Date: Saturday, March 20, 2 pm – 3 pm
Location: Kaaterskill Fine Arts Gallery, 7950 Main St, Rte 23A, Village of Hunter, NY
Hours: Thursday 11 am - 4 pm, Friday 11 am – 6 pm, Saturday 10 am – 7 pm, Sunday 11 am – 4 pm. Closed Monday through Wednesday.
Information: 518 263 2060
Free admission

The first Art Talk of the 2010 season will take place on Saturday, March 20th from 2:00 to 3:00 pm when Nancy Rutter will be on hand to discuss her work, her influences and her techniques. Join us for this Power Point presentation and demonstration of the etching process.

If you were to try to synthesize Nancy Rutter's art in a short catch phrase, it might be described best by what one critic labeled, "the structure of color." Fascinated with the tonal interplay of color and form, Nancy takes her inspiration from nature, specifically the Catskills where she lives now, though she has traveled extensively in Europe, especially France and Ireland.

Born in New York City, Nancy went to the High School of Music and Art and New York University where she studied traditional drawing and painting and received a solid grounding in art history. The years Nancy spent living in Ireland and France were important in moving her toward more abstract forms and brilliant color. In Ireland, she lived in County Tipperary where she renovated two Georgian country homes and became interested in Irish equestrian life, painting coursing horses as they galloped through the Irish fields. During the year she lived in France, Nancy studied at the world-famous Atelier 17 founded by Stanley Hayter where she focused on the use of color in the etching medium. Later Nancy taught color etching at the Limerick College of Art in Ireland. In France, Nancy renovated an old farmhouse in the Peche region in Normandy.

While the life of cafes and markets was beguiling, after four years, Nancy returned to America, settling in Columbia County where she and her husband designed a home in the woods. Some have likened it to a tree house since it appears to be an old farmhouse perched high up on a hill. A few steps away is her painting and etching studio.

A brilliant colorist, there's a painterly quality to Nancy Rutter's work that conveys her love of the materials she works with - the paints and the glazes. So while the work appears very free and painterly, closer examination reveals a deft geometric interplay of forms and shapes and colors - hence the label "the structure of color." Her art is also about the element of surprise. It has something unexpected, something that will linger in the mind of anyone who looks at her work.