Romano Gallery Features New York Artist

Art by Annie Shaver-Crandell is on display in a show entitled, “Immersed in the Light: Landscapes Real and Imagined,” in Blair Academy’s Romano Gallery, September 11 through October 7. An artist’s reception is planned for Thursday, September 14, from 7-8 p.m.

After a first career as a medievalist and professor of art history at The City College of New York, Annie Shaver-Crandell became an artist specializing in plein-air landscape. Born and raised in Oberlin, Ohio, she now lives in New York City’s historic Noho neighborhood. She travels extensively in pursuit of her subject and has said of her work, “I like to think my images of landscapes can make a difference by reminding us of the spaces in our hearts reserved for peace and quiet.”

She adds, “I am attracted to boundaries – the garden wall, the place where the cultivated field, pasture, vineyard or orchard gives way to the woods and hills. Possibly because my neighborhood is currently undergoing a spate of post-September 11 building activity that is gradually hemming in the city views I have enjoyed for years, I am also increasingly looking at open skies, whether over the Delaware, the Hudson, the lagoon of Venice, or agricultural fields.”

Shaver-Crandell received a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.A. from New York University and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. She has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions in New York City and is the recipient of many grants, awards and honors. She is also a past national president of the Women’s Caucus for Art and a long-term activist on behalf of parity for women in their professional and personal lives.

Her artist’s statement provides insight on this show in the Romano Gallery: “Landscape painting has taught me humility and an appreciation of the brevity of the moment…Because this exhibition opens on September 11, it is appropriate to mention the circumstances of the creation of the three paired horizontal watercolors titled, Evening Smoke: Where the Towers Were. These were done between September 12 and 15, 2001, from my roof in downtown Manhattan. I had seen the World Trade Center from the same spot for over 25 years. On September 11 I watched in disbelief as the towers were engulfed by fire. Very shortly, each one in turn disappeared from my view, to be replaced by great clouds of incinerated matter of all kinds, including what had been other people. My first response as a painter was to go to the Liz Christy Bowery-Houston Community Garden near my home to paint something that was still alive. Then, for a number of evenings, during a series of eerily beautiful September sunsets, I painted the smoke that continued to billow from Ground Zero. The group of five large green watercolors and oil pastels, though done during the growing seasons of more recent years, shows what a resource the Liz Christy garden can be for city-dwellers. The garden also appears in the orange watercolor Virginia Creeper, Liz Christy Garden. Last year, the garden lost this beautiful north wall to real estate development.”

Shaver-Crandell added, “The other two principal groups of paintings in the exhibition show the Delaware River and its valley north of Blairstown, and agricultural landscapes in Provence. Despite the peace and tranquility reflected in the work, both of these groups are painful for me to contemplate at present, as most were done in the orbit of the late Jean Zipser, who died suddenly in February. For years I was a frequent guest at her home in the former Pahaquarry Township, twelve miles over the mountain from Blairstown, and for vacations during four springs we rented a house together near the village of Goult, in Provence, where she wrote and I painted. A number of the paintings show views of farmland or mountains very close to one or the other of these two houses. Jean often commented on how similar the terrains were, and how much she loved both. I can only agree.” Updated 9/12/06

The Romano Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; other hours by appointment. For more information on this exhibit, please call (908) 362-6121.

> Read About More Fine Art Events

return to top