Artwork explores "Perspectives on Water" at CWC

MARGARETVILLE, N.Y., April 27, 2007– Two very different artistic approaches to water are on view through the end of July at the Catskill Watershed Corporation, 905 Main St., Margaretville.

Gerda van Leeuwen’s large abstract paintings on rice paper fused to canvas depict water in all its color, energy and intensity, while smaller oils and watercolors by Ellen Wong reflect misty, water-crossed Catskill landscapes.

"Perspectives on Water" includes 15 paintings by these two talented artists who make their homes in Roxbury. The public is welcome to view the exhibit weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. All works are for sale.

Ellen Wong has been inspired by the Catskill landscape and rural life for the past 17 years as a part-time resident of Roxbury. She has taught art for over 25 years in a public high school in New York City where she raised two sons. She studied painting at Brooklyn College, and her work has been shown in New York City galleries and in the Catskills. She received a painting fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and had a painting residency at Skidmore College in Saratoga.

Says Wong of her work, "I have been moved by the subtle nuances of color and light that change with the time of day, the weather, and the progression of seasons. I look to capture the intimate truth of the particular, a moment - encounters with light, deer on the road, wisps of mist and clouds."

Gerda van Leeuwen is native to The Netherlands where she studied etching and painting at Artibus and taught art in schools and at a prison in Utrecht. She helped establish the etching and lithography facilities of Hudson Street Press in New York City and participated in several exhibitions showing prints published there. She moved to Roxbury, bringing HudsonPress Printshop with her to a renovated barn in 2005.

Gerda was artist in residence at the Purnati Foundation of the Arts in Bali in 2006. Her work has been exhibited at many galleries in New York City, in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills.

The paintings on view at CWC are created by folding wet rice paper around a template made of wires and adding pigment and liquid inks. A rust-colored imprint mixed with pigment is left on the paper, which is glued to canvas before paint is further worked into the image.

"I am especially fascinated by streams and waterfalls in the Catskills, their different appearances in all seasons," she explains.