Our Art Gallery will feature pieces by local artist Rob Ramage.

“I am interested in the connection of the natural universal spirit and our visual experience. I believe one way that all of us can get in touch with this is by experiencing natural lands and wild places. I tap into this for my own experience and to pass this on to others in viewing my art. Almost all of my studio work starts with plein air (on location) paintings, drawings and the experience from the place. Like many plein air painters, I try to capture a true sense of the land in form, color and perspective. In the studio as it gets integrated with my experience, mark making, color tend to get more abstracted. I want to share this experience with others so they too my enjoy and find a deeper connection.

“My latest exploration is in my Matrix paintings.

“A Matrix in a mathematical sense is a collection of numbers, coefficients arranged into a fixed number of rows and columns to solve and simplify mathematical problems such as simultaneous equations. Matrices are used mathematically to help solve a variety of scientific and geometric problems. Beyond the mathematical definition, I am using paintings arranged into a matrix to create a “Surreal” image. Speculatively, it may still be a mathematical representation in which a solution is a “pleasing or interesting” composition. These are arranged into rows and columns of 1x2, 2×2, 3×2, 1×3, etc.

“The number of possible combinations can be surprisingly large, 4 paintings (which are square) can have as many as 72 different arrangements: (1x4; 4x1 and 2x2 = 4!+4!+4! = 24+24+24 =72). Another characteristic of Matrix paintings, especially 2x2 and higher, is symmetry with a180 degree reversal, when reversed compositions are still “readable” and offer new experience.” Rob Ramage.