TWO ARTISTS FIND INSPIRATION IN ISOLATION

 
September 10, 2021, by Brain Slattery- It’s a seaside pavilion, framing an island off the Connecticut coast. But the way the image is cast, it doesn’t allow for simple idyll. It’s peaceful, sure, but also lonely. There’s the tranquility of isolation, but also a sense of insecurity. It is, said photographer Marjorie Gillette Wolfe, “evocative of what I went through” during the depths of the Covid-19 shutdown, as she found herself alone and outside in “protective spaces, but in another sense, not protective at all.”Pavilion appears in “Exposed Secrets, Secrets Exposed,” a show of Wolfe’s and painter Kate Henderson’s work, up now at Kehler Liddell Gallery in Westville through Oct. 17. Though Wolfe is a photographer and Henderson a painter, the works of the two artists connect in multiple ways: in a penchant for bold shapes and textures, an eye toward strong composition, and a response to a year and a half spent figuring out how to make the best of a pandemic-ridden situation. Until reopening began earlier this year, Wolfe said that she spent most of the pandemic alone; she was by herself “all the time. I just made the most of it. I did not want this to be a waste of time.” She started by going through older photographs she had done that hadn’t yet found a home in previous shows. Among them was a picture of the outside wall of a house in Spain with an unusual brick formation on it. Her eye was drawn to it. At first it looked like it might be a chimney gone awry, but on closer inspection, she saw that it was actually a piece of an old arch that the builder had incorporated into the house. The arch seemed like an exposed secret. From there, Wolfe had her theme, which allowed her to return to the general principles that guided her practice. “It’s still a combination of photographs of beautiful places and humor,” she said..." Click HERE to comment and read full article.

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