Fish Stories and Other Truths about Nature Exhibition
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Fish Stories and Other Truths About Nature: The Art of Roy Nydorf and Stephen Brooks
Opening Reception Thurs., Nov. 21 from 5 to 7 p.m.
November 21, 2024 - January 3, 2025
This captivating exhibition showcases the remarkable works of two talented artists, Roy Nydorf and Stephen Brooks. Their shared passion for the natural world is evident in their unique and expressive styles. Nydorf’s intricate and detailed works capture the beauty and complexity of the natural world, while Brooks’ bold and colorful works celebrate the joy and wonder of nature.
Oak Ridge resident Roy Nydorf is an award-winning painter, printmaker, draftsman and carver who has exhibited nationally and internationally, and is represented in numerous private & public collections, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. He earned a Master of Fine Arts with honors from Yale University, received his Bachelor of Arts from State University of New York at Brockport and attended the Art Students League of New York, and State University of New York at Albany. He is professor emeritus at Guilford College, where he taught art from 1978 until he retired in May 2018
Stephen Brooks – Landscape in Paint
Artist Statement
I spend my free time walking the ridges and hollows of the North Carolina Highlands. The dark, tangled spaces of rhododendron groves, the broad expanses of light at the mountain tops, and ancient mounds of lichen-covered granite: These observations inform my work.
My paintings begin as a field of warm gray on the surface. Whether painting plein air or In the studio, I add multiple layers of color to describe the light and space. This process happens over a long period of time, allowing the layers to dry. Sanding, layering, glazing, repeating: all add up to the finished painting. Relics of experience, these paintings record my decisions, mistakes, and solutions. They are as much about me as the landscape.
In the animal paintings, I attempt to expand my experience of the land we all inhabit. I approach these the same way I paint landscape. However, I am surprised by the quality of pathos or even humor in some. Personification is not my goal; it emerges without intent. I welcome this the same way I do any element that will make the painting speak.
