In the Dutchess County Spotlight

Locust Grove hosts art exhibits by area artists that evoke the Hudson River School of Art, in theme and often in craft as well. This is in homage to Samuel Morse, painter and form resident! The next exhibit is certainly landscapes, but not in this area. It is a solo exhibition by William Noonan. However, in looking at the paintings; they are not dissimilar with a Hudson Valley landscape. The subjects? The Italian landscape paintings from the Hudson Valley and Central Italian countryside!

Hudson Valley artist William Noonan is the grandson of Italian immigrants on his mother's side. It is these cultural roots that have led him to Italy where he has explored that part of his heritage and begun a body of work that indicates a deep appreciation for the land and landscape of his ancestors. "I always felt encouraged artistically by my Italian grandparents. I think Italians are very open to visual art because it is so deeply rooted in the culture. A fundamental understanding and appreciation of the arts is commonplace among Italians of all social levels." observes the artist.

This spring he will show his latest group of paintings in a show entitled "Fields of Color" in The Transverse Gallery at Locust Grove. Locust Grove Historic site overlooks the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie New York, the 200-acre Locust Grove Estate includes an Italianate villa designed in 1851 by architect Alexander Jackson Davis for artist and telegraph inventor Samuel F. B. Morse and a beautifully appointed Visitor's Center and museum which houses the Transverse Gallery.

The exhibition features plein air paintings from Central Italy and the Hudson Valley. The opening reception is Sunday April 29, from 2-5pm and the show runs through Sunday, June 10. It showcases two summers' worth of Italian landscape paintings, as well as images from closer to home. These paintings convey the vitality of temporal conditions of light. Color is the primary objective. The expressive use of the medium in these paintings often tends toward the abstract while retaining the representational references necessary to a shared experience. Most of the work is created with oil paint on paper which is well suited to travel and painting in the field.

Noonan along with his colleague and pastel painter Laura Martinez-Bianco teach a week long plein air painting workshop in Italy each summer. Previous years included trips to the Val d'Orcia and the Maremma regions of Tuscany. These excursions are suitable for painters of any level including beginners. "The workshop experience functions like a retreat. The soul is refreshed by the focus of the endeavor while cradled in the hospitality of the Italian culture," comments Noonan.

"Fields of Color" is on view at the visitor center through June 10. Open 10am - 5pm, daily; there is no fee for viewing of this exhibition. Locust Grove is located at 2683 South Road (Route 9) in Poughkeepsie.

For information, 845-454-4500 or www.lgny.org