Elizabeth Patterson: Paris & Other Places

Louis Stern Fine Arts is pleased to presentElizabeth Patterson: Paris & Other Places. Opening December 10, 2016 the show features hyper realistic colored pencil drawings, which showcase Patterson’s masterful drawing techniques. This exhibition transports the viewer to destinations around Paris, France, and the U.S.A., breathing new life into a typical rainy day.

FromEiffel Tower II, ParistoClaiborne Avenue, New Orleans, Patterson’s work challenges the need for clear, sunny skies to illustrate captivating landscapes. Instead, Patterson provides us with a view of the world from behind the rain covered windows and car windshields of daily life.While Patterson’s drawings are executed with a precision that can best be described as photographic, the artist finds abstraction in the rainfall.Her use of color and light envigorate an otherwise gloomy circumstance.

Elizabeth Patterson received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design but stopped practicing art after sustaining a severe hand injury in 1984.Fifteen years later, at the urging of her partner, Elizabeth resolved to return to her art-making practice. She discovered that her gift for drawing remained intact. In her initial foray back to her artwork, memories of a much-loved Hawaiian vacation were captured in a series of brilliant aquatic drawings. The challenge presented by the subject material stirred the artist’s imagination and compelled her to begin a new body of work. Employing colored pencil, graphite and a touch of solvent, Patterson began to experiment with urban scenes but maintained the challenge of representing water in the compositions.

Ms. Patterson is a member of the Colored Pencil Society of America where her work has won numerous awards including the prestigious honor of signature status. Earlier in 2016, the artist was featured in her second solo exhibition at Galerie Louis Carre in Paris, France.