The Marion Art Center has once again brought splendor, wonder, and artistic talent to our doorsteps with the opening of their latest exhibit titled “Duets: Two Artists and Our Blue Planet” featuring the visual expertise of longtime friends Lisa Goren and Heather Stivison.
The two artists’ works complement one another in a variety of ways, most notably their shared interest in the natural world and the exquisite manner in which art can and does open that world to us mere mortals.
Stivison’s paintings have been exhibited throughout the United States and in juried shows in Europe and Asia. Influenced by her mother, an art teacher, and her father, a research scientist, the artist’s work steps into the crossroads of art and science. Stivison also draws inspiration from philosophical and scientific concepts. Her use of color, form and shapes that seem to move across her canvases adds depths of meaning.
Another aspect not to be overlooked regarding Stivison is her commitment to serving the art community. She currently serves as the chairman of the board of South Coast Artists, Inc. She is an elected signature member of the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA) and is on the Board of Directors of NAWA’s Massachusetts Chapter. She was the founding president of the Dartmouth Cultural Center and the co-chair of the Dartmouth Cultural Council.
Her visual presentations bring the heavens to mind as well as floral-like shapes and forms that play high above us in a magical marriage of earth and space, far away from the trials of the moment. To give you a sense of just how deep Stivison’s analytical emotions run, she quotes Carl Sagan to punctuate a point she wants to make.
This phenomenal artist is also a published author.
Goren works in watercolor, creating images from nature. She told us, “I wanted to use water to paint.” And the water she selected to paint is nothing short of humongous. “(When) I started painting I knew from the beginning that I wanted to use watercolors to paint water, which would be the ice and the ocean.” She has traveled to Antarctica and Alaska, where the abundance of water in all its forms became inspirational to her art.
During the pandemic, zoo animals were given human spaces to explore such as museums. Goren painted some of those animals during this time of isolation and anxiety like gifts from the animal world. These images surely aided in steadying our collective souls. She also jokingly noted that it’s okay to have an animal head on your walls as long as it’s a painting, not a taxidermy.
Regarding watercolors, Goren said, “I never left watercolors, I just stuck with them and love them. I’m trying different ways to show them. … My watercolors are big, they’re messy, they’re vibrant. That’s the goal.”
“Duets: Two Artists and Our Blue Planet” is available for viewing from now until August 15. And you can join Goren and Stivison on Saturday, August 2, at 11:00 am when they will be giving a gallery talk.
Marion Art Center
By Marilou Newell