Water & Oil

Water & Oil

Artists' Reception Saturday April 11th 6-8pm

Exhibit April 11th-April 30th

Please join us as Borrelli's Chestnut Hill Gallery hosts a collection of art by Dan Brewer, Susannah Hart Thomer, and Colleen Joy

Usually water and oil do not mix, however, artists; Dan Brewer, Susannah Hart Thomer, and Colleen Joy shatter that preconceived notion.  Artist Dan Brewer uses oil paint in his recent work to employ the idea of the portrait as a structure to house the personal and the universal. He is interested in arriving at a potent mix of the literal, the abstract and the mysterious narrative that develops out of the process of wrestling with a painting as it is shaped by the pounding of the real world.  Brewer attended Tyler School of Art where he received his Masters of Fine Art.  He is currently the Art Department Chairman at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.  He has been the recipient of various awards and has been the feature of many shows on the east coast. 

Susannah Hart Thomer has taken a slight detour, literally, to the dark side of the watercolor medium. She experiments with watercolor to expand its color diversity, tweaking the usual color combinations.  Thomer studied at Moore College of Art where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts.  She has been featured in various exhibitions in Pennsylvania including at the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society.  Thomer’s murals can be seen in various places such as the Norriton, Pennsylvania Fire Station and the Einstein Medical Arts Building.

Colleen Joy is a Philadelphia-based artist and art educator.  She studied fine arts at Ramapo College of New Jersey, and painting while a graduate student at the University of New Mexico.  Her work has been exhibited in juried, solo, and group shows nationally.  Her latest series uses media such as oil bar and wax and is concerned with the ideas of water excess/deficiency.  In our world we can be devastated by both an excess of water (hurricanes, flooding) and by a lack of it (drought, dehydration).  In balance, water nourishes and provides recreation.  Place and emotion play a part in the subconscious forming of the paintings.