Extended through August 24, 2024
July 6-August 10, 2024
Reception with the Artists: Saturday, July 6 (6-8 PM). Featuring live music by Kamica King.
The Bath House Cultural Center is proud to present A Dialogue on Places, an exhibition of recent paintings by Dallas artists Mary Vernon and Lin Medlin. The show marks a reunion for the two artists, who previously collaborated in a joint exhibition at the center in 2019. Their earlier show, which also included works by Barnaby Fitzgerald, sparked a visual conversation about the art of landscape painting. Now, they return to the gallery to continue this dialogue, showcasing their latest works against the scenic backdrop of White Rock Lake.
The picturesque setting of White Rock Lake provides the ideal environment for this exhibition, enriching the conversation about the representation of landscapes in art. Each artist brings a unique approach to depicting nature and landscapes. Despite their different techniques and perspectives, the exhibition creates a harmonious and stimulating experience for viewers. Together, their works invite contemplation and admiration of our natural surroundings, making A Dialogue on Places a significant and enriching addition to the cultural landscape of Dallas.
The landscape genre, long ago invented to envision ideas, allows illusions newly invented, things we wish had been or could be. In these conversations, it is not so much that the artists converse as that their paintings are speaking. They are full of ideas, history, and languages of color. They confront one another with questions about the nature of landscape: stillness, memory, precision and implication, the viewer’s power, the actions of color, weather, time, and permanence, mystery and clarity. Each painting invites the exploration of a place, but also the exploration of the means by which that image is constructed.
Mary Vernon is an emerita Professor of Art at Southern Methodist University. She taught painting and drawing, and SMU’s noted color theory course. She was born in New Mexico, educated at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Mary Vernon has shown her work in France, Hungary, Chile, and Kazakhstan, as well as nationally, and is represented by Valley House Gallery of Dallas.
Lin Medlin began painting landscapes when he was fifteen. He earned a BFA with highest honors in painting and art history at Southern Methodist University and worked as a Kress Foundation Fellow in art history at Oberlin College. He also earned a JD at Yale Law School. Among his favorite locations to paint landscapes from are Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Ireland, France, and the Republic of Georgia. He lives in Dallas, Texas, with his wife Joann and their cat and their dog.
To view the works of the two artists, visit their websites at https://www.maryvernon.com and https://www.linmedlin.com.
This exhibition is supported by the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture (Community Arts Pop-Up Cultural Center). Live music is provided by the Community Artist Program.
