Tag: Monthly Display

The Livingston Public Library features the watercolor paintings of Livingston resident Gauri Walawalkar during the month of September.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT:

For me, art is freedom. It is freedom to imagine, feel and express. In this pursuit I have been trying to go from extensive planning in creating a piece to letting it take shape on the paper. 

Watercolors are an excellent medium for this exercise of being in the moment. Covering up, hiding flaws or changing what is already on paper are quite untenable in this medium. They are hard to control because they flow and interplay on paper. But the effects they create are beautifully organic. 

Art lives at three different levels, where it emerges, where it is created and when it reflects in the viewer. The creator, the media along with the creative process, and the viewer are all equally important parts of art and it is ultimately an interplay of these three elements. 

Sometimes several months pass between my paintings, but I don’t force myself to create. Instead I spend that time meditating about art and my future creations. 

I have put some of these paintings in chronological order from newest to the oldest. These are visual snippets of my art journey that started about one and a half years ago. You can see all my creations @gauri_watercolor on Instagram. 

I hope you enjoy viewing my works in this display at the Livingston Public Library. -Gauri Walawalkar 

-Archana, Adult Services & Acquisitions Librarian

This August, the Livingston Public Library is featuring the works of artist Louise Woodcox, in an exhibit entitled “Life Interpretations.”

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

“It seems that I always had a paint brush in my hand.  I received my formal training with Edna Esenlohr from 1975 to 1979.  Under her guidance I learned about the human figure, portraiture and still life.  In past years I have studied with national plein air landscape artists Kevin Macpherson, the late Charles Movalli, Lois Griffel, Tom Hughes and the late Charles Sovek.   I enjoy working from life and the outdoor landscape has become my studio. When I do choose to work in my indoor studio, I enjoy painting still life.  The mediums I choose to work in are oils, pastels, watercolor and charcoal.  I like to say that my work is done in a painterly, representational style.”

In this exhibit, Louise has several paintings depicting the serene and colorful beauty of nature from her “My Place And Meadow Series”, which were painted on her family property and the surrounding gardens. There are also paintings done by her in different locations in New Jersey, Maine and New York State depicting charming landscapes and flowers.

Louise taught art classes for many years and is now semi-retired from teaching.

Her paintings have been featured in many solo shows over the years including at Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Caldwell Women’s Club, Caldwell and West Caldwell Libraries,  and Crane’s Mill Koether Gallery.  She also shows with the West Essex Art Association for their yearly Member’s Exhibit and the March Juried Show and exhibits with the Pastel Society of New Jersey.   She has received numerous awards for her work over the years and the most recent are an Award of Excellence at the St. Marks Juried Show, several merit awards and from the WEAA JURIED SHOW, the Geraldine Barnes Memorial Award for Best Floral and BEST IN CATEGORY – Still Life,  BEST IN CATEGORY-PASTEL and the PSNJ 2022 Juried Show-HONORABLE MENTION.  Louise is also affiliated with the ACL Gallery in Livingston, NJ. Her paintings are in collections throughout New Jersey, Connecticut, New York City, and Europe.

Says Louise, “I hope that you will enjoy viewing my selections for this exhibit, and that you can take away with you the joy that I feel when I am out in the landscape, painting.”

The exhibit can be viewed during Library hours in August.

-Archana, Adult Services & Acquisitions Librarian