Nature-inspired art takes center stage

Autumn is typically an ideal time of year to get outdoors and enjoy the beautiful show put on by nature here in the Western North Carolina mountains.

A new exhibit in the galleries at the Old Rock School in Valdese is making it easy for art lovers to enjoy Mother Nature in an indoor setting. Winston Salem-based painter Sean Kammerlohr, who works in oils and acrylics, and Janice Harris, a mixed media artist from Hickory, will have their works on display through Nov. 1.

Kammerlohr said he has always drawn or painted with a lot of detail, trying to achieve as much realism as possible.

“Over the last six years, my landscapes have evolved from a strict realism to what I have now termed exaggerated realism,” he explained. “I still focus on details, but I amplify and exaggerate colors I see and even add colors that I don’t.”

Kammerlohr has participated in both of the Rock School Arts Foundation’s Plein Air Fests where he won first place at the inaugural event and took home third place at this year’s competition. He said he wants his work to speak of human kinship to nature.

“My wife and I are from Missouri so a lot of the pieces I am showing are of the rugged, thorny, tangled landscape of home which I think is so beautiful and may be exciting and foreign to viewers who are used to the tall-treed, lush, mountainous vistas often depicted here,” Kammerlohr said.

“On a personal level, what I hope the viewer takes away from my work is a connectedness with nature, a kinship I feel is missing,” he added. “I try to humanize elements of nature, such as trees, plants, and animals, to get the viewer to see them as sisters and brothers instead of simply less than or ‘other.’”

Harris uses her love of outdoors and traveling as inspiration for her work. The Davenport Elementary (Lenoir) art teacher says her art reflects the natural beauty and intricacies of the world around her, with compositions composed of intricately hand painted textured and patterned papers, meticulously layered to evoke a sense of depth and movement.

The exhibition will be on display in Galleries I and II at the Old Rock School, 400 Main St. W, in Valdese. They are available for viewing Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and on weekends by appointment. Call 828-838-9806 for more information.