New to our galleries, the work of Meredith Pardue is simply breathtaking. Organic forms in a variety of colors and textures collide to create a composition that one can get lost in. We spoke with Meredith about her process, inspirations, and what it is like to sometimes collaborate with another artist.

What are your most recent inspirations? What inspires your color choices?

Nature has always been the root of my inspiration and balance, and the landscapes of different regions have shaped the aesthetic of my various series of works.

Most recently, I’ve been revisiting my Louisiana roots and have been interested in my personal recall of the topography of where I grew up—bayous, the Mississippi River Delta, swamplands, and the Gulf Coast.  All have influenced my vision and my work through their unique colors, movement, shapes, textures, and smells.

You describe part of your process as “controlled chaos”. How do you decide to edit your pieces after the controlled chaos phase of paint-pouring? Do you have a usual method or is it different for every piece?

I work on multiple pieces simultaneously, so there is a collective connection around how I control the chaos in a group of pieces. It is necessary for my relationship to the work itself to let it take the lead, to let the forms speak to me as to how they should come into being. It’s a complex but intimate choreography between the painting and myself, and each dance is unique.

What is it like to work collaboratively with your husband?

Mike and I work in a parallel structure, rather than in tandem.  We establish our subject, content, and aesthetic together, but we each execute our creative tasks separately.  Our process as Pardue Hewett contrasts distinctly from how I create as an individual artist in my studio. I would say the same is true for Mike as well, although in a different way.

What do you hope viewers see or take away from your work?

My work mirrors the beauty and the sublime of the natural world. However, these elements serve merely as a point of departure for the viewer, to experience what is ultimately a visual record of an improvisational dialogue between a blank canvas and myself.

What is your favorite thing to do when you’re not painting?

I love to be with my family, read, and travel. As a wife, mother of three, and a professional artist, my challenges are primarily centered around work-life balance. I have found that integrating my family and creative lives into one enriching space has been the most rewarding and right path for all of us.  We all make art together in some capacity, which offers a deeper level of engagement in our familial relationships. Traveling is a great escape together and rejuvenates my connection to source and spirit. As it is said — you can never step into the same river twice.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

I’m thrilled to be showing at Merritt Gallery amongst an incredible roster of artists!

Meredith Pardue: See More Work | On the Wall

Music is an incredibly powerful force, one that influences our moods and how we interact with the world around us. We asked our artists how music affects their creative process, and what they prefer to listen to in the studio. The diverse responses we have recieved can only mean one thing: that any and all types of music have the ability to spark inspiration!

ROSE MASTERPOL

In my studio I listen to Lisa Gerrard and Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Chopin, Buddha-Bar, Coldplay, Meditation or yoga music, Armand Mar, to name a few. Music is a driving force when I create. But especially instrumental music, it is very pleasing while working not to hear voices and words. I like to hear my own internal dialogue or just let my mind empty.

TOM BOLLES

I listen to a lot of music and a lot of genres of music. Miles Davis, Wire, Bill Laswell, Steve Reich, Peter Gabriel and tons of others are on my digital playlists. I also have four generations of music players in my studio: a turntable, a reel-to-reel tape player, a cassette tape player, and a CD player. I grew up in San Francisco in the late 60’s when it was the center of the music scene. I’ve been obsessed with music ever since.

RANDAL FORD

When I’m shooting, I love high-energy tunes to keep everyone on set in a good mood and working hard. My most recent on-set playlist was an 80s dance hits pandora station. Everyone loved it, including the animals! Lizzo of course, gets everyone in a good mood too! When I’m in the digital darkroom, I listen to cinematic scores or dark academia as find they are energizing for me but not distracting.

HYUNMEE LEE

When I am painting, I prefer soft classical music, particularly the piano and cello. I recently discovered Sofiane Pamart’s fusion piano works. I have also been listening to Korean traditional music “Chang” (An act of singing pansori, Korean storytellingsong). I did not like this music when I was young, but now it moves me to a deep personal exploration.

XAN PADRON

In terms of listening to music while I work, I wonder if it is because I used to be a professional musician, but I don’t listen to music while I work. I really appreciate the silence and quietness of my studio. It helps with my creative process. However, I have a couple of guitars and a bass guitar in the studio which I play when I need a break…

More posts to check out:

Artistic Techniques & Secrets
Exploring Mixed Media
An Artist’s Best Friend

Photographer Xan Padron is known for his intriguing portrayals of city streets, particularly those in his Time Lapse series. Padron’s photographs offer uniquely intimate views of cities all over the world. As a viewer, one can explore streets familiar to them or discover new locations for their travel bucketlist.

While there is great variety in the cities and countries depicted in Padron’s work, he is passionate about capturing his adopted hometown, New York City. Many of New York’s vibrant neighborhoods have been featured in his photographs, highlighting the immense diversity in architecture, style, and human activities across the city.

Many of his photos show the beauty of American cities, but Padron also spends time traveling to capture the essence of cities abroad. The Time Lapse series is intercontinental, spanning across Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Through his photographs, the inhabitants create a portrait of each city, transporting us there.

In the mood to travel from the comfort of your own home? Browse more of our collection of Padron photographs here.

Meet the Artist | On the Wall

We are very excited to announce that our galleries are now representing the work of acclaimed sculptor Ray Gross. Gross plays with scale in his hand-built ceramic sculptures, depicting artist’s tools as larger-than-life. His works are whimsical and animated, paying homage to icons from art history as well as the creative process itself. Take a look at a few of the incredible paint tube sculptures currently available at our galleries.

These hyperrealistic pieces speak for themselves in any space—take a look at how they interact with the piece below by Raul de la Torre, on display at our Baltimore gallery.

 

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The artist’s work involves a completely handmade process from the beginning of construction to the final surface details of painting and glazing elements. Each work is unique and one of a kind.

Contact your nearest gallery for more information about these pieces.

Spontaneous and inspired by nature, the work of Maria Burtis is both serene and full of energy. We spoke with the artist to hear more about her process, inspirations, and the importance of continuous creation.

What is your studio space like and how does it affect your process?

My space is my own; I use every inch it. There is one long 20-foot wall where I do most of my painting. I usually have several pieces going at once, and often move things around to get a fresh perspective on them. My palette is a table that is on wheels — I can move it around the room to get it closer to the pieces I am working on. I have several other “zones” in the studio — one where I tear the strips for the Array pieces, one where I have my daily paintings and a setup to work on other small scale pieces, and a table that is dedicated to sketchbook exercises.

I have just finished a 50 page “grid journal” and am working my way through a color mixing one right now. The sketchbooks are idea factories where I can play with composition, color and materials in a low stakes way. I do not bring my computer into the studio unless absolutely necessary — I like the zone to be as analog as possible!

Do you listen to music or podcasts while you work?

I do listen to music and sometimes podcasts when I work. I find that music is really great during the exciting beginning and tangled middle period of a painting — podcasts are great when I am in an editing or finishing phase. Music helps me transfer energy onto the canvas, while the spoken word of podcasts helps babysit my overly verbal brain and gets me to a place where I am editing based on feel, not on intellect or what “should” work.

Can you tell us more about your daily painting practice?

I have been making one small painting a day for 18 years. The daily paintings are 5.5” x 7.5” are made in acrylic on paper, and I usually spend anywhere from 10-30 minutes on them. I have painted in airports, on trains, in hotel bathrooms at the crack of dawn while my family slept, friends’ houses, in many countries and cities across the US. If you had told me 18 years ago when I made my first painting that I would be continuing this practice this many years later, I would have stopped right there and gone back to bed!

I realize that my way is to be incremental in all things, always taking lots and lots of small steps toward something rather than making big proclamations or deploying grand gestures. It works for me, the aggregate of small actions to form a larger one. Through that process I am strengthening and integrating my creative practice into daily life. Making one small work a day means that I never have to worry about stopping, and every painting does not need to be a masterpiece — there are days when the prosaic emerges, and days when a jewel is revealed.

The main teaching it offers me is that showing up with curiosity and maintaining a loose grip on the whole exercise is the most important thing. I am then able to bring that energy of openness and curiosity into the studio and not get worried or sidetracked or stuck on the larger work. If it is going well, it’s going well — if it isn’t, well, there’s always tomorrow.

What are your main inspirations?

Painters I admire are many numbered, but two heroes are Joan Mitchell and Richard Diebenkorn. Eckhart Tolle has taught me the most about increasing the power of presence and decreasing ego. The landscape of northern California and coastal Massachusetts fill me with awe. Being in nature brings perspective to most things!

How would you describe your work and what do you hope viewers see in it?

I would describe my work as abstract landscape painted in a style that is open, airy, loose — the color is fresh and clean but balanced with passages of toughness, some grit, some tension. I hope viewers see what they want to see in my work, but moreover I hope the work evokes a feeling or a connection on the somatic level of the viewer. If someone stands in front of my painting and feels something in their body, I don’t need to control what that feeling is — but I am glad the work is connecting in a nonverbal way.

View more work by Maria Burtis.