Artist Claire Howard and her painting "Seaside Garden."
Potomac — This month The Art Gallery of Potomac will present a show titled "Painting on Sunshine:" a display of original art that brings together two perspectives on nature — its color and beauty through paintings by Claire Howard and its permanence and strength through David Therriault's stone garden sculpture.
Howard's work for this show features beach scenes, sailboats and gardens. Many of her paintings are on large canvases and she uses a palate knife to mimic the texture found in nature. She prefers the look of large scale pieces in indoor spaces because "they function like a window. I use soothing and serene colors that take you to a place of calm, happiness and peace. I hope people would say my work makes them feel good."
Therriault's artistic training and inspiration come from a lifetime of incorporating stone in natural settings as a landscape designer and as a shopkeeper at his countryside garden center, Alden Farms. The stones he uses are reborn as garden sculpture, birdbaths, fountains and home accents. "I do not collect stones from nature for those stones have avoided man’s improvements for centuries. I find stones that have been stolen, asked to be changed, ripped, chopped, moved, and piled for consumption. My sculptures are an abstract take on ancient symbols. That said, really I just like to bang on rocks and it gives people something to say that I do for a living."
The Art Gallery of Potomac is located at 10107 River Road in Potomac. Phone 240-447-9417. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Sunday, noon until 4 p.m. The show will run May 2 through June 3. An opening reception will be May 5, 5-7 p.m. For more information go to www.potomacartists.org.