Years ago, painter Colleen Lineberry rowed her sportyak — a watercraft she describes as a “bathtub with oars” — down the San Juan River in Utah. She and a group of 17 other paddlers followed the same 88-mile route environmentalist Edward Abbey followed back in the 1960s, “steering through river rapids and goosenecks each day and camping on canyon beaches each night.” That eight-day experience continues to inspire the bold, gestural brushstrokes Lineberry makes in her Asheville studio today. “That powerful landscape returns to me again and again, partly because of the magnetism and stark beauty of the stone and sky but also because we lived with nature for a sustained period, immersed in wilderness, silence, and renewal,” she says. This April, Lineberry will present a solo show at Wedge Studios featuring new work impacted by her unforgettable journey. “These paintings are meant to celebrate nature, silence, and imagination, all emerging from wild places, either without or within,” she says.
Exploring the Wild: April 1-30; Opening Reception: Saturday, April 12, 4:30-6:30pm
Spotlight Gallery at Wedge Studios / 129 Roberts St., River Arts District, Asheville/ wedgestudioartists.com
Congratulations Colleen. I love the look of this piece and it certainly seems to have the feeling of what you’re explaining as you adventure in nature. I hope your show and opening go very well. I hope that sometime when you’re in New Jersey we can hook up.
Wonderful, Colleen! A well deserved show and how I wish we could see it. All the best to you, and lots of love.