Featured Artist
Aileen Barbato
How to Become A Featured Artist
PSAA member artists can submit six to eight works of art for consideration and must provide a photograph of the work and include the title and medium, and a short biography (no longer than two or three paragraphs, to be included on the web page. A link to your personal website can be provided. A $20.00 web posting fee will be charged for each participant. If you are interested in participating call 609-597-3557 or psaa3@verizon.net and leave a message.
"I know where I was going and what I discovered in the process of making the painting. But I believe that something equally valid occurs when a viewer stands before a work of art. He brings with him the sum total of his own life experiences to that very moment in time.''
--from the artist's statement below
Artist's Statement
The heart has reasons that reason does not know---Blaise Paschal
Art has the ability to convey in a vital and dynamic way 'the reasons which reason does not know'. I find those places and spaces of the heart and apprehend them. This differs from comprehension in that apprehension involves both critical thinking and intuition. Never having received formal training in the making of fine art, I rely heavily on intuition to support the intellectual aspect of my creative process. The imagery I create is the result of bridging the conscious and unconscious, here and there, concrete and sublime. The image which manifests itself through me bears witness to the presence of other reality. Additionally, my art facilitates a personal artistic experience of apprehension unique to the individual viewer. I know where I was going and what I discovered in the process of making the painting. But I believe that something equally valid occurs when a viewer stands before a work of art. He brings with him the sum total of his own life experiences to that very moment in time. By the juxtaposition and use of the formal concepts of art to create a painting, my art triggers the convergence of memories and meaning to create the individual's own experience of that art. A visceral link is formed between the visible and the invisible. I want to leave each painting hanging in the mind and on the heart, to invite, engage, evoke, enlighten....--Aileen Barbato
Aileen Barbato, our January Artist of the Month in the Pine Shores gallery and our Website Featured Artist, challenges the viewer of her art to merge critical thinking with intuition which, in turn, evolves into an intellectual imagery that bridges the conscious and unconscious. “I want to leave each painting hanging in the mind and on the heart, to invite, evoke, enlighten.”
Aileen studied Art History at Virginia Tech. She taught herself to do watercolor many years ago and began oil painting three years ago when she moved to LBI. Here she enrolled in oil classes at the Foundation and at PSAA with Ellen Gavin, developing her own unique style, more abstract than realistic. Her work has been displayed in Pine Shores shows and at the Tuckerton Seaport and the Foundation.
There is a fluidity that is quite distinctive in several of Aileen’s works and there is always brilliant color use that engages and captivates Through her paintings, Aileen’s stated goal is to allow the viewer to evoke “memories and meaning to create the individual’s own experience…to create a visceral link…between the visible and invisible.” You will agree that she has met this goal in our Gallery this month.
--Ada Barber
