Here With Art

by Ann Harmon

FIFTY PLUS RICHMOND

Artist Engages Fully in Her Creative Process

Dorothy Fagan grew up playing in the woods, hiking, going on family camping trips, and gardening. Her mother was an avid gardener, and she gardens, too, when time allows, Hiking, with her dad through the years, and now with her three sons, "has always been a backdrop for ongoing creative conversations," she said. Fagan brings a definitive love of the out-of-doors to her paintings.

Fagan not only converses creatively; she paints the landscapes she sees and remembers with the appreciation that only the creative person can summon. Her paintings carry the feeling and the scent of coastal dunes and marshlands, rural barns and cottages. A hazy softness  mellows these subjects for the viewer's memory, and recreates them for permanence in the minds of those who appreciate fine art and the outdoor world. 

Although her paintings pay tribute to nature, and to those who love it, Dorothy Fagan does not limit her work to its subject matter. 

"Art is regional to me, People everywhere are interested in their inner landscape ~ how they feel and what they care deeply for." It is her job, she said, "to engage people in the creative process."

The artist hopes, through her paitnings, to invite people to see and feel something of themselves. "It might besimply the impact of the colors and textures," she said. It could be something more tangible or specific, such as arises from a memory or "the sense of place or belonging." She believes that those who seriously 
seek out and follow art and artists" make their choices for their own personal reasons; they do not base their selections or their favorites on current trends. She encourages those who view work by others ~ the artists to whose work they are drawn ~ to write their own responses to works of art, "to journal thoughts or feelings related to a painting which attracts them in particular."

Fagan uses this strategy as she works in her studio "to discover unseen symbolism in my life." She recalled leaving a demonstration painting unfinished and later coming back to it, puzzling over what step to take next. She sat down to look at the painting, and wrote a description of it. "Whe it became words on a page, I could see what it needed," She then completed it satisfactorily.

Fagan said that knowledge about art is "helpful, but not required for appreciation." The startling place for appreciation of art is really curiosity. Anyone who feels a curiosity about a body of art or a specific work "should consider that feeling of curiosity as the creator's invitation to explore."

Fagan frequestly participates in "creativity coaching" with her three sons. These chats extend the "threads" of the creativitty discussions she had for many years with her father, who taught her the importance of self-confidence "when i didn't believe in myself," she said. Today's conversations focus on her encouragement to her children to develop their own sense of creativity ~ "learning to listen to the instincts that each has inside himself. The creative force is what guides each one of us," she said.

Like most artists who focus on the outdoors, Fagan paints both on-site and in her studio. The paintings attest to the artist's strong consciousness of light and its effect on objects in nature. Times of day and changes in seasons are evident. She likes to go out early, between 6 and 7 a.m., and paint for a few hours. She skips the mid-day light, and frequently waits until 4 or 5 p.m. to get the late afternoon lights and shadows. She paints primarily in Virginia, in the coastal areas near her home and farther inland. 

BJ Kocen, ownder of Glave Kocen Gallery, said Fagan "brings multiple qualities to her paintings. The delicacy, the colors, the extures" all attest to an original appraoch.

Fagan usually paints with a softness reminiscent of both the French and American Impressionists. Then taking the same subjectmatter and even the same point of view, in another painting, she might switch to an abstract approach.

Fagan's deep respect for the work of impressionist Claude Monet influnced the treatment of nature in her paintings. Years ago, she visited the Hill-Stead Musum where the philantropist-owner had speicified in her will that the art collection be left intact int he estate. When, in one room, Fagan saw two of Monet's haystack paintings, she stood in awe for many minutes, absorbing the beauty the French master had given ordinary objects. "Monet was my mentor for many years," she said.

As a practicing artist, Fagan learned much from Rober Mayo, whose business was liquidating the estates of artist, and who served as her painting mentor for a decade. "He has an amazing ability to see paintings as the artists who created them saw them. Listening to him as a mentor was like being coached by George Innes, Ellliott Clark, Martin Jl. Heade, and Claude Monet."

The artist had boradened her work to include fiber arts. "Textiles have opened the door to playing with my art in ways which my studio of oil painting does not allow. This playfulness, in turn, reflects back on my canvases," she said. "People have certain expectations when they look at any given artist's paintings. My oil paintings are more serious. I like to get away from what is expected," she said, and change the subject matter, perhaps leaving some inhibitions behind.

Fagan's paintings at Glave Kocen Gallery October 2011