hidell brooks is kicking off the fall art season with two solo exhibitions for southern artists susan mcalister and kate long stevenson. both artist’s shows include works on canvas and paper. susan mcalister’s abstracted landscapes are an ode to her love of the land. the changing skies, lush foliage and mountain tops roll across the canvas in all their vastness. over the years kate long stevenson’s subject has gone between pure abstraction and figurative. for her current exhibition kate wanted to merge the two ideas into hardly an either/or creating a group of work that blends the figure into abstraction.

susan mcalister

susan mcalister received her ba from davidson college and has been painting for over 30 years. her lush, often abstracted landscapes are evocative and powerful explorations of her quest for places and things that nurture and inspire. susan applies multiple layers of paint, wax, marble dust and graphite combined to simultaneously construct and deconstruct.

“echo is a tribute to the grandeur of our national forests and protected landscapes. in the tradition of the hudson river school, i have imagined epic-like spaces from an aerial perspective. each large-scale canvas speaks to the passage of time and the importance of place. where the stories of the past echo through our present to inform and challenge the future.

over this past year, i have found myself returning to representational horizon lines in order to express the majesty and grandeur of our nation and its landscapes. these open spaces, where we are unified by inspiration and a common love, represent what is best about our country.

also included in echo are more abstracted expressions of the land and spaces beneath the forest canopy. these lush forest-scapes are strongly derived from childhood memory with all the freedom of exploration and discovery, forts and fallen chestnut groves. created over months, they involve a meditative process and approach to mark making.”

kate long stevenson

expressionist painter kate long stevenson was born and raised in north carolina, and began her professional career while a student at the university of the south. gestural brushstrokes and a passion for color are characteristic to all of her pieces, ranging from figurative paintings to abstracts. a life-long lover of music, kate relies on mostly classical compositions to guide her as she builds a painting, layering chords of color over energetic swirls of charcoal and paint. "it's important to me that my paintings have a subject, despite how non-subjective some can seem. with my nude paintings, the figure is the vehicle that invites you to discover the true subject: the elements--the way it was painted. the abstracts have just skipped that introduction, altogether, but they're still about something--music, tempo, motion and emotion. it all comes from a feeling, but then the challenge is not only to translate that to the canvas but to have it make sense, compositionally." kate lives in charleston, south carolina with her two sons.

“hardly an either/or is a melding of the previously dueling subjects in my work: abstract vs. figurative. in this body, the initial compositions are at once deliberate and spontaneous; the hues soft and pastel juxtaposed with bold, gestural, charcoal lines; the energy feminine yet masculine. non-subjective paintings are tinged with the suggestion of a subject. the subjective figure is nearly abandoned into abstraction. Hardly one or the other. hardly an either/or. ”

kate long stevenson in her charleston, sc studio

all available work by each artist can be viewed on the artist page of our site under the artist's individual tab. click on the artist image to see all work including sizing and pricing. the opening reception with susan mcalister + kate long stevenson is friday, september 6th from 6-8 pm. please call the gallery if you have any further questions.