Carolyn Brady, Tisane/Sur Evian, 1997, watercolor on paper, 20 x 27 inches
Carolyn Brady has worked with the theme of the tablescape for over ten years, peering into precious shared moments of a repast and capturing these moments in paint. For the first time, the tablescape, a recurring and reverberating motif, takes center stage as the theme of this exhibition. Some of the tablescapes--culled from the last five years of work--or as the artist calls them: "cafe," "table" or "plate" images, are series, mini-movies or voyages of discovery. Each of the tablescapes, be it a single work or part of a series, carries a wallop of color and an emotional impact that ranges from gentle and romantic to wild and passionate.
While Brady's view of "still life" is uniquely her own, she shares the interest of artists through the ages of capturing the stuff of the table, its textures, its colors, its surfaces, its fullness, its rootedness in time, its magic.	Carolyn Brady, Scallop Flower/Viennese Style III, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22 inches
Carolyn Brady, Rose and Saffron/Viennese Style IV, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22 inches	Her vista into the table, inviting the viewer to partake of the quotidian pleasure of one of life's basic rituals, is a manifestation of generosity. She is not interested in a cosmetically perfect table or in the food on the plate being arranged and untouched.
Her interest lies in the humanity of the experience, the intimacy of the moment, the implied dialogue. These are not mundane moments, but ones heightened by the artist through color, alteration of scale and focus.
Nighttime repasts, without sunlight, have a moody mystery and deep richness of palette as in the Vieux Manoir Suite. Daytime meals are filled with sunshine and light and plays of light and shadow as in the Crockett Cove duet.
Geometry figures more prominently in these paintings than it does in many of Brady's works. The Chicago Suite--with the ellipse or circle of the plate in each watercolor--is as much about the artist's philosophy of constructing a painting-her own architecture-as it is about color and passion. The repetition of the purest of abstract forms, the circle, carries with it a multitude of symbolic associations.	Carolyn Brady, Tall Dumpling with Green Sash/Chicago 1, 2000, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22 inches
More than her interiors or her heroic scale garden watercolors, the tablescapes address the issue of photography in the artist's work. When Brady looks through her camera she composes and sees through the lens to bits of paint.	Carolyn Brady, Red Salad/Chicago 2, 2000, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22 inches
The overall scale of these works is smaller, the images are smaller, the paint marks are bigger; a process of transformation takes place when the artist paints. The photograph essentially dissolves or deconstructs into thousands of paint marks. When photographing the tablescapes, Brady says, "There is a visceral response to what I see which makes for an interesting painting as the passion or emotion is there when I am photographing."	Carolyn Brady, Pork Salad with Dark Herbs/Chicago 3, 2000, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22 inches
And indeed, this proves to be true when looking into the artist's tablescapes. Her Viennese Suite, comprising six watercolors 22 x 30 inches, is romantic in feeling; her Chicago Suite is, in the artist's own words, "wild." This nighttime meal was transformed by the artist into a five-part suite of the most intense color focused around red. The impact of this suite is bold and assertive, not romantic.	Carolyn Brady, Red Fish with Haystacks/Chicago 4, 2000, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22 inches
These are no ordinary still life paintings, but intimate moments captured and transformed into paint charged with power, emotion and beauty.	Carolyn Brady, Fruit Jellies/Chicago 5, 2000, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22 inches
Carolyn Brady, Plantains and Salsa/Latin Lunch, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22 inches	Carolyn Brady's work has been widely shown throughout the country at the Academy of the Arts, Easton, Maryland; The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; Boise Art Museum, Idaho; The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; The Canton Museum of Art, Ohio; Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida; Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina; Davenport Museum of Art, Iowa; William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum, Rockland, Maine; Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Indiana; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana; Jacksonville Art Museum, Florida; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina; University of Missouri at Kansas City and St. Louis; Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale; Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; The Monmouth Museum, Lincroft, New Jersey; Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, New York; National Academy of Design, New York;
National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Newport Art Museum, Rhode Island; University of Oklahoma, Norman; Oklahoma City Art Museum, Oklahoma; Oklahoma State University, Stillwater; Orlando Museum of Art, Florida; Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; The Philbrook Museum, Tulsa; Pittsburgh Art Center, Pennsylvania; Portland Museum of Art, Maine; Art Gallery, University of Rhode Island, Kingston; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida; San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas; Springfield Art Museum, Missouri; Wilson Arts Center/The Harvey School, Rochester, New York; Wichita Art Museum, Kansas; Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts; among others. Her work has also been shown at The Miyagi Museum of Art, Miyagi; Sogo Museum of Art, Yokohama; Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Tokushima; Museum of Modern Art, Shiba; and Kochi Prefectural Museum of Folk Art, Kochi, Japan.	Carolyn Brady, Empanada/Latin Lunch, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22 inches
Carolyn Brady, Blue Potato Salad/Latin Lunch, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22 inches	The artist's work is represented in numerous public collections, among them: The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock; The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington; Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, Indiana; Flint Institute of Arts, Michigan; Huntsville Museum of Art, Alabama; Indiana University Art Museum, Indianapolis, Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina;
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; The New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut; Norton Gallery and School of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida; Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City; University of Oklahoma, Museum of Art, Norman; Orlando Museum of Art, Florida; University of Rochester Museum, New York; St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville; Springfield Art Museum, Missouri; Tampa Museum of Art, Florida; Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts.	Carolyn Brady, Rice and Beans/Latin Lunch, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 22 inches
To top off the sumptuous tablescapes is a grouping of eight sparkling watercolors of goblets shimmering with light, reflecting the environments around them in symphonic color.
Carolyn Brady, Wine, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 11 inches	Carolyn Brady, Wide French Flute, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 11 inches
Carolyn Brady, Tumbler, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 11 inches	Carolyn Brady, French Flute, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 11 inches
Carolyn Brady, Blue Goblet, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 11 inches	Carolyn Brady, Dotted Tumbler, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 11 inches
Carolyn Brady was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma in 1937. She received her B.F.A. from the University of Oklahoma at Norman and her M.F.A. from the same institution. She has taught at the University of Missouri in Saint Louis. Carolyn Brady resides in New York City. A 27-page full-color catalogue, with an essay by Townsend Wolfe of The Arkansas Arts Center accompanies the exhibition.	Carolyn Brady, Cut Crystal Flute, 2001, watercolor on paper, 15 x 11 inches
Go to Carolyn Brady's Artist Page	Read Carolyn Brady's Biography