light, and the interesting patterns created by the figure, the rocking chair and the creamy white woodwork of the window and its surrounding architectural detail.
The figure is simplified because the costume is informal - the feet are covered with socks instead of shoes, but the details Spande devotes his care to are perfectly rendered. The composition is straightforward and formal, resulting in an appealing air of 'tranquility.
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