NEWFANE — For the month of December, the Crowell Art Gallery, 23 West St., presents "There and Back Again, " an exhibit by Carol Schweigert. A reception with the artist will take place on Saturday, Dec. 9, from 1 to 3 p.m.
Schweigert returned to oil painting during a brief visit to Vermont in the summer of 2007. Ready to take a break from her illustration and design work, she signed up for a Plein Air workshop in Bennington.
"Plein Air, with its swift application, seemed to fit easily into my life," she said in a news release. "I found it was the process of painting, as much as the final image that I enjoyed. The abstract expressionism of my past art education became so 'last century' to me."
Schweigert moved to southern Vermont nearly four years ago, traveling about the area with her French easel enjoying the fresh air. "Plein air painting hints of an extreme sport with slippery slopes, lightning storms, and friendly cows," she said. "You win a few and lose a few."
She said she is intrigued by the contradiction of carrying a 19th-century kit into the 21st century to find out what makes a piece live in the moment.
Schweigert paints in both oil and gouache, indoors and out. While she relishes the spontaneity of Plein Air, during a very rainy season, she paints from her own photographs. The exhibit at the Crowell Art Gallery provides a glimpse of her 16 years of work. She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, Brattleboro Urban Sketchers, Concord Art, and the Artists Group of Charlestown.
The gallery, located in the Moore Free Library, is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 1 to 5 p.m., Thursdays from 1 to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This The Arts item was submitted to The Commons.