Your Ah Haa Moment: Elaine Fischer's "Broken Landscapes" opens Thursday

02 Aug Your Ah Haa Moment: Elaine Fischer's "Broken Landscapes" opens Thursday

Telluride Arts' First Thursday Art Walk showcases the best of the best of the region's  fine arts and crafts scene at galleries, studios, even retail outlets, including restaurants. This month the event is scheduled for Thursday, August 4, 5  8 p.m., with a must-see stop at Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts, 300 South Townsend. On display in Ah Haa's Daniel Tucker Gallery is the latest work by county commissioner and painter, Elaine Fischer.

"Broken Ground," Elaine's images of uncensored landscape, appear to have been created in a seizure of inspiration, suggesting the evolution of an ever more adept artist who s expressing herself with a greater and greater sense of spontaneity and honesty.

Earlier work, particularly Elaine's abstractions, first seen at the Stronghouse Studios in August 2007, were whispers behind closed hands. The abstractions concealed as much as they revealed about obstacles the artist needed to overcome, about breaking through ancient barriers and about liberating creative juices.

Her next show of self-portraits was a giant step forward. Elaine pointed the brush at her heart revealing naked truth about who she really is, images that were not in the least bit idealized or prettified.

Next up, "Mixed Messages," an exhibition of self portraits, still-lifes and several 3-D bowl-like shapes, showed Elaine using shape and color to express her true emotions again without an attachment to conventional notions of beauty. What she feels is what you get.

With "Broken Landscapes," Elaine lets the cat out of the bag once again. The show shouts loudly and clearly: "Look at me. I am like these bones of the landscape: strong, soaring, complex, beautiful to behold. "

In other words, Elaine really rocks these rocks.

Elaine Fischer created her first opus magnum in kindergarten. (The teacher hung it front of the class room  for weeks.) In elementary school, she was chosen for a special art program at the Carnegie Institute, one of only 300 Pittsburgh kids chosen to study theory and technique. Elaine attended the course from age 9 – 17, graduating high school with a rock solid  – sorry about the pun – background in ceramics and painting. At Rhode Island School of Design, Elaine learned to sculpt. Sculpting lead to a deeper interest in painting – and no wonder: Elaine is the niece of world renowned painter Philip Pearlstein, whose tactile nudes appear to have been sculpted with paint.

To view Clint Viebrock's videos of Elaine's two last shows, follow these links: /2010/08/-tellurides-art-walk-elaine-fischer-opens-fifth-show-stronghouse-studios.html and /2009/08/t-3.html