Come visit with Nancy West and C. Keith Whitelock to hear about what inspires their painting. Nancy is showing her sumi-e ink paintings and Keitth is water colors. Other artists with work being shown are Kenneth Browne, Lynne Lockhart, Kirk McBride, Jim Rehak, Fred Sprock and Christie Taylor. This is a mix of recent plein air and studio paintings.
Opening Reception & Wine Tasting – Featured Artists Nancy West & C. Keith Whitelock
First Friday – Opening Reception & Wine Tasting with 7 Gallery Artists
Opening Reception for Christie Taylor & Fred Sprock
September Featured Artists – Christie Taylor & Fred Sprock
Christie Taylor and Fred Sprock, natives of North Carolina, discovered the Eastern Shore through friends. In 2012 the marshes overlooking Chincoteague Bay drew them to a new home which provides inspiration for both of their artistic talents. At that time Christie was still the managing partner of a Charlotte consulting firm specializing in promoting original art in the workplace. After setting her retirement for 2018, Christie wanted to expand her artistic experiences as a Fellow at Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland. In 2017 and returning in 2018 she spent 5 weeks each visit being drawn by the Irish landscape which parallels her fascination with Eastern Shore marshes. Her work in the show reflects how the rocky coast of Ireland serves as a vehicle to explore her interest in line and shape. Christie calls this Rock Scissors on Paper.
After Fred retired from a marketing career he studied with artists he admired accepting the challenge to become an artist, not just a painter. His move to Maryland gave him a renewed focus on having his work become a personal statement about his artistic exploration. His imagery, either a landscape with simple structures or an element in a natural setting, is painted with translucent quality diffusing light so the subjects and setting work together. His subjects are based on his attraction to simple architecture, nature’s simplicity and simple bucolic settings. Inspiration comes from exploring the Eastern Shore and the many places he travels.
Opening Reception for Group Show by Gallery Artists
Group Show by Gallery Artists
In March our feature is new work by selected gallery artists. Most of the work is representational in varying sizes. Christie Taylor will show paintings from her last stay in Ballycastle, Ireland. Nancy West’s work reflects her small painting project she has done this winter. We are pleased to include small expressionist paintings by Hunter Nesbitt. The paintings shown below offer a preview. The opening reception is First Friday, March 1 from 5 until 8.
Opening Reception – New Work by Gallery Artists
March Feature – New Work by Gallery Artists
March is a month that makes the change of season a reality. Daylight Savings Time returns March 11 and the Vernal Equinox on March 20 lets us welcome Spring. At Bishop’s Stock our March show reveals what gallery artists have created during winter hibernation. Themes in their new work range from unique still life subjects to interesting travel destinations. The landscape shown below, Bunatrahir Bay Study, is by Christie Taylor done during her 5 week fellowship in Ballycastle, Mayo County, Ireland. Other artists – Petra Bernstein, Scot Dolby, Lois Engberg, Linda Epstein, Jim Rehak, Fred Sprock, Nancy Richards West – will be showing with Lynne Lockhart and Kirk McBride offering a sneak peak of their April show. Erick Sahler will be here for the opening with his work. Rule #1 (No Ketchup) is a new take on Thrashers French Fries.
Opening Reception for Christie Taylor and Fred Sprock
September Featured Artists – Christie Taylor & Fred Sprock
During September Bishop’s Stock is featuring two artists who moved to the Snow Hill area several years ago. When Christie Taylor and Fred Sprock discovered Worcester County’s proximity to coastal bays and adjacent marshes they knew this was where they wanted to build a home and settle into Eastern Shore life. One of the driving forces in this move was to create studio space for each of them in a setting surrounded by the landscape they love.
Both Christie Taylor and Fred Sprock call themselves “landscape artists” but that is about as close as they get with their unique painting disciplines and techniques. Several years ago Christie, an art consultant, returned to painting to focus on the beauty of the salt marshes surrounding their home. Christie does studies in acrylic on paper and creates oils on panels – all that reflect a time and place that constantly changes with time of day and season. Her painting style “utilizes” the freedom nature holds over marshland and gives her a chance to “escape” to her studio.
Fred Sprock is a full time painter who is quite disciplined. He considers himself a landscape artist who scouts compelling imagery that ranges from a dying tree to the architectural interest of a farm house. When a subject or image catches his eye he takes photographs to use as references. He returns to his studio and does studies that may or may not become larger studio paintings. Even his still life paintings he considers “landscapes” since they are part of a smaller setting. His paintings have a luminescence he gets from layering paint many times with palette knives, scraping off to leave depth then finishing 10% of the painting with brushes.