Belle Terre: Jennifer M Johnston, Jonathan MacAdam, Colleen Pearce
Three Stones Gallery, Concord, MA • threestonesgallery.com • Through November 24, 2024
Belle Terre is Italian for “Beautiful Lands.” This exceptional exhibition could not have a better title. The range of work, from the almost abstract photography of Jennifer M Johnston to the soft realism of Jonathan MacAdam, to Colleen Pearce’s expressionistic paintings, shows viewers the beauty and love that the artists have for this earth—a place we are so fortunate to inhabit. This exhibition sharpens our appreciation and helps us to see anew.
MacAdam, born in London, shares his beloved Concord River, an oil on canvas painting that leads us from the wide triangular foreground of blue water to reflections of the river banks on either side, curving to a vanishing point of mystery. Marsh at Dusk, an impressive 36 x 72 inch painting gives us a wide vista, while Boat Yard Essex is a more intimate portrait which still continues the theme of peaceful, reflective water.
Johnston’s photographs of water in nature border on the surreal. Catskills II shows us sheets of water spilling over an edge of rock. The water’s luminescence is filled with shades of grey, lavender, and white—a “scene within a scene.” Catskills I captures an unusual circle of stone with clear water falling from the sides and filling the center with dappled texture and light. Higgins I looks as if it is another water portrait, yet is actually a photograph of colorful rock striations in rust, blue and grey. The photographer’s eye sees in a unique way and provides us a fresh view of the natural world.
Earth arranging her Summer Skirts, by Pearce, is a seductive oil on Yupo paper painting that offers us the jumbled lushness of blooming flowers and curling, reaching leaves. Pearce’s Thunder Hole, a dynamic painting of a rock formation that opens into the ocean under a sky of swirling clouds pulls us skyward from the earthbound stone.
Three Stones Gallery, named by Jennifer Johnston for the trilithon that forms the center of Stonehenge, is a perfect venue for this exciting exhibition which embraces the many vicissitudes of the Earth’s beauty. A stunning show that takes your breath away!
— B. Amore