Stowe Reporter
"Kolb's Latest Work at Clarke Galleries"
July 18, 1996

STOWE - A mew collection of small oil paintings by Vermont artist Kathleen Kolb will be exhibited at Clarke Galleries.

Gallery owner, Grier Clarke encouraged the artist who is known for her realistic watercolors to work in oils. He explained that Kolb's new works capture the moment of mood, light, quality of air and place with spontaneity and honesty.

The exhibition of small oils, most measuring 8 by 10 inches, are of uncluttered Vermont scenes that the artist has rendered the strongest elements of visual statement. The paintings are archetypes of the Vermont landscape, not narrative paintings, but abstractly capture the essence of a scene which frequently conveys a mood of solitude.

The exhibition is of interest because it marks the artist's successful transition from the painstaking studio draftsmanship to realistically accomplish her watercolors to a la prima style oil paints. Inspired by Post-Impressionists, painting in "plein aire" gives Kolb's paintings the immediacy of spontaneous observation that capture light.

Kolb's use of color, form and light is reminiscent of the works of Rockwell Kent and Edward Hopper. Whereas Hopper focused on what has since become known as the "vernacular architecture" of American cities -- store fronts, movie houses, all-night diners which no one else had thought of as artistically worthy, Kolb paints the rural version o the familiar and the ordinary elements. The bridge in Johnson for example -- lonely, quiet scenes rendered with impressive formal discipline and restraint with strategically placed elements, precisely slanted sunlight and a balance of verticals and horizontals.

The paintings are mementos of everyday rural Vermont, with its peculiar geography, place, climate and light. Nothing is invented.

Kolb's career spans the worlds of both fine and graphic arts. Her work has been exhibited throughout NEw England, and at various galleries throughout Vermont. Kolb's illustrations have appeared in numerous publications including Vermont Magazine, Vermont Life Magazine and the Country Journal and New England Living. She has illustrated several books and book jackets.

Kolb lives with her two children in Cornwall.