Viridian Artists is pleased to present an exhibition of outstanding art by artists who are part of Viridian Artists’ Affiliate program. The show features the artists Laura Rutherford Renner, Joshua Greenberg, Arlene Finger, Ed Ferszt, Steffani Bailey, Sabine Carlson, Michael Reck, Jenny Belin, and Brett Poza.

Sometimes it takes “Just a Moment” to create a powerful artwork, other times it can take years. Usually, an artist can tell when a piece “works” or if they have gone too far and must begin again. The artists in this exhibit are each inspired in their unique ways, concerned with different goals and implementing a wide variety of materials and methods.

Trained as an occupational therapist, Laura Rutherford Renner enjoys painting figures engaged in the experience of their environments, often portraying her feline muse stalking or at play. She finds that the process of painting and the quiet engagement of brush to board provide daily calm and purpose.

Joshua Greenberg calls this series of his photographic imagery “The Colorful Whimsies II”, dominated by large color fields showing abstract scenes in reds, yellows, and blues. He sees his images as “light, humorous, surprising… and whimsical”. In this series, he combines photo-based imagery with digital processing to create abstract art.

Arlene Finger is inspired by the view outside her window. She tells us that “the artwork encompasses the architectural facade that I see through my window. The sky and the trees, the shape of the building, and the color are the source of inspiration for my work.”

Ed Ferszt, inspired by classical writing, has created four prints from a series of watercolors, available as a suite or individually, based on Homer’s “Iliad”. Ovid, in his commentary about Homer’s Iliad, notes, "Nothing is more useful … than those arts which have no utility."

Steffani Bailey’s art in "Just A Moment" evolved from an ongoing process of "finding", of arranging, painting, and composing. Each piece has its sensibility and creates a conversation involving contrasts of balance and quiet, soft texture and motion, muted shape and color.

In this grouping, Sabine Carlson shares six small paintings in which figures of humans and water birds reach out and look for moments of balance. She goes on to say “I imagine the protagonists as if they might be engaging in a wobbly conversation during chance encounters before continuing their journeys along unpredictable currents.”

Michael Reck, for the past two years, has continued investigating texture and the interaction of layers in his paintings. He begins each work by using heavy-bodied gesso as the initial layer that he manipulates with various tools and his fingers.

Jenny Belin is showing digital prints of her original cat portrait paintings, which come from the pages of a book she is writing and illustrating. With a working title: “Sonnets for Sweet Potatoes: A Cat’s Guide to the Ups and Downs of NYC”, she began creating this project late last year as a compilation of painted and written portraits of the cats that she has known during her years in New York City.

Brett Poza almost always works from photographs she takes or diagnostic images from people she knows. Her drawings are created with wood-burning tools. She says that “drawing by burning allows me to create a textured and colored surface that gives more to me than a flat drawing. Through working this way I try to direct the viewer toward ideas of resilience and transformation, taking things that are broken or in need of healing and making them into something beautiful.

The creative process is often beyond explanation, even by the artists as they engage in creating, but here are a few thoughts from artists we all know to remind us how important the creative moment is:

Art is a guarantee of sanity.

(Louise Bourgeois)

Creativity takes courage.

(Henri Matisse)

Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.

(Andy Warhol)

We don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents.

(Bob Ross)

Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.

(Leonardo da Vinci)

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.

(Pablo Picasso)

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.

(Claude Monet)

I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.

(Georgia O’Keeffe)

Life is art. Art is life. I never separate it.

(Ai Weiwei)

Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.

(Salvador Dali)