Deborah Paris’ paintings to be featured at PJC

Published or Revised September 22, 2009

"The Color of Mood," oil on linen paintings, will be included in the exhibit of guest artist Deborah Paris, on display from Sept. 29 through Oct. 22, according to Paris Junior College Fine Arts Director, Cathie Tyler. Paris, a landscape painter working in oil and pastel, paints intimate landscapes that reflect her lifelong fascination with the subtleties and drama of the natural world. Veils of transparent color create luminous surfaces, inviting a long lingering look by the viewer. These paintings explore the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere at dawn, sunset, evening, dusk and night. Mystery and rich color invite one's eyes to adjust and explore. Inspired by direct observation and memory, this work is more suggestive than descriptive, creating evocative associations between real and remembered places. Finding that less specificity of detail leads to a richness in sense of place, Paris uses luminous color to conjure up the many moods of the day-serene, quiet, sensual, mysterious and even melancholy. Her technique, which involves applying layers of transparent glazes juxtaposed with translucent and opaque passages, and celebrating the texture of the linen canvas, creates an optically complex surface, and a visual feast for the viewer. Paris has been featured in [i]American Artist[/i], [i]Southwest Art[/i] and [i]The Pastel Journal[/i]. She was named an Artist to Watch by [i]Southwest Art[/i] magazine. Her work has been shown at the Laguna Art Museum, the Albuquerque Museum of Art and the Panhandle-Plains Museum. In 2006 her work was featured in two new books, [i]Landscapes of New Mexico[/i] (Fresco Fine Art Publications) and [i]Plein Air New Mexico[/i] (Jack Richeson Art Publications. The exhibit will open with a reception on Sept. 29 from 4:30 until 6 p.m. in the Art Foyer Gallery on the PJC campus. There is no charge for the exhibit, and the public is invited to attend. Paris will conduct a one-day workshop in Plein Aire painting with PJC students on Friday, Oct. 9. There is a limited enrollment for interested persons from the community through Paris Junior College's Continuing Education Department. [i]En plein aire[/i] is a French expression which means "in the open air," and is particularly used to describe the act of painting outdoors. "I look for the extraordinary in the intimate, ordinary landscape — the moment when light and atmosphere create a bridge between outward movement and inner standstill," said Paris. For more information about the exhibit or workshop, call 903-782-0460. To register for the workshop, call 903-782-0447 or 903-782-0445.