To anticipate the arrival of spring, the Karin Clarke Gallery is pleased to present an exhibit of landscape paintings by Margaret Coe. The twenty-seven oil and acrylic paintings include scenes from the Oregon coast, Crater Lake,the Santiam River, and French villages. Two approaches to landscape painting are blended in these works: direct observation of nature and memory of specific places.
Coe’s plein aire paintings are both preliminary sketches for studio work and, in their own right, spontaneous observations of nature. Regarding her work, Coe says, “A by-product of painting for hours on end in the natural landscape is the profound connection one makes to the subject. Certain qualities and shapes are committed to memory. They can be the subject of new, highly interpreted works. The original observations are transformed into themes. The idea is to experiment with motifs, color, and process in a larger format in search of a bolder vision.”
Coe’s masterful ability to superimpose complex structure and pattern on what she sees, without dissolving into abstraction, is evident in this work. Coe’s use of vibrant color and illuminating flashes of light gives her paintings their unique voice.
Margaret Coe, a longtime resident of Eugene, received her MFA from the University of Oregon in 1978. She studied with David McCosh, Andy Vincent and Frank Okada, and has been influenced by Northwest artists, including Nelson Sandgren, Charles Heaney, and C.S. Price. She taught art for many years at the University of Oregon, Lane Community College, and the Maude Kerns Art Center. Coe’s work has been widely exhibited and is in the collections of the UO Jorden Schnitzer Museum of Art and the Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, OR. It is also represented in the Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery and the Seattle Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery.
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