The Encounter Series: Barbara Tiffany and Leslie W. Hardy
April 7 – May 22, 2016 - Martha DeNeen Cotten Gallery
Bobbysox
Barbara Tiffany is the Director of Painting and Drawing at the Crealdé School of Art, and is one of Central Florida’s most accomplished realist painters. This exhibition brings together a selection of Tiffany’s paintings with the paintings of one of her accomplished students, Leslie W. Hardy. Both artists paint carefully observed scenes inspired by the people, places and things that are significant in their daily lives. While Hardy is not an artist by profession, she has had a lifelong passion for art and belief in its importance to the quality of life.
Tiffany’s style reflects her affinity for the focused realism of the Dutch old masters like Johannes Vermeer. Her intimate still life paintings and interiors are imbued with a warmth and luminosity that invites the viewer to meditate on the simple objects and settings she presents. Similarly to the tradition of still life painting in past centuries, the objects and arrangements in Tiffany’s compositions often have symbolic meanings that are both personal and open to the viewer’s interpretation.
Hardy’s paintings are lively visual responses to life and the world around her. Her subjects are inspired by her home and garden, as well as by the people and places she sees while traveling. Whether she is painting a floral still life, Irish landscape or a farmer’s market on Martha’s Vineyard, she seeks to capture the subject’s visual excitement with bold colors and a fresh painterly style.
The Encounter Series presents thoughtfully focused exhibitions of work by Central Florida artists and those with a connection to Central Florida in the newly named Martha Deneen Cotton Gallery. The series is an opportunity for visitors to discover both emerging talent and new work by many inspired artists.