Linda M. Epstein: Epstein's Zoological Exposition

After an expedition lasting more than a year, exploring the byways of her neighborhood - with a few excursions further a field, Linda M Epstein is pleased to present an exhibition of small paintings resulting from her observations of the fauna within a mile of her home, including noted exceptions. At the North End Gallery in beautiful (of course!) downtown Leonardtown!

Coming in October: Epstein's Zoological Exposition - After an expedition lasting more than a year, exploring the byways of her neighborhood - with a few excursions further afield, Linda M Epstein is pleased to present an exhibition of small paintings resulting from her observations of the fauna within a mile of her home, including noted exceptions. At the North End Gallery in beautiful (of course!) downtown Leonardtown!

Show runs from October 1st until November 2nd. Artist reception on October 3rd from 5 to 8 pm.

North End Gallery, 41652 Fenwick Street, Leonardtown, MD 20650, 301-475-3130

Partly, the idea for this show came from my respect for the great nineteenth century painters like Thomas Moran, Frederic Edwin Church and Albert Bierstadt, who were some of the first to carry their equipment west to paint the marvelous beauty they found there. Then, having brought the often very large canvases back east, they displayed these in expositions that let the public have their first viewings of the grandeur of the West. The expositions were important in the creation of our National Parks. I have admired the work of these painters for a long time. Their style has been called ‘luminism’, known for its soft light and emphasizing tranquility and reflectiveness.

With a river directly west of me, I turned east to observe who was near, and certainly did not go far from home, mostly within a mile of the front door, to find most of the images for this show. With some of the tenets of the luminists always in mind, I applied them to this series of small portraits rather than traditional landscapes.

Sometimes twelve months seems to stretch incessantly away; at other, times a year ago feels close enough to touch. Either sentiment is valid but balance is not always simple to achieve. During a January snowstorm, I realized I could use a spell of time for contemplating my purlieu. Winter is a season with an air of somberness and reflection. It allows for respite and rejuvenation but also carries reminders of death and privation. Out of such a hard winter arose the idea to give a year to the observation of this locality where I live, to give a year to an expedition, a field study, a safari of the denizens of my locale.

So, after considering the seasonal aspects of habit required, donning boots and hat, grabbing paint-box and camera, I sallied forth to begin a surveillance of who and what live near by. With occasional excursions further a field, as there really are no tigers in Pocomoke, this was accomplished through a series of small paintings done: a winter, spring, summer, fall; a year of portraits of only some of the many creatures near me.

Sometimes, a year isn’t long enough!