Oil Paintings by Marny Lawton
Making art accessible through public and private partnerships is just one of the objectives that makes Public Art Works, a group of professional Rhode Island-based artists, an important entity in the promotion of art in public space. Public Art Works (PAW), began working with HHCRI toward the end of 2009. "Working with HHCRI for the past 5 years has given us a tremendous amount of gratification in knowing how appreciated and well received the work of each artist is by staff and the families who visit HHCRI. We have come to learn the positive impact that art has on emotions, attitudes and beliefs and the contribution it can make to greater health and wellness for the individual." – Nancy Gaucher-Thomas, Public Art Works.
"Ms. Lawton's work is not only beautiful, it is the perfect fit for our environment. The contemplative beauty of nature is a value we at HHCRI share. We are grateful to her and to Public Art Works for sharing this truly wonderful exhibit with us." - Diana Franchitto, President & CEO, Home & Hospice Care of Rhode Island.
Marny Lawton is a representational artist painting in northeastern Connecticut, primarily with painting (oil and egg tempera) and drawing. She provides a different perspective in her art by finding beauty in the ordinary and the extraordinary in the often overlooked. She works out of her newly renovated 130-year old barn studio in Northeastern Connecticut.
Growing up exploring nature and drawing in journals became an educational foundation to her current work. Lawton examines micro ecosystems of landscape and still life using her techniques in oil, egg tempera painting and drawing. Years of artistic exploration, use of shapes and shadows, along with her depiction of movement, all contribute toward the shared concepts and interaction between humans and nature. She says, "My fascination with the environment has been a humbling experience, motivating me to give nature a voice through my work, in a world where humanity seeks to control and dominate, by instead elevating nature while educating the viewer to become an active participant in the thought process of a painting." She states, "Our everyday choices have a ripple effect across the environment's balance. I paint what I am close to and what is around all of us: the earth and its resources. I try to weave into a storytelling process a continuity of images and an explicit narrative that the viewer can then interpret individually. Having a design and drawing background has been invaluable for my art. While I am not striving for activism, I try to depict our planet (albeit a small corner of it) from a naturalist's and painterly, not a romanticist's perspective."
