July 15 – Nov 5, 2023
Acclaimed California impressionist painter Erin Hanson is presenting a solo exhibition of coastal vineyard landscapes. Save the date for a Meet and Greet with Erin on July 29th!
To gather inspiration for this show, Hanson explored wine country landscapes across America, from Virginia and Texas to California and Oregon. She takes reference photos when out in the field, and then comes home to paint in her 18,000-square-foot studio in Oregon’s own wine country, the Willamette Valley. Hanson paints with pure pigments and a limited palette, emphasizing the pastoral beauty of wine country, especially during the golden hour. Her oil paintings in this collection evoke the emotion one feels while standing outdoors, gazing over rows of vines, and sipping a glass of liquid sunshine.
Hanson’s Open Impressionism technique emphasizes the vibrant colors, textures, and rhythms of light and shadow found in the outdoors. Each brush stroke is placed side by side, without layering, allowing some of the underpainting to peek through, resulting in a mosaic, stained-glass appearance. She tries to get each brush stroke “right the first time,” which gives her pieces a loose, expressive feeling. Every painting emphasizes the ephemeral beauty one sees from one moment to the next, capturing a glimpse of light and color that will never recur but will live on in memory – much like the first taste of a perfectly aged wine.
The Bone Creek Museum previously displayed Erin Hanson’s works as part of their 2014 exhibition A Feeling of Humanity: Western Art from the Ken Ratner Collection. The collection exhibited 74 pieces from the New York-based collector’s private collection. The museum also houses the original work Green Frost [2012], by Erin Hanson, in their permanent collection. “I am thrilled to welcome Erin Hanson and her work once again to Bone Creek Museum, this time on a grand scale. The gallery will be simply bursting with color,” said curator Amanda Mobley Guenther.