In and outs

Nan Hass Feldman's happy mediums

by Leon Nigrosh

NAN HASS FELDMAN: INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR VIEWS

at the ARTSWorcester Gallery at Quinsigamond Community College, 670 West Boylston Street, through January 12, 2001.

Animated. Energetic. Vibrant. Imaginative. And these words describe just the artist. Throw in colorful, joyful, and exuberant and you have a partial description of Nan Hass Feldman's

evocative paintings as well. For more than 30 years, Feldman has been painting her world as she sees it, expressing her feelings of the moment. Currently on display in the ARTSWorcester Gallery at Quinsigamond Community College, 64 of her paintings offer a pictorial journal of where she has been -- both literally and figuratively.

They also give you the opportunity to witness Feldman's growth and maturation as she changed mediums over the years. Her experimentation began three decades ago, while she was still an art student, when she discovered acrylic paint. Suddenly freed from smelly oils and turps, she resolved never to use them again, and for years, she worked only in acrylics -- eventually exhausting their potential for her ideas and experimentation.

In search of a way to record her ideas faster, Feldman began working with oil sticks on canvas. Her Beyond the Arches and Through the Clearing, both done in 1998, are dreamy impressionistic landscapes that present us with the illusion of great depth as we travel along pathways toward brilliant whiteness. And then, just as she was getting comfortable with this technique of expressive mark-making, Feldman discovered encaustic -- or painting with hot wax, probably one of the most risky painting techniques ever invented. The process dates back to ancient Egypt and involves mixing pigment in melted wax and applying it in successive layers -- quickly and deftly because poor timing can cause an entire painting to melt into oblivion. These small, concise works are darker and more moody than most of Feldman's other works. Yet they, too, are dotted with bright areas of color, such as the rooftops in View Towards the Village or the clutter of tiny boats in Looking at the Harbor. The physicality of the encaustic technique gives the works a sculptural appearance, which imbues them with a feeling of greater depth than their lines may contain.

Never content within the confines of her current technique, Feldman recently began to explore another painting medium, relatively new to the commercial market -- water-mixable oil colors. Could this be the answer to her dreams? Oil paints that don't smell funny and that clean up with water. At first armed with just a sample set from C.C. Lowell, she immediately realized the incredible possibilities of this new medium and has submerged herself in creating a series of wildly colorful, complex, and radiant paintings on square wooden boxes.

A selection of 14 works from Feldman's expanding series of interiors are so chock full of information that they teeter on the edge of confusion. But that is exactly what makes them so much fun to look at. Starting with a simple charcoal drawing of a scene directly on wood, Feldman applies paint from the top of the image down, adding elements that were not originally present in the setting, changing the perspective, playing with light and, of course, loading on the near total spectrum of color. The entire process takes from 50 to 60 hours to complete, and then, because Feldman works on wood and not canvas, a painting takes about three months to dry completely.

In one example, Freida's Bedroom, Feldman used high-key color and extravagant patterns to perk up an otherwise quiet room. For The King Wishes He Could Play Piano, Feldman actually relocated pieces of sculpture from other parts of a friend's house to help create the scene she envisioned. To further confound the viewer, Feldman often paints her interiors with doors or windows opening out onto equally complex exteriors. And in Rosenberg's Living Room with a Painting by Me, not only do we see a lavishly painted room with a view to the outdoors, but the painting referenced by the title is a landscape -- which brings the exterior back inside.

This dazzling array of color and style may be just a bit overwhelming -- too much to absorb during a single visit. Because all the paintings are filled to overflowing with luscious, color-laden content, they tend to compete for our attention. Together, though, they project a vivacity and enthusiasm for life that Feldman can bring to everyday surroundings.

The ARTSWorcester Gallery at QCC is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Call (508) 854-4309.