Travel through the Straits of Magellan via paintings by Lola Chaisson
6 Bridges Gallery is pleased to present “Straits of Magellan,” paintings by Lola Chaisson. The exhibit will be on view from January 5 through February 12, 2022. It will also be hosted online at 6BridgesGallery.com. An artist’s reception will be held on Saturday, January 8th from 1:00 – 3:00pm.
Lola Chaisson invites you to journey to the southern tip of South America through this exhibit of paintings. From sketches, photos and memories, local artist Lola Chaisson has captured the spirit of a voyage taken shortly before the pandemic.
“Rather than focus on being ‘stuck at home’ I picked up my brushes and looked back to the open vistas where mountains stretched up to the clouds and down to the sea. In my mind switching the view of my living room back to the views along the passage from Punta Arenas,” the artist reports.
A sense of motion is captured by the horizontal format of many of the paintings, you can imagine floating past peaks and distant waterfalls. Occasionally the movement is interrupted by stops to consider closely orchids, birds or glaciers. Over or near the top edges are the coordinates, and notes have been added to the labels about what drew Chaisson to the particular view. Often after a trip there are intentions to organize thoughts and fill gaps in journals but life intervenes, however this time the pandemic stoppage presented time to reflect and paint.
“When I paint,” says Chaisson ” I am often enthralled with the first stroke or two on the canvas. As tempted as I am, I can’t stop myself there. Angles, shapes, colors and more and more detail flow in and build to record very specific moments. When I’m successful, the spirit of that first line survives in the finished work.”
With the pandemic still constraining our wanderlust, it feels good these days to think of far away species and lands.
An astronomer by training, Lola Chaisson feels fortunate to have had James Rayen as a drawing and painting professor while at Wellesley College. With a studio at ArtSpace Maynard, grown children and, in recent years, no more day job she has felt fortunate to be able to focus more on her art work.
A Concord resident for many years, she has maintained a studio in Maynard and enjoys the community that provides. However due to the pandemic and construction she is trying to paint at home where distractions abound. For the most part she works in acrylics, loving everything about them except their hard to spell name. In summer she heads north along the coast and paints the view from her kayak. A member of Concord Art Association, Arts Wayland and Newburyport Art Association you can often see her work in area shows.
She has also had shows or works in shows at Pine Manor College, The Brush Gallery Lowell, Serendipity Cafe Maynard, Gallery Twist, Worcester State University, 6 Bridges Gallery Maynard, Mass Audubon at Moose Hill, Post Road Art Center, the Concord Free Public Library, the Maynard Library, Harvard’s Cabot Library, and the Massachusetts State House.
More of her work can be found at www.lolachaisson.com
Or on Instagram @Lola.Chai
