David Freed’s landscapes capture the energy of nature, with all its unpredictability and imperfections. Drawing inspiration from the seasons, atmosphere, and changing weather, he adapts an intimate relationship with his subject, making paintings with a distinct perspective. Layers of etchings and mixed media techniques unite with varying hues and textures to convey an essence as opposed to accuracy. Freed’s touch and eye for color lends to the subtlety and undoubted sincerity present in each piece.

Born in 1936, his career as an artist spans over fifty years. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Miami University of Ohio and his Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa (1962), and went on to found the printmaking department at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1966. He has been awarded numerous grants and prizes over his career, including the Fulbright Grant (1963-64), the World Print Competition (1977), the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship (1983-84), the Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts (2001), and the VCU Award of Distinction from the Southern Graphic Council (2009). The VCUarts Professor Emeritus currently lives in Richmond, VA.

Past Exhibitions:
Windows: For Bev
River on My Mind 
Here and There

Reviews & Links
Exhibition at Beverley Street Studio School
Richmond Times-Dispatch 2009

After the Rain, Days of Rain, 2021, etching, woodblock, watercolor and pastel on paper, 40 x 27.5 inches

Fall, ND, Etching, 17 x 15 inches

Backyard Gray Day, 2021, etching, woodblock, watercolor and pastel on paper, 40 x 27.5 inches

 

By painting over photographic inkjet prints, James Hyde redefines his own experiences and subsequently how we perceive painting, photography, and nature’s aesthetic. An avid traveler, Hyde photographs scenes of California which he prints and mounts over canvas. He then paints over the inkjet print with acrylic, allowing abstract shapes and bands of color to interact with printed shrubs or lake shores. This combination of acrylic and inkjet disrupts the normal viewing process, forcing viewers to examine the fundamental tropes and techniques of painting and photography. Hyde was born in Philadelphia in 1958 and currently lives in New York, teaching at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and The Cooper Union for Advancement of Science and Art. He is the recipient of several prestigious grants, including the Pollock-Krasner Grant (2011-12), Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship (2008), Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship (2000-01), among others.

Curriculum Vitae

Searched, 2016, Acrylic dispersion on archival inkjet print sealed with urethane and uv varnish on stretched linen, 42 x 22.5

Track, 2015, Acrylic dispersion on archival inkjet print sealed with urethane and uv varnish on stretched linen, 22.25 x 38 inches

Sounds, 2018, Acrylic dispersion on archival inkjet print sealed with urethane and uv varnish on stretched linen, 16.5 x 33 inches

Outreach, 2016, Acrylic dispersion on archival inkjet print sealed with urethane and uv varnish on stretched linen on board, 22.5 x 60.5 inches

Double Reservoir, 2016, Acrylic dispersion on archival inkjet print on linen, 43.25 x 30 inches

Wash, 2015, Acrylic dispersion on archival inkjet print sealed with urethane and uv varnish on stretched linen, 25.5 x 20.5 inches

 

For over thirty years, Ray Kass has found his muse in nature, the landscape, and his garden. Layering washes of water media, oil emulsion, dry pigment, and smoke, Kass forms bold yet abstracted floral and arboreal imagery. The rag paper surface, covered with shaved beeswax, lends to a soft aesthetic that reflects the natural elements found within the paintings’ composition. The ground of his paintings is created in one of two manners: smoking or staining. Kass developed the technique for smoking paper in the late 1980’s while working with the highly influential composer and artist John Cage. In this method, Kass lays wet paper over a fire, allowing smoke to overtake the surface as uncontrolled marks and traces remain. Though abstract, these forms capture the spiritual quality within nature, and often mimic organic shapes of foliage.  Kass received a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship and an Individual Artist’s Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Kass’s work is in the collections of the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL; Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC; University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA; Boston Public Library, Boston, MA; Phizer Corporation, all, New York, NY; and Medical College of Virginia, SunTrust, and Ethyl Corporation all, Richmond, Virginia.

Curriculum Vitae

Past Exhibitions:
Forming Surface 
Ray Kass 

Reviews & Links
Ray Kass Forming Surface at Reynolds Gallery reviewed in Art Papers 
Ray Kass at Reynolds Gallery reviewed in Style Weekly 

Notation-01-22-2018, 2018, watercolor, oil emulsion and pigment on smoke rag paper with beeswax, 31.75 x 37 inches

Journey, 07-12-2020, 2020, Watercolor, straw "smoke", oil emulsion and dry pigment on rag paper, under shaved beeswax, stretched on primed wood panel, 33 x 59 inches

Carved Sea Swirl, 2023, Water media and mica powder on rag paper under shaved beeswax, 40 x 60 inches

Biome, 5-25-2019, 2019, Watercolor, mica, oil emulsion and dry pigment on smoked rag paper, 14 x 18 inches