Special places inspire works at Axel’s through Oct. 8
Sept. 10, 2022 | By Waterbury Roundabout 
"Glacier Lagoon." Painting by Elizabeth Nelson
"Far View." Painting by Elizabeth Nelson
A conversation on the sidelines of the soccer fields blossomed into a collaborative exhibition of complimentary work now on view at Axel’s Gallery on Stowe Street.
The duo exhibition features visual art by Kate Smith and Elizabeth Nelson that gallery owner Whitney Aldrich describes: “One artist is moved by emotion. The other moved by the minutiae. Both are creating art from memories of the special places where they are drawn to.”
Smith says her pieces are influenced by where she grew up in Salcombe in Devon on the southwest coast of England, “a beautiful place that attracts many visitors, with a rich tradition of boat building and crab and lobster fishing,” she explains.
Rust by Kate Smith
Breakwater by Kate Smith
“As long as I can remember I have been calmed by looking at the horizon. I will always be engaged by the meeting of the sea and the beach,” she writes in her artist statement. “This applies wherever there is a stretch of water. Close up, my connection is to the beauty in the sometimes overlooked; worn and weathered surfaces. I’m drawn to abstracting layers of paint on boats, walls, at my feet, oxidized metal, a leaking ceiling. The tactile process of sanding, cropping and securing these mostly paper elements is a constant source of engagement.”
Likewise Nelson’s work is strongly influenced by a favorite place. In her case, it’s Iceland where she visited briefly in 2012. Afterward, the West Glover artist said she felt an irresistible magnetic pull to return for a longer time to paint what she saw and felt of the landscape and weather; to be a part of the life there.
She returned in May 2017 and again in October 2018 as a resident in SĺM, the Association of Icelandic Artists, an organization that supports the cultural exchange of visual artists with all countries of the world.
“As a result of that experience, my painting has become a collaboration between the surface of the painting, the paint and with me, the painter. Sometimes exactly what I thought I was painting remained as I had painted it. But quite often when the paint dried the image had changed. Instead of being the solitary maker, the paint and the surface had their say too, and we continued on together to explore the image evolving with each level of the painting simultaneously revealing and camouflaging -- perhaps reflecting the changing weather of Iceland, or the changing stability of the earth underneath, or my deepening shifts of perception,” Nelson writes.
A free reception is planned for Friday, Sept. 23, 6-8 p.m., for gallery visitors to meet the artists, learn about their process and be inspired. Gallery regular hours are Wednesday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.