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Featuring the works of:

MICHAEL SCHWEIGART  |  MATTHEW GREEN  |  MICHAEL SCOTKO

Perkins Center for the Arts Collingswood presents Surroundings a curated exhibition  of three very talented artists working in landscape in oil, and pastel on paper . Our fall exhibition at the Perkins Collingswood Gallery is always an exciting time to see  the gifted artists that flourish in our region. This year is no exception featuring three artists, Michael Scotko and Michael Schweigart from New Jersey and Matt Green from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All arelandscape painters with distinctly unique visions.

Michael Schweigart, Michael Schweigart’s inspiration comes from taking the road less traveled whenever possible with his focus on what characterizes a region. Scenes of coastal Maine and parts of eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey make up the bulk of his work. Schweigart combines technique and medium to create paintings that depict bucolic landscapes and seascapes. “Like many I have a deep appreciation for nature. It offers me a constant source of ideas to explore,” he says. His works display texture and atmosphere, with a presence of man and a sense of place. Michael Schweigart has been exhibiting his landscapes for more than 3 decades in galleries from New York City to South Jersey, Philadelphia and even the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. His paintings have won awards and are included in many prestigious public and private collections.

Mike Scotko, “Growing up in Southern New Jersey, a mostly flat region, devoid of vistas, valleys and sublime grandeur, I’ve nevertheless been intrigued and inspired by the simple, undulating lines of the landscape around me. I find something pleasing and engaging about the horizontal line. My sense is that our world is experienced in a relatively narrow window of view running left and right, with vertical elements becoming an interruption, a tension to our natural tendency.

In my paintings I experiment with the crisscrossing of tree lines, edges of fields, riverbanks and sweeping clouds. Working in a small format, my pastels are applied, rarely with strokes, but by pushing, twisting and dragging, allowing for a certain amount of uncontrolled results and unexpected details to develop. The most successful works are often a surprise and become a gift to myself.”

Matt Green, “The way I see it, I am a realist painter with a lean to the abstract, and I try to capture more than the physical structure of a building or landscape. I find the essence of a subject and show beauty in the nuances, often featuring the conflict of Nature versus Man. It began with a fascination for found objects. It’s the stuff that floats in on the tide, blows in on the wind or rises up from the soil; random objects, even buildings once centers of industry or tourist destinations, that are turned from useful to useless. I can see the strength and allure in things and in their history, and I try to bring life back in. I want to show both the harsh realities and magnificent beauties in everyday life and our surroundings.”

Meet The Artists Reception:
Saturday, October 12  |  5 –8PM

Gallery Hours: 
Tuesdays & Thursdays  |  10AM – 2PM
Saturdays  |  10AM – 2PM

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