A Beautifully Awakened Passion
By Tom Wachunas
“No permanence is ours; we are a wave / That flows to fit whatever form it finds: / Through
night or day, cathedral or the cave/ we pass forever, craving form that binds.” -
Hermann Hesse
Excerpts from Canton Repository (Sept. 8, 2024)
newspaper article by Ed Balint:
“… Pushing
the door open, a visitor's senses immediately go into overdrive, swept up by
the eclectic and tasteful mix of artwork and gifts. Paintings, wallets made of
vegan leather, books featuring augmented reality, clothing, yard flags,
magnets, stickers, purses, rugs, pottery, pet scarves, art kits, night lights
made and shaped of acetate.
Welcome
to Brewtifully, the new art-forward shop at Oakwood Square
shopping plaza, 2698 Easton St. NE. Opened by Stark County-based artist
Tracy Dawn Brewer, it's her artistic vision becoming reality…A wall near the
entrance will showcase a guest artist monthly…”
And speaking of artistic visions and
showcasing guest artists, the current exhibit at Brewtifully Gallery, on
view until January 31, features a very impressive array of acrylic liquid-pour
paintings on canvas, along with lots of coasters and magnets, by Andrea Marie. In
looking at the alluring intricacy of her numerous small abstract paintings
(most of them 5”x7” or 8”x10”), it’s especially worth noting that Andrea Marie
is not a trained painter in the formal or academic sense of the word. So what
accounts for the compelling beauty of her potent imagery?
The artist explains: “For me it has been
a saving grace. I started back during Covid lock-down. I found a passion for
the vibrant and unpredictable world of fluid art. No pieces are the same. I can
use the same color palette on different forms of canvases and it’s a totally
different experience just in the way the paints move. With no formal training
I’ve embraced experimentation and creativity as my teacher. In blending colors
and textures to create abstract art, what I see in my art, someone else may see
differently. That is why I never sign the front of my paintings. The way I like
to see it hung may not be the way you like to see it hung. It just gives me
great satisfaction and has awakened a new passion in me. It’s a great feeling
knowing I can bring some joy to someone from something that makes me happy to
create.”
Ah
yes, the “Covid lock-down.” That dreadful pandemic. That protracted, fractious
season of social distancing, even distrust. I don’t think it too unreasonable
to see Andrea Marie’s early ventures into painting as an antidote – a vaccine,
if you will - to the rampant pain and anxiety and that had so riddled our
culture. Painting as a form of personal therapy, or crisis management?
What are we to make of these exquisite,
untitled soul-stirring deliquescences? Where do these fluid and air-blown
articulations send you? Of what are they speaking? Jump across their synapses, their wiggly webs,
their pools and puddles of pulsing possibilities. Name these lustrous notions
and neuroanatomies for yourself. That’s the sheer fun of it all.
In any case, instead of making dark, murky pictures
about angst and isolation, much less death, Andrea Marie tells us she feels
happy to “bring some joy to someone.”
A note
to the artist: Dear Andrea Marie, Message received. Mission accomplished. Thank
you! P.S. I’m feeling hungry. Make more, and please don’t be afraid to make
them larger next time.
Brewtifully is open 5-9 p.m. Monday through
Friday; noon-9 p.m. on Saturdays; and noon-5 p.m. on Sundays.
https://www.tracydawnbrewer.com/
Unique
Designs by Andrea Marie, on Facebook:
