Just a Moment
About the Exhibition:
Just a Moment features work by painters Christina Penrose and Mary Powers-Holt. Each artist finds beauty in observation, drawing inspiration from the peaceful environments around them. Christina invites us into quiet still life paintings of moments on kitchen tables. Her blue and white dishware cradles bright roma tomatoes and peppers, the succulent colors make the viewer feel as though they’re sitting at the table with her. Mary gazes into the distance on cloudy waterfronts where boats sit waiting to be used. You can almost smell the grass drifting in the breeze in her paintings. Both artists allow us to sit with quiet beauty, an invitation not commonly found in contemporary urban life. Just a Moment exemplifies the importance of stopping, of finding the moments that bring us stillness.
Mary Powers-Holt
Artist Bio
Mary Powers Holt born Philadelphia, PA 1960 has lived in the Greater Philadelphia area most of her life. Her home and studio are on a historic farm in Chester County, where the landscape and farm buildings inform her work. She studied visual arts at the PA Academy of the Fine Arts and Art History at the University of Pennsylvania through the Academy and Penn's coordinated B.F.A./Certificate program. She was awarded the J. Henry Schiedt Traveling Scholarship in her fourth year at the PA Academy.
Mary Powers-Holt is a Cerulean Arts Collective Gallery member in Philadelphia and has exhibited her work in six solo shows since 2017. She was an Artist in Residence at the Fitler Club in Philadelphia from June 2021 to April 2023, where she exhibited four paintings. In 2023, she also exhibited her work in the group show "Crafting Nature" in the InLiquid Gallery in Philadelphia and in group shows at the DaVinci Art Alliance. She has exhibited at The PA Academy of the Fine Arts Alumni Gallery in the "12 x 12" exhibit and the 2017 PAFA Fellowship Show. She was awarded the Caroline Gibbons Granger Award for her painting "A Walk in the Field" in the 2001 PAFA Fellowship show at Historic Yellow Springs. She exhibited in many group shows at the Jeffrey Leder Gallery, formerly in Long Island City, NY, and solo at the Rivers Edge
Gallery at Bridgeton House in Upper Black Eddy, PA, sponsored by InLiquid. Another past solo show was "Open Space" at the Burrison Gallery at the Penn Club of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA. Mary has exhibited her work widely and is included in many
private collections.
Artist Statement
My paintings are influenced by nature and inspired by the abstract patterns found in the landscape against atmospheric color and scattered light in the sky. My work describes the solitary discovery of a place in time and the unconscious forms and meaning generated from the experience. An emotional undercurrent is vital to my imagery, and my use of paint is expressionistic within this framework. The landscape is a launching point for imagination and interpreting the experience through painting my form of meditation.
I paint with Acrylic on linen and canvas, board, and aluminum panels in sizes ranging from ten inches to four feet. I am primarily a studio painter and also paint outdoors. I use photographs from my walks or window views to start a painting. I work on a series of landscape subjects that includes bare trees, changing sky, and the movement of light and color to suggest the passage of time.
Christina Penrose
Artist Statement
My paintings are subconsciously motivated images provoking a beginning. “If you know exactly what you're going to do, what is the point of doing it?” is a quote from Picasso, which I very much agree with. My imagery and color are a result of experimenting with various transfer methods, collage and paint application. This process inspires underlying themes, which are at times autobiographical, political, environmental, or mystical. Another source of inspiration comes from painting the landscape, especially when I travel. Painting the landscape keeps my eye in tune with the natural elements, and in turn is revisited later as a resource for work in the studio.
