SAXTONS RIVER — A combined show of artists Gil Perry and Charles Norris-Brown, entitled “Distant Thunder,” will be up at Main Street Arts in Saxtons River through June 16.
Perry, of Springfield, Vt., will show selections from his work in landscape oils and from graphite fantasy drawings. His paintings reflect his interest in capturing the variations of light in nature.
“For the past 27 years, I have been working in the landscape tradition of painting in the open air, exploring new ways to express the poetry of light through the changing seasons,” he said in a news release. “Through my drawings and paintings, I hope to awaken the imagination, an emotion, or sense of wonder in the viewer. Whether it be a black and white imaginary drawing or a landscape in oils, the creative process is a continual joy for me.”
A native of Connecticut, Perry studied art at the New England School of Art, the Rhode Island School of Design, the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and Colby Sawyer College. His early work was on drawing in black and white until he was introduced to the painting principles of American impressionist Frank Vincent DuMond.
Norris-Brown, of Bellows Falls, describes himself as a “dishwasher, bus driver, teacher, theoretician, and artist” who eventually became an anthropologist in India, Borneo, Canada, and Appalachia, where his work focused on small communities living in and dependent on forests.
Villagers in the Terai region of India recommended that he combine his art, anthropology, and concern for the environment and focus on writing and illustrating children's books.
After completing an online course with the Institute of Children's Literature in 2005, he went to the Terai region of Nepal and eventually developed what would become his first children's book, Did Tiger Take the Rain?, published last fall by Green Writers Press.
Norris-Brown will show images plus narrative from that book, and follow-up studies for his next children's book, about Mount Mansfield.