Debra Blore
Artist Statement Everyone sees landscapes differently. After years of driving the world's back roads, rambling across the terra, marveling at all the beauty the scenery has to offer, I am finally able to express my personal vision of the world in series: The Naked Landscape.When I drive, bike or hike through the countryside near my home in New Hampshire, I see the hills and ridges as sensual bodies, occasionally draped, most often naked. I have learned to paint what I see, so that others may see through my eyes.
After years of recording the oceans, mountains and valleys in a more literal fashion, I have developed an affinity for the landscape that transcends the usual platitudes and allows my environs to morph into a beautiful, living, breathing entity. Using one organic form to represent another, the rugged and eroded lands transform into beings with vitality and soul. As Marc Chagall said, "Art picks up where nature ends."
My husband often carried the load of my obsession with shapes and colors, by keeping other drivers safe while I let my eyes and camera roam. Sometimes we stopped every hundred feet, while winding through the undulating landscapes, for reference photos and quick sketches of varying curves, angles and lighting of the same piece of topography, often revisiting areas to document the changing daylight and seasons. Beginning with these reference photos, I selected scenes for my plein air sessions and then, armed with the photos, sketches and paintings, completed the landscapes in my studio.
The first of this series, entitled "Sensual New Hampshire," was accomplished using a collage of photos and sketches. After immersing myself deep into my right brain, an evocative painting and style emerged, alive with the earth and skies mixed on my palette. The series continued with other sensual shapes, disembodied breasts, hips, parents holding children, some obvious, others obscure.
While my first inspiration for The Naked Landscape occurred near my home in New Hampshire, I often travel to paint, and have replicated the concept in other lands. Over the years, I have visited all 50 states and over 50 countries, soaking up artistic inspiration wherever it came to me. Occasionally a Naked Landscape emerges in pastel, however while traveling, I primarily use oil applied to archival quality panels for space considerations.
Some of the paintings in the series appear to be more classical landscapes than others, but all evoke a sensation of nature's soul. In a crowd of art lovers, I find most spend far more time with these landscapes than with the more realistic paintings, often commenting on the "feeling." When each viewer brings their personal vision to my paintings, allowing their imagination to run wild through The Naked Landscape series, they are able to free their minds and create a unique cerebral experience.
Biography Solo Exhibitions:
Visions of New Hampshire, Peterborough Town House through the Sharon Arts Center Gallery, Peterborough, NH, May-Nov 2006
Visions of New Hampshire, District Congressional Offices-NH02, Jan-April, 2007, invitation of U.S. Congressman Paul W. Hodes
New Work, Lawrence Library Gallery, Pepperill, MA, Aug, 2007
Highland Landscapes, Inchrie Castle, Aberoyle, Scotland, August 2007-June 2008
Recent Selected Exhibitions:
“Each Unique: Studies of America’s Lighthouses,” Ponce Inlet Fine Arts Show, Davies Lighthouse, March 2004
“Bear Woman,” Black and White Show, Sharon Arts Center, Peterborough, New Hampshire, October 2005 Jurors Robert Seaman and Dustin Knight
“Advice to My Younger Self,” What’s Bugging You? Show, Sharon Arts Center, Peterborough, New Hampshire, dates, Juror Rick Fitzgerald, November 2006
Newburyport Art Association Annual Juried Members Show, Newburyport, Mass., dates, juror Kate Dempsey, March 2008
Regional Juried Show, Newburyport Arts Association, Newburyport, MA, juror Andrew Witkin, May-June, 2008
Selected New Hampshire Artists, Congressional District Office, NH-02, Concord, NH, May-August, 2007, juror U.S. Congressman Paul Hodes
Three Artists, Gallery at Intermezzo, Peterborough, NH, May 2008
Bodies of Work:
“The Naked Landscape:” landscapes using human forms to create fantasy landscapes in oil and pastel. 2006-current
“Highland Scenes:” scenes of the Scottish Highlands accomplished on site during my 2007-8 fellowship, both oil and pastel.
“From Ordinary to Art:” still life studies using everyday kitchen items-- 2004-2008
“Each Unique: Studies of America’s Lighthouses:” oil and pastel paintings featuring unique qualities of selected lighthouses--2003-2004
“Bear Women:” American Indian style pottery and ceramics-- 1999-2005
“Rural Japanese Landscapes:” drawings and watercolors produces in peaceful, rural settings of four Japanese islands—1991-1995
“Beyond Ganja:” Jamaican fiber arts produced with indigenous fibers and dyes--1982
Education:
University of Missouri, Bachelor of Journalism, B.A. in Interior Design
New York Institute of Finance, M.B.A.
New Hampshire Institute of Art, Painting and Drawing Program
Additional studies:
Watercolor painting, Louise Bartlet, Kirkwood, Missouri
Pottery, Clinton Polacca, Nampeyo family, First Mesa, Hopi Reservation, Arizona
Jewelry, Tom Yellowhorse, Navajo Reservation, New Mexico
Life Studies, Manny Schwartz, Chicago Institute of Art
Acrylic painting, T. Reyes, Daytona Beach, Florida
Ceramics and acrylic painting, June Davenport Studio, Oklahoma City, OK
Drawing, painting, Robert Seaman, Sharon, New Hampshire
Oil Painting, Alex Farquharson and Mary Iselin, Sharon, New Hampshire
Pastel Painting, Robert Carston, Sharon, New Hampshire
Oil Painting, Numael Pulido, Hancock, New Hampshire
Jewelry Design, Joy Rafkin, Sharon, New Hampshire
Grant:
James Daniel Fellowship, Aberfoyle, Scotland
Associations:
New Hampshire Pastel Society
Sharon Arts Center
Newburyport Art Association
Private Collections:
The works of Debra Blore are held in private collections throughout the United States, The Bahamas, Jamaica and Europe