Margaret Morrison makes evident that she is a painter’s painter in her recent body of still life canvases. Tablewares is at Woodward Gallery’s exhibition windows this Fall season on view 24/7. Morrison sets her tables with silver antiques, porcelain, glasses and vases. Densely packed shiny offerings impress with reflections she achieves on the surfaces of her objects. The level of detail in Morrison’s realist compositions is utterly extraordinary, galvanizing her expertise, layer upon layer.
“I often worked on Atomic 47 while standing up, because it allowed me the freedom to step backward, to gauge how the reflection in one object would work in another. I probably logged a few miles a day just pacing up and back as I painted,” Morrison muses.
Known for teasing the viewer with light and shadow, Morrison here offers up just a glimpse of a plot. We become detectives compelled to trace the events left seen in her tableware scenes. The closer we look, the more is revealed. At 72 x 96 inches each, masterpieces Atomic 47 and Keramikos emphasize Morrison’s zest for making the ordinary appear larger than life.
The public will have opportunities to experience more of Margaret Morrison’s paintings throughout 2017-2018 in museum exhibitions in Vermont and North Carolina:
– Sweet Tooth-The Art of Dessert, Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, VT, September 23, 2017- February 18, 2018.
– Margaret Morrison (Sweets), Maria V. Howard Arts Center, City of Rocky Mount, NC, June 8 – September 9, 2018.
The complete exhibition is available online (WoodwardGallery.net), always in the Gallery’s street level windows, and by private appointment.
Selected Press:
Wall Street International
