Gilded Pear Gallery is pleased to present "Endless Planes" a two-person exhibit with Julia Kottal and David Kupferman. Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, we are hosting video receptions with the aritsts.

**Video call details will be provided to all confirmed guests 24 hours prior to the event.** We don't want spammers joining in, so please RSVP/Register or contact the gallery for the ZOOM link.

Julia is a native mid-westerner, born in Michigan. She has studied art in Florida, Maryland and California before moving to Iowa in 1992. She has a B.A., with painting as her emphasis, from Coe College. She has work in various collections nationally, including Alliant Energy, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Coe College, Kirkwood Community College, University Miami of Ohio, Millhiser Smith, Terry, Lockridge and Dunn, and United Fire Group. She lives in Cedar Rapids with her husband Roy and sweet cat, Clark.

Statement

"For this body of work, I felt the exploration of color as an idea, and the feelings of loneliness as a place, were important. Going from three mediums of encaustics, watercolors and oil to convey those themes was a key element for completing the total group.

The watercolors are informed from two places -both of which were self-imposed isolation from before Covid-19: Baja, Mexico long term stays and our cottage on the lake in Wisconsin. It is intriguing to me how they both deliver the same feelings with similar results, within composition and within fluidity of the medium. I love the simplicity of the watercolors conveying the suggestion of landscape. They (WI and MX) are worlds apart culturally, but the areas draw me into their natural beauty in the same way. High Lake and the Sea of Cortez have personalities that change constantly. However, the natural beauty of the forest, hills and shores stay constant creating a nice contrast to the unsettled waters. At both places I painted plein air, so I became part of the story. I was alone on the shores, blissfully painting, using the water surrounding me.

The encaustics are from a trip to the Serengeti in Kenya, Africa last year. This was truly a humbling experience and I painted from photos after returning. The vastness of the plains, the alluring colors unobstructed by man-made anything, the seclusion, and the never-ending horizon is simply sublime. Questioning the ideas of solitude and loneliness and being able to convey this through the translucent, subtle layers of encaustic paint (beeswax, resin, and pigment), had an especially rewarding result for me.

Oil painting is my true love. I’m attracted to everything about it; implementing my quest of the idea of color, the movement of the pigment on the canvas, the way the gestural movement of the palette knife sculpts the paint and the way I can lose myself in a meditative state. I react to the materials and let them guide me to a place where the combined composition and narrative can live. I love to see, as I hope the viewer does, a surprise, or a moment that happens in my paintings, either while painting or after completion. It is important to me to keep some sense of traditional order in the landscape, but I also like to let the paint take on a life of its own and lead me to an end result that can be unexpected and seductive."