Alison Stewart:Earthsongs

Seager Gray Gallery presents “earthsongs,” an exhibition of paintings by Allison Stewart. The exhibition runs from April 2 – April 28, 2024 with a reception for the artist on Sunday, April 7 form 4 to 6 pm.

New Orleans artist Allison Stewart has gained national recognition for her large, mixed media paintings that express the restless balance between man and nature.  Stewart trained as a biologist and an artist, receiving a B.S. in Biology from Spring Hill College in Mobile Alabama and an M.F.A from the University of New Orleans.  Her work is inspired by landscape imagery, and she takes as her subject fragile environments, cycles of life, and primitive artifacts from past cultures.  She uses layers of color, light, form and texture to address issues of beauty and loss, time and transformation.  

“My paintings reside in that indefinite space between landscape and organic abstraction,” explains Stewart. “I find inspiration in the visible world around me as well as in the microscopic world that describes the unseen realm of cells and systems, growth patterns and interconnections.”

“Each day I execute the moves in the dance of creation. Facing the immensity of a blank canvas, I jot down my feelings and fears in the hope that the painting gods will grace me with inspiration. I build up the surface by making random marks, pours, splashes, erasures and overlays, searching for meaning in my actions. Slowly, the random marks and splotches organize into landscapes of feeling that allow me to reflect on the beauty and fragility of our natural world.”