Tom Morton At Gallery A3 In May: Paintings, Drawings, And Pastels
Tom Morton, Underground Roots, oil pastel and oil over acrylic. Photo: Gallery A3
Source: Gallery A3
Gallery A3, 28 Amity Street 1D, announces a new exhibit for the month of May by long-time member Tom Morton. In ROOTS, Morton looks back over more than three decades with a mini retrospective and also displays a group of recent works, including paintings and drawings in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, and charcoal.
The works range in time from 1988 up to 2023. All reveal Morton’s use of vibrant, saturated color, often achieved by layering oil pastels over paint, and other personal touches, reflecting a visual play between observation and abstraction. This visual play extends to subject matter, which also moves between abstraction and observation.
Many of the pictures represent landscape subjects, such as flowering trees and their foliage, and others appropriate to this spring season. However, a number of recent works, such as Underground Roots, while visually abstract, also act symbolically, expressing the beauty but often difficult chaos and claustrophobia of our technology-saturated world.
Morton first came to the area as a college student, then left after graduating from Amherst College. He was drawn back to the town he loved, and he enjoyed teaching, both art and music, until retiring to devote himself to painting full time.
Gallery Hours And Dates
Gallery Hours: Thursday-Sunday, 3-8:00 p.m.
Opening Reception: May 4, 5-7:00 p.m.
Dates of Exhibit: May 4-27, 2023
Art Forum Online
An Art Forum Online on Thursday, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. offers an opportunity for informal conversation with the artist. See the gallery website www.gallerya3.com to register for this online event, which is free and open to the public. This Art in Community program is supported in part by grants from the Amherst Cultural Council, Pelham Cultural Council, and Springfield Cultural Council, all local agencies, which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
About Gallery A3
Gallery A3 is a contemporary, fine art gallery in downtown Amherst, Massachusetts. Members of our artist-run gallery include painters, sculptors, photographers, printmakers and mixed media artists. You can find us in the Amherst Cinema complex along with Amherst Coffee, GoBerry Yogurt and Osteria Vespa restaurant.
Gallery A3 was founded in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. A group of local artists believed art to be essential to the health and healing of a community and began the gallery as a place to share ideas and artistic support. Since that time, the gallery has been home to over sixty artists and is now celebrating twenty years of monthly shows with openings and forums. All events are free and open to the public.
GALLERY A3’S MISSION
Gallery A3 strives to enliven and enrich our community by offering exhibits with public openings and open forums. It established and actively participates in the monthly art walks, Amherst Arts Night Plus, and supports regional artists with an annual juried show. It serves its own membership with conversations and programs that bring established professional and newly-emerged artists together, promoting artistic development and encouraging the creation and exhibition of exciting, new contemporary art work.
