(Left) Edge of Tranquility. (Right) Beyond the Edge. Sally Lordeon, artist
The Asheville Gallery of Art (AGA) will feature Views from the Edge from Wednesday, October 1, through Friday, October 31. The exhibition showcases artist Sally Lordeon’s luminous acrylic paintings, each exploring the “edge” not as an ending but as a threshold. An opening reception is planned for Friday, October 3, from 5—7:30 p.m. at the gallery.
For Lordeon, the heart of the collection lies in transformation. “The central theme for all these artworks is change,” she says. “We are constantly on the brink of change happening in our lives. Whether it’s facing the devastating change Helene brought or facing a health challenge or an unexpected job or location move, I’ve noticed that the people who navigate change the best are those who approach it with openness and with an eye to the possibility that it may well unfold into something better.”
The artist achieves this effect through layered pigments and shifting textures that turn each composition into more than a traditional landscape. “The combination of receding layers of color and shifting textures create a horizon that feels not like a boundary but a threshold, inviting the viewer beyond what is immediately visible—or known,” says Lordeon. “The textural qualities, whether through brushwork or layered pigment, give the surface vitality—those variations energize the surface and evoke movement, as though the composition is in flux, unfolding before the viewer just as change unfolds throughout our lives.”
Her hope is that audiences will find not only beauty in the work, but also guidance for their own lives. “I hope viewers will recognize that change is the one constant in life and how we respond to it shapes our growth and well-being,” she says. “Rather than seeing change as daunting and unsettling, embracing it with openness transforms fear into curiosity, endings into beginnings and challenges into possibilities.”
Author Celia Miles discovered Lordeon’s painting Abstract in Blue at AGA and decided to use it as cover art for her book, Eight Nights at the Harris Hotel. “[Miles] told me she instantly recognized how it captured the thematic and atmospheric depth she masterfully developed in the story,” says Lordeon. “I couldn’t agree more.” The gallery will host a book signing event with Lordeon and Miles on Saturday, October 11, from 12—3 p.m.
The Asheville Gallery of Art is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, visit AshevilleGalleryofArt.com or call 828.251.5796.
