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EXHIBIT ESSAY

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you." - Frank Lloyd Wright

Beverly Carlson-Bradshaw is first and foremost an active observer of nature. Her objective visions of the land are enhanced with imagination as she translates these highly personal observations into lyrical pastel artworks. 

This artist has years of experience in surveying the land. It was initiated during her childhood spent on the family farm in Montana where she started to draw as a young girl. Surrounded by endless vistas of verdant land, she could observe the dimensions of space and the value of colors. The animals on the farm became her companions and best friends. Nature, and living in harmony with it, was her best teacher of visual arts, and that experience continues to inform her work today. 

So, it is no real surprise that, when the artist moved to the Southwest, she found an ample amount of subject matter to work with. As her biography indicates...

"Her love of the landscape has only increased since moving to the desert and she fills her day by observing nature and creating masterful, pastel artworks based on her impressions of the beauty that surrounds her.”

But, it is important to note, that she is not simply replicating the landscape or any of her other subjects. Whether depicting a landscape, animal, bird, figure or still life, Beverly is constantly seeking to learn more about the character of her chosen subject. It's personality, so to speak. This is the connecting theme that runs through her entire body of work. In this sense, the artist's goal is not to paint what's there, it is to reveal what is unique -- whether a moment in time, or the true character of an animal and how it speaks to her.

In both her small and large pastel works, we find an artist who remains fascinated with color and texture which express the artist's joyous response to the natural world, most recently in the Southwest. The multitude of variations in the tonality of her works offer dimension and provide for the sensation of movement. For in her works, you can truly hear the grass moving in the vista or the bird warbling a morning chorus.

While Beverly expertly controls her visions of the natural world through balance of form, color and space, the scenes bleed off the edges of the paper or panel, and our own thoughts and imaginings of the horizon and sense of place unfold. We discover that we also desire to be in that painted place, as her artistic and evocative dream takes over our mind and soul. And that is what this artist's work offers the viewer. Through the beauty of Beverly's artwork, she shows us the "way" of the land. We feel grounded with our own sense of place, and eagerly share in her visions of joy inspired by the natural world. 

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