Artists Statements:

I’ve been working on a new series titled “Tendering Balance” which was inspired by the multiple meanings of the word tender. A tender is a small boat that tends to the needs of a larger boat. To tender suggests a sensitive, compassionate and sympathetic consideration of all points of view.  Tender is proffer of money, property or services in satisfaction of an obligation or condition arising from a relationship between parties.

I started carving boats and filling them with stones as a way of illustrating the fragile dance of man’s relationship with nature. A ship’s ballast cannot be too light or too heavy. The compulsion to collect and possess comes with consequences. Each sculpture is a starting point for the viewer to find his or her own meaning and story. My intent is to suggest that the act of owning nature is a folly, similar to overloading a lifeboat.

Tom Northington (sculptor)

Batting around a number of concepts for the show that would feature Tom’s boat carvings, the one that kept coming back was a nostalgic notion of a summer cabin on the water. But to participate in a show without walls, for a painter, presented a challenge. Memories flooded in, of the screen door slamming, rowing the canoe to look for turtles among the lily pads, wet towels hanging on the clothesline and gazing out at the water as the sunset. The screen door and the clothesline reminded me of a theatrical scrim the kind that hang in the middle of the stage and change depending on how the light is hitting them. Unlike a stage this scrim would be seen from both sides and therefore need to be painted on both sides. The design had to work in reverse to achieve visual balance. If successful the idea should be conveyed through a visual language that can be understood by anyone.

Mary Rothermel (painter)

Email Link: mdrothermel@comcast.net

Website: www.shellbackltd.com

Phone: 206-463-9054