Aglow by Cheryl LeClair-Sommer
Exhibition opens February 10 and runs through March 23. The gallery will host an artist reception on Saturday, February 17, 7:00-9:00p, and an artist talk on Thursday, March 7 at 7:00p
Kolman & Reeb Gallery is pleased to announce its next Project Space grantee exhibition, Scents to Scenes, with works painted exclusively for this show. Plein air artist Cheryl LeClair-Sommer pairs visual and olfactory stimuli to whisk us off to those romantic little hideaways of Minnesota. By pairing essential oils with her expertly painted landscapes, LeClair-Sommer hopes to deeply immerse the viewer into the scene and encompass the entirety of the artist’s experience.
With the resources provided by a Kolman & Reeb Gallery Project Space Grant, LeClair-Sommer used fragrance as a catalyst to search for locations that embodied the properties of those scents. This allowed for the characteristics of each perfume to inspire the mood and help predict the color palette of the work. Scents to Scenes features paintings paired with the corresponding scent, in hopes that the viewer will deeply connect to the location and atmosphere depicted. Gallery patrons will have the opportunity to sample the scents associated with each painting to fully appreciate the experience.
As an example of her concept for the show, in her painting, A Promise of Renewal, LeClair-Sommer set out to visually capture a scene encompassing fragrance notes of both, intensely warm and deeply cool. To accomplish this, in early spring, she searched for a place where the winter snow was stubborn to melt. In her skilled and masterful technique, LeClair-Sommer captured a warm breeze as it swept down the hillside. The intense sun caressed the remnants of winter, snowmelt trickling from beneath; from this came the rich odors of mossy decay as it blended with the light grassy aroma of new life.
“Following the curve of a river, silhouette of a tree, or billowing cloud formation, Cheryl’s work conjures the mood of the place,” says Anita Sue Kolman, Kolman & Reeb Gallery co-founder and co-partner. “By pairing the essential oils chosen for each scene is a real treat. With her Project Space Grant show, Cheryl has brought many beautiful paintings to the gallery space.”
Salmon Sunset Over the Marsh by Cheryl LeClair-Sommer
Per Jodi Reeb, gallery curator and co-partner, “Cheryl’s work beautifully captures Minnesota’s many seasons and notable places. With her plein air paintings, she’s able to summon the feeling of a moment. The softness of Cheryl’s palette and the concept of blending scents with her scenes fit well with the gallery’s contemporary style.”
LeClair-Sommer lives and works in a suburb of St. Paul. To create her plein air paintings she travels throughout Minnesota, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the Tahoe, California area. Cheryl has been recognized for her paintings with artwork regularly juried into national exhibits, awards at outdoor painting competitions, a Master Circle award from the International Association of Pastel Societies, an award of a two-week residency, and a feature on the television show MN Original in 2011.
Kim Eslinger
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