"Exposé" by Janet Simmons Sweet

• Sun Sep 17 - Sun Oct 29

Studio 204, Alton Mill Arts Centre

The 2017 Collection is both an exploration in the life struggle of local trees, and in the use of highly textured mediums to tell it.

The lens zooms in to the trunk, in broken and stripped bark where Lichens and Mosses, Fungi and Polypores, Goiters and Caverns are “exposed”.  It is there where another whole micro ecosystem thrives, and where you can see both the scars and the victories.

Janet introduces beaded and granular gels to the canvas, glazes them with oil, and then applies heavily bodied oil to finish. The combination gives the intricate details of their evolving life story.

While the annual Collection is traditionally told with multiple canvases, this year, the story of each tree is so amazing, Janet is deferring to them to tell it!