Born
1953
Nashua
,
New Hampshire
Residence
New Mexico
, since 1985
Education
1990
Santa Fe Institute of Fine Arts, NM Master Class with Wolf Kahn
1977
BFA,
University
of
Pennsylvania
,
Philadelphia
,
PA
1975
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture,
Skowhegan
,
ME
1974-1973
Tyler
School
of
Art
,
Philadelphia
,
PA
1973
Nera Simi Drawing Studio,
Florence
,
Italy
1973-1971
Hampshire College,
Amherst
,
MA
Mount
Holyoke
College
, sculpture with Leonard De Longa Selected One-person Exhibitions
2007
Booth
Museum
,
Atlanta
,
GA
, TBA
2006
Manitou Galleries,
Santa Fe
,
NM
“Divine Mysteries”
2005
Manitou Galleries,
Santa Fe
,
NM
“Painting in the Present Tense”
2004
Medicine Man,
Santa Fe
,
NM
“Let Me Enjoy the Earth”
SEGI Fine Art,
Scottsdale
,
AZ
“Terra Cognita”
2003
Medicine Man,
Tucson
,
AZ
“Along the Pilgrims’ Path”
2002
Medicine Man,
Tucson
,
AZ
and
Santa Fe
,
NM
“Audience with a Cloud”
2001
Vanier Galleries on Main,
Scottsdale
,
AZ
“At An Ever Changing Origin”
Medicine Man,
Tucson
,
AZ
“Flights of Enchantment”
2002-1996
Karen Mitchell Frank Gallery,
Dallas
,
TX
2002
“On the Plane of the Present”
2001
“Smaller Works”
2000
“Fifth Annual Solo Exhibition”
1999
“Perceptions of the Miraculous”
1998
“Ecstatic Revelations”
1997
“Dancing to the Tempo of the Evolving Day”
1996
“Landscapes from the Heart”
2000-1991
Contemporary Southwest Galleries,
Santa Fe
,
NM
2000
“Viva, Painting in Celebration of Life”
1999
“I Am Nature”
1998
“Between Earth and Sky”
1997
“Exploring the Mystery of Sensation”
1996
“Bold Seer”
1995
“Impassioned Perceptions”
1994
“Sensuous and Delicious Color”
1993
“Range and
Cloud
Towers
”
1992
“
Badlands
, Violet and Gold”
1991
“Exhibition of New Works”
1993
San Juan
College
,
Farmington
,
NM
“McElwain Paints New
Mexico
”
1991-1986
C.G. Rein Galleries,
Santa Fe
,
NM
1990
Robert Allen Fine Art,
San Francisco
,
CA
“Learning From Mother Nature”
1989
Rein-du Bois Gallery,
Houston
,
TX
1981
Graham Arader lll,
Philadelphia
,
PA
“Fishes of the East Coast”
Selected
Group Exhibitions
2007
Tucson
Museum
of Art, "Painters of the
Grand Canyon
"
2006
New Haven
Art
Center
,
New Haven
,
CT
“Particular Places” Honorable
Mention
"Landscapes of
New Mexico
" book debut,
Santa Fe
,
NM
2005
Phippen
Museum
,
Prescott
,
AZ
“Homecoming: Outside the West”
2004
Medicine Man Gallery,
Tucson
,
AZ
“100 Years-Painting the
Grand Canyon
”
Chaparral Fine Art,
Bozeman
,
MT
“Visionaries”
NM
Wilderness
Alliance
, “Wildlands Painted!”
2003-4
Palos
Verdes
Art
Center
,
Palos Verdes
,
CA
“The Wild West”
2002
Chaparral Fine Art,
Bozeman
,
MT
“Masters in
Montana
”
2002-1998
Kneeland Gallery,
Ketchum
,
ID
"Plein Air”
1997,
1995
Tucson
Museum
of Art,
Tucson
,
AZ
"Women Artists of the
West"
1995
Ian Lewis,
Scottsdale
,
AZ
"Western
Academy
of
Women
Artists"
Hampshire
College
,
Amherst
,
MA
"25th Year, Alumni
Exhibition"
1993
Mongerson-Wunderlich,
Chicago
,
IL
1988
Southwest-East,
London
,
England
1984
Marion Locks Gallery,
Philadelphia
,
PA
1977-1975
BFA Program Exhibitions,
University
of
Pennsylvania
,
Philadelphia
1975-1969
Weston Arts and Crafts Association Shows,
Weston
,
MA
Selected
Collections
Tucson
Museum
of
Art
,
Tucson
,
AZ
St. Vincent
Hospital
,
Santa Fe
,
NM
Pepsi-Cola
,
CA
AT&T,
CA
Nokia
,
TX
INA
Corp., PA
Peat
Marwick
,
CA
NATO
Headquarters,
Brussels
Mr.
and Mrs. Patrick Sands, TX
University
of
Texas
Law
School
,
Austin
,
TX
Philadelphia
Zoological Society
American
Embassies: Sanaa,
Bogota
,
Singapore
,
Bahrain
University of Pennsylvania
,
PA
Coors Brewing Co, CO
Selected
Publications and Credits
Focus
Santa Fe
, May, 2005 “Exploring the Mysteries of Sensation in the Landscape”
Wolfgang
Mabry
The
Santa Lucia Preserve $10,000 Purchase Prize, May 2004,
Carmel
,
CA
Rio Grande
Sun, Oct 2002 “Cuarteles Painter Likes
to Shovel it on” Joe Czarek
Southwest
Art, Feb, 2002,”New Mexico Regionalists” Gussie Fauntleroy Art Talk,
Feb. 2002 featured artist New American Paintings, winner, Oct 2000
Southwest Art, cover February 2000 "A
Life in Full" Gussie Fauntleroy Focus Santa Fe, 1997 "Dancing
to the Tempo of the Evolving Day" Charlotte Berney
Southwest
Art, 1993 "Satisfying Surfaces" Sally Eauclaire
The
New Mexican, 1993 "Exploring the Wild Places, Palette Knife in
Hand" Gussue Fauntleroy
Southwest
Profile, 1992 cover "Sensuous and Delicious Color" John
Villani Santa Fean Magazine, 1992 "Palette Knife Wizardry"
Ralph Luce The New Mexican, 1991 "McElwain's Paintings Resonate w.
Nature's Unadorned Beauty"
The
New Mexican, 1991 "The Art of Collecting" Robert Graybill The
New Mexican, 1991 "In Search of a Particular Moment in Time"
Russ Whiting
The
Denver
Post, 1990 "Critic's Choice" Steve Rosen
Southwest
Profile, 1989 cover "Beautiful and Telling Marks" Sally
Eauclaire TIME Magazine, January 1986 "Breaking Out of the
Box" Kurt Anderson Architectural Record, 1985 "Learning From
Mother Nature" Deborah Dietch
Statement
"I
paint outdoors in all sorts of conditions, open to the impulse of
changing light, wind, heat, cold, insects and all forces of Nature that
bring life into my paintings. A painting, for me, is the sum of
innumerable commitments to an idea, made in a dance to the tempo of the
evolving day. It is a kind of "captured" choreography, an
entire ballet one can behold in a single gaze.
I
am interested in exploring a way of describing my experience of places
in Nature, without subordinating the marks and strokes of paint to the
motif. Paint and the gestures that move it are made to the rhythms of
Nature through Time, each with its own identity as paint, yet
contributing to the meaning of the work as a whole. My chosen tool for
applying paint to canvas is the knife, for two primary reasons: to curb
my ability to describe objects, and to move paint with velocity,
articulate delicacy, and sensuous
impasto.
To describe my experience, I rely on my understanding of how the
interaction of color creates light, and my education in drawing to
establish tonal weight and space.
My
deepened relationship with a few beloved places continues to entice me
to paint increasingly evanescent events of Nature, to take greater leaps
into larger canvases, surrendering to the inquiry, and to paint with
ever more trust and joy. The
awe I feel for the magnificent and the mysterious manifestations of
Creation is the compelling force in my work, and is what establishes my
rapport with so many people who are deeply moved by this aspect of their
lives here in the West. During the process of painting large canvases
outdoors, the interaction with Nature introduces insects, particles of
plants and soil into the paint. To acknowledge the simultaneous levels
of reality around me, I sometimes deliberately introduce elements into
the paint, like bits of broken beer bottle, bone, earth, stones, grass
or charred wood. Anything stuck to the front of the canvas is part of
the work.
It
is my experience of “wonder” that I explore, rather than a position
about visual reality, as a “realist” would. It is the question that
interests me, not the answer. My commitment to artistic integrity
precludes my affiliation with any association of artists. As I continue
to develop my own voice, I strive to keep my work free from the
influences of other schools, styles or movements. Out of my education
and experience I have
blended two distinct ideas, the respect for materials and gesture held
by the action painters of American abstract expressionism and the
expressive breadth and reverence for Nature of the romantic composer
Johannes Brahms
I
reject the presumption that the validity of contemporary art is
commensurate with its ability to “challenge” the viewer, to provoke,
repulse or offend, and question the motivation of artists who adhere to
that school of thought. Rather, I strive to balance the beauty of the
paint with the beauty of the motif, to create paintings that gratify,
nourish and empower. I celebrate the embrace of the divine mysteries.”