Still Light: Barbara Prey
July 15 – September 4
“She is, quite simply put, the world’s pre-eminent watercolorist, persisting over the past four decades in the mastery of her idiom.” - Museum Director Charles Riley Barbara Prey Projects is pleased to announce Still Light an exhibition of Barbara Prey’s new monumental watercolors which push the medium in new directions and size, continuing the investigation between reality and imagination. As virtual worlds become a more prominent part of our daily lives, Prey looks to draw inspiration from nature and augment what is real.
“The world is moving at a faster pace, but through the artist eye it stands still and invites us to slow down and look”, said Prey.
Her attention to details recalls Vermeer..it’s a painter’s job to notice, and to draw out the nuance and light in what the rest of us ignore. Prey has that eye and hand... what she makes touches the divine and has staying power. -The Boston Globe
New York based, for over 40 years Prey has maintained a studio in Maine. The artist’s innovative eye for the American landscape has placed her paintings in the private collections of U.S. Presidents and dignitaries, business titans, European Royalty, celebrities including Orlando Bloom and Tom Hanks, as well as the prominent public collections of The National Gallery of Art, The Brooklyn Museum, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Kennedy Space Center and the permanent collection of The White House, where she is one of two living female artists represented, among many other institutions. Commissioned by NASA (the only female commissioned four times), she was recently commissioned by contemporary art museum MASS MoCA to paint the largest watercolor in the world for their new building currently on long term exhibition at the museum. PBS referred to the MASS MoCA commissioned artists as “global leaders in contemporary art”. Prey was appointed by the President of the United States to the National Council on the Arts, the advisory board to the National Endowment for the Arts. Artists are appointed for their contributions and recognition in American Art.
Included in the exhibit is a unique and never before seen painting Island Trekkers – a deeply personal figurative painting of her daughter and dog on a remote Maine island. Trapeze Dance, of a working fisherman’s workshop and sail loft, highlights her use of color and light and continues the interior themes of her Presidential commissioned White House Christmas Card and her recent museum commission for MASS MoCA (8’ x 15’). The Pairing a painting of two fishing dories, is painted in Carver Harbor, Vinalhaven - the harbor named after one of her ancestors (her family were some of the first settlers of mid Coast Maine-a connection from her past to present. Continuing her waterlilies series, just featured in a major Impressionism exhibition in New York at the Nassau Museum, along with paintings by Degas, Renior, Cezanne, Turner, Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot and other iconic artists is Waterlilies III.
Prey’s highly original approach to painting has challenged conventional understandings of the genre. She steers her way between realism and abstraction, painterliness and reduction, perception and synthesis. She references art history but transcends and creates a contemporary view with her unmistakable voice exploring the depth of the American landscape and her world. Prey's work establishes within the trajectory of American Art a 21st Century female lens, eschewing the historical male-tradition. As an artist working often en plein air, environmental issues and climate change are concerns that inform her paintings. Her layered, luminous, and nuanced paintings also speak to issues of gender, climate and ecology, and spiritual wonder. Prey’s practice evokes the seemingly everyday to push the boundaries of what the medium of watercolor can do. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition with an essay by Museum Director Charles Riley (see below for link).
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Barbara is considered one of America’s foremost painters. A living master, her recently completed commission for MASS MoCA, described as a “technical tour de force” by Director Joe Thompson, is the largest watercolor ever exhibited. Her paintings are in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian Art Museum, the White House, the Kennedy Space Center, among many other public and private collections including Tom Hanks and Orlando Bloom.
For over a decade she has been a member of the National Council for the Arts, the governing body of the National Endowment for the Arts, a position she was appointed to by the President. In 2003 her painting of the Diplomatic Reception Room was featured on the White House Christmas card. With dozens of artworks commissioned by government agencies and institutions, such as four paintings for NASA, Prey is a global ambassador for American Art. Tapped annually for the U.S. Art in Embassies program, Prey’s work has been on display in over one hundred U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide, including those in Paris, Hong Kong, and Madrid. Her painting Gallantly Streaming is currently on exhibit in the lobby of the U.S. Mission to the U.N. and three others in the Ambassadors Office.
Prey earned a Bachelor’s degree from Williams College, where she is an adjunct faculty member, and a Master’s degree from Harvard University. She has received numerous institutional accolades, including a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, a Fulbright Scholarship and the New York Senate’s “Women of Distinction” Award, joining Eleanor Roosevelt and Susan B. Anthony, awarded to outstanding New York women.
ABOUT THE GALLERY
Barbara Prey Projects is a gallery and exhibition space in Port Clyde, ME. Celebrating 23 years this summer, the gallery is housed in a historic waterfront structure that has been part of the community since the late 1800s.
855 Main Street, Port Clyde, ME 04855 (207) 372-8087
www.barbarapreyprojects.com Gatekeeper, 2023, Watercolor on paper, 40 x 60 inches | Click on image for high-res file |
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Still Light: Barbara Prey
July 15 – September 4
“She is, quite simply put, the world’s pre-eminent watercolorist, persisting over the past four decades in the mastery of her idiom.” - Museum Director Charles Riley Barbara Prey Projects is pleased to announce Still Light an exhibition of Barbara Prey’s new monumental watercolors which push the medium in new directions and size, continuing the investigation between reality and imagination. As virtual worlds become a more prominent part of our daily lives, Prey looks to draw inspiration from nature and augment what is real.
“The world is moving at a faster pace, but through the artist eye it stands still and invites us to slow down and look”, said Prey.
Her attention to details recalls Vermeer..it’s a painter’s job to notice, and to draw out the nuance and light in what the rest of us ignore. Prey has that eye and hand... what she makes touches the divine and has staying power. -The Boston Globe
New York based, for over 40 years Prey has maintained a studio in Maine. The artist’s innovative eye for the American landscape has placed her paintings in the private collections of U.S. Presidents and dignitaries, business titans, European Royalty, celebrities including Orlando Bloom and Tom Hanks, as well as the prominent public collections of The National Gallery of Art, The Brooklyn Museum, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, Kennedy Space Center and the permanent collection of The White House, where she is one of two living female artists represented, among many other institutions. Commissioned by NASA (the only female commissioned four times), she was recently commissioned by contemporary art museum MASS MoCA to paint the largest watercolor in the world for their new building currently on long term exhibition at the museum. PBS referred to the MASS MoCA commissioned artists as “global leaders in contemporary art”. Prey was appointed by the President of the United States to the National Council on the Arts, the advisory board to the National Endowment for the Arts. Artists are appointed for their contributions and recognition in American Art.
Included in the exhibit is a unique and never before seen painting Island Trekkers – a deeply personal figurative painting of her daughter and dog on a remote Maine island. Trapeze Dance, of a working fisherman’s workshop and sail loft, highlights her use of color and light and continues the interior themes of her Presidential commissioned White House Christmas Card and her recent museum commission for MASS MoCA (8’ x 15’). The Pairing a painting of two fishing dories, is painted in Carver Harbor, Vinalhaven - the harbor named after one of her ancestors (her family were some of the first settlers of mid Coast Maine-a connection from her past to present. Continuing her waterlilies series, just featured in a major Impressionism exhibition in New York at the Nassau Museum, along with paintings by Degas, Renior, Cezanne, Turner, Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot and other iconic artists is Waterlilies III.
Prey’s highly original approach to painting has challenged conventional understandings of the genre. She steers her way between realism and abstraction, painterliness and reduction, perception and synthesis. She references art history but transcends and creates a contemporary view with her unmistakable voice exploring the depth of the American landscape and her world. Prey's work establishes within the trajectory of American Art a 21st Century female lens, eschewing the historical male-tradition. As an artist working often en plein air, environmental issues and climate change are concerns that inform her paintings. Her layered, luminous, and nuanced paintings also speak to issues of gender, climate and ecology, and spiritual wonder. Prey’s practice evokes the seemingly everyday to push the boundaries of what the medium of watercolor can do. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition with an essay by Museum Director Charles Riley (see below for link).
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Barbara is considered one of America’s foremost painters. A living master, her recently completed commission for MASS MoCA, described as a “technical tour de force” by Director Joe Thompson, is the largest watercolor ever exhibited. Her paintings are in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian Art Museum, the White House, the Kennedy Space Center, among many other public and private collections including Tom Hanks and Orlando Bloom.
For over a decade she has been a member of the National Council for the Arts, the governing body of the National Endowment for the Arts, a position she was appointed to by the President. In 2003 her painting of the Diplomatic Reception Room was featured on the White House Christmas card. With dozens of artworks commissioned by government agencies and institutions, such as four paintings for NASA, Prey is a global ambassador for American Art. Tapped annually for the U.S. Art in Embassies program, Prey’s work has been on display in over one hundred U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide, including those in Paris, Hong Kong, and Madrid. Her painting Gallantly Streaming is currently on exhibit in the lobby of the U.S. Mission to the U.N. and three others in the Ambassadors Office.
Prey earned a Bachelor’s degree from Williams College, where she is an adjunct faculty member, and a Master’s degree from Harvard University. She has received numerous institutional accolades, including a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, a Fulbright Scholarship and the New York Senate’s “Women of Distinction” Award, joining Eleanor Roosevelt and Susan B. Anthony, awarded to outstanding New York women.
ABOUT THE GALLERY
Barbara Prey Projects is a gallery and exhibition space in Port Clyde, ME. Celebrating 23 years this summer, the gallery is housed in a historic waterfront structure that has been part of the community since the late 1800s.
855 Main Street, Port Clyde, ME 04855 (207) 372-8087
www.barbarapreyprojects.com |
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