The Jessie Edwards Gallery on Block Island is pleased to announce our latest exhibition featuring 14 new works by Kate Knapp titled ‘Under Block Island Skies’. These quintessential island scenes can be found online and in the Gallery from August 2 – 13th 2024.
Painting for Kate Knapp is a spiritual experience. She paints from the heart and this is evidenced when viewing her work, as it evokes a feeling of returning to this place we all love. Her paintings feel like an offering of a sanctuary similar to when we first arrive on the island. We all know that feeling of finally getting here, unpacking our cars and then being able to stand still for a moment, the effort to get here draining away, to take in the beauty around us as we breathe deeply, soaking in the salt air.
In “Andrews House”, a 30 x 30” oil on canvas, we are treated to a view of a place that is usually obscured by privet and vines. Only if we are passing by slowly are we able to see this building which is mostly unchanged since it was an annex for a hotel across the road last century. The simple beauty and elegance of the architecture is a reminder of a time period long past but still kept alive by places and views like this. This house has a story and how Kate captures it invites us in to explore further.
“Block Island Home on a Spring Day”, a 30 x 30” an oil on canvas, shows us a glimpse of another old iconic home on BI which hasn’t changed much over the years since it was built. This scene, though, painted in the late afternoon, is a study of light and color. While our eye is initially drawn to the building in the foreground, we move around to the smaller house to the left and then onto the bluffs in the distance.
The artist had an opportunity to paint en plein air at Lewis Farm last fall. “Lewis Farm Stonewall View” is a 24 x 48” oil on canvas work which is mesmerizing. While there may be similar vistas on Block Island, there are none quite like those on this part of the land. Knowing that this is not a location most can access gives us a soft glimpse into a place which feels like a calm and serene secret. We notice the wind-swept trees because there are so few in the fields, and our eye quietly catches the boat in the distance but it’s the draw of the ocean beyond which invites us to move along the wall, through the cut and continue our walk over the unspoiled fields.
We are also gifted a view from Beacon Hill in “The Laundry in the Sea Breeze”, a 12 x 16” oil on canvas. In the mid-afternoon light we watch as the sheets dance on the line, casting shadows on the lawn, each piece a player on this island stage. While this work was painted en plein air this Spring, it could just as easily be from fifty or one hundred years ago. The nostalgia of the clothesline draws us into remembering the indescribably luscious scent of laundry fresh off the clothesline after drying in island air.
Wave Study is a 22 x 22” oil on canvas painting inspired by standing on the beach and simply observing the water. There is much depth to this study, done on a grey day when the light in the sky cast different hues onto the ocean. We feel we are in the water, experiencing this wave, curious about how it shapes and shifts and falls. The artist isn’t trying to copy the wave, but instead she is trying to understand it and feel it. The interplay of color and shape and movement makes this piece remarkable and unique, just like a wave.
Take a break from the stress and anxiety of the world and come to the gallery to step into the peaceful feeling of Kate’s work representing a step back in time on this island we love. The Jessie Edwards Gallery is located upstairs in the iconic Post Office Building in Old Harbor. We are open every day, but Tuesday, from 10am – 5pm (4pm on Sundays).