By Kathleen O. Brown
Asheville Gallery of Art invites viewers to pause, reflect and reconnect with the natural beauty of Western North Carolina through Our Mountain Home: A Celebration of Place and Presence, an exhibition this month of oil paintings by Annie Gustely and watercolor works by Bronwen McCormick. Our Mountain Home is on display at the gallery in downtown Asheville through Tuesday, March 31, with an opening reception from 5 to 7:30 p.m., on Friday, March 6.
Through both intimate detail and sweeping perspective, Our Mountain Home presents a visual dialogue between the close-up intricacies of native plant life and the expansive vistas of layered mountain ranges. The exhibition seeks to honor the land not just as scenery but also as a living environment offering beauty, resilience and refuge.
Describing her art as a “visual story,” Gustely explores WNC’s native flora, focusing on floral structures, leaf patterns and relationships between color, form, pollinators and seasonal change. Both scientific and poetic in nature, Gustely’s work shows how plants adapt, survive and flourish.
“I am inspired by nature’s variety and unpredictability, the way light and shadows play off the leaves and petals,” she says. “When examining plants up close, I am drawn to a peek at new life and the beauty of decay. Although I love the challenge of painting with great botanical accuracy, for this series I painted to show movement and playful light.”
McCormick’s watercolor paintings capture the broader landscape. Inspired by wide vistas of rolling blue mountain “waves” and wild brambles lining forest trails, she seeks through her work to convey a sense of presence and place.
McCormick says she has always been drawn to the mountainous landscape of WNC. Growing up in the middle of the state, her family visited the mountains on camping vacations. She says she has vivid childhood memories of “the smell of rhododendron thickets and the feel of the cool mountain air in the summer,” and feels grateful to live here.
“There is a steadfastness to this landscape and that offers a sense of presence and peace for me,” she says. “While on one level it is always changing, on a deeper level it feels steady and ever present. I know there is science that illustrates the benefits of being in nature, both psychologically and physically. And I certainly experience it when I’m in the woods or looking across the mountain waves. That is what I try to capture in my paintings so that even if you are in the middle of a crazy day, you can experience a moment of presence when looking at my work.”
Of the Our Mountain Home exhibit, McCormick says, “my hope is that the viewer will step away from the busyness of life, take a deep breath and find a place of grounded quiet before diving back into their day.”
Located at 82 Patton Avenue in downtown Asheville, Asheville Gallery of Art is a collective of 31 local artists. Learn more at AshevilleGalleryofArt.com.
