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Outdoor Palette: Kate Emlen

Glimpse
Glimpse, 2019, oil on linen, 50” x 40”

“Through imagery that shifts between disintegration and integration, I intend to communicate the nature of memory while summoning up the place I most love.” —KATE EMLEN

Kate Emlen’s sun-flooded painting, Glimpse, is both cohesive and fractured. The landscape clearly depicts one scene from one perspective: It shows the islands of Penobscot Bay seen through light- dappled trees. But it is the fractured aspect of the painting that brilliantly describes the scintillating motion created by ocean wind and light.

The painting is comprised of 20 subtly articulated square sections. The palette is an orchestra of blues and greens that shift from square to square creating a visual vibration. This is not a scene frozen in time but rather an expression of time, of light shifting and recognition that every moment is different than the one before. As opposed to a photorealistic rendering, Glimpse reflects how our brains process our visual acuity. Our personal preferences determine what we focus on and what we edit out. Glimpse honors the fact that things co-exist; it is a bow to how our senses drink up the world.

Kate Emlen’s work will be shown at Courthouse Gallery, Ellsworth, Maine, throughout the 2019 summer season. Subsequently, she will be exhibiting at the White River Gallery in South Royalton, Vermont, from September through November. Her work can also be seen at the George Marshall Store Gallery in York, Maine; at the Pompanoosuc Mills Showroom in Hanover, New Hampshire; and by appointment at her studio in Norwich, Vermont.

Kate Emlen can be reached through her website, her instagram account: kateemlen, on Facebook: KateEmlenArtist, or via email.

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