Published on December 22, 2009

Reviewed by Joseph Gresser

The darker rectangle in the middle of the winter landscape depicted in “Peach” is a photo. Liz Nelson works outward from a snapshot in each of the paintings in the Expanded Boundaries show. Photos courtesy of the artist

MONTPELIER — Expanded Boundaries, an exhibit that graces the Governor’s office in Montpelier, presents a collection of recent paintings by West Glover artist Liz Nelson.  As I got off the elevator on the fifth floor of the Pavilion Building my eye was drawn immediately to “Last Year’s Garden,” a canvas showing a windswept winter landscape centered around the exposed remnants of a summer garden.

Under a deep blue Vermont sky the ground varies between a snowy expanse and patches of bare ground.  Brown grass stalks rise in the foreground and middle distance.  My eye was drawn to a group of these stalks, which seemed to have been painted in with a single hair brush.  They occupied a patch slightly larger than an index card that had obviously been attached to the painting by the artist.

I stared into the picture, until the sudden realization struck me that the area I was looking at was a snapshot fastened to the canvas.  One of the meanings of the show’s title became clear.

In each work one or more photographs serve as the starting point and framework for a painting that filled in the world beyond the tiny

“Sign” shows both Ms. Nelson’s mastery of the textures and sights of our constantly changing landscape and her use of photographs to define perspective.

photographic image.

To suppose that the title of the show had just that one meaning is to deny the artist credit for the subtlety and intelligence of her vision.  Her paintings challenged not only the boundaries of the photographs contained within each one, but the limits of her initial idea.

In “Spring River,” water flows from a photograph of a distant stream.  In the photo, flowing rills can be seen on the surface of the river.  The receding banks in the snapshot also establish the structure of the painting’s perspective.

As the river flows toward the viewer, the depiction of the water’s surface becomes less conventional.  Instead, a series of strong painterly gestures recreate the experience of watching the motion of a rushing brook.

An autumnal view of a woodlot takes the idea farther — leaves don’t just blow in the wind; they fill the air like confetti; the wind itself is rendered visible in the form of swirling lines just a bit short of those that cartoonists use to indicate motion.

The autumnal motion, though, is not just limited to the blowing leaves.  The very ground out of which the trees soar almost writhes with the energy of Ms. Nelson’s brushwork.  In this painting, as in several others, the initial photograph is almost hidden under Ms. Nelson’s vigorous brushwork.

Ms. Nelson has a revelatory grasp of the landscape of northeastern Vermont.  Some works, like “Peach” and “Sign,” use a palette that at first strikes one as unnatural.  As one spends time looking at the paintings the painter’s vision wins the viewer over.

In “Night Blooming Lilac,” Ms. Nelson pushes past the boundaries of simple representation of how a thing looks to the deeper business of sharing the experience of looking.

Even if you don’t have another reason for a trip to Montpelier, a visit to Liz Nelson’s show of paintings will well repay the expense in time and gasoline of the journey to the capital.  The show will be up through January 25.  Just one thing, be sure to carry photographic identification with you or you won’t be admitted.  The Governor’s security creates boundaries of its own.

Nelson’s paintings exhibited at eatery

Claire's Restaurant in Hardwick is exhibiting 15 paintings by Elizabeth Nelson of West Glover.  The works exhibited are mixed media and watercolor paintings.  There will be a public reception for the artist on Tuesday, February 9, from 4 to 6 p.m.  Ms. Nelson's paintings will be on view until March 22.  — from Claire’s Restaurant.