An extraordinary seascape and nature artist..and the local arts scene
By Lele Galer, Columnist, The Times
Famous for his beautiful, vibrant seascapes and landscape scenes, painter Stephen Brehm will exhibit this Thursday July 24th 4-8pm at Galer Estate Winery’s Pop up Art Show. He was born in France, and then moved all over the world, and he says that it is through this constant change of environment that he developed his deep appreciation for landscapes and seascapes. These are the sites that he finds most inspiring to the creation of his art. He “captures the light and vibration of two colors while building the painting surface with loose, vibrant brushwork.”
Stephen Brehm
Many of his paintings feature the moment when the wave crashes to the surface of a beach – you can almost hear that sound of the waves and smell the ocean in the air. White water recedes as another wave draws in and gets ready to crash.
Usually he presents this wave image just as we would see it as a casual beachcomber, with the white water spreading out before our feet; Stephen engages the viewer in the scene, bringing us into the movement of the surf , and then dazzles us with the interplay of color and shapes in the water and sky. His images are full of life and feel joyful. You can certainly see why his work is so enormously successful in the shore-side communities and festivals. He almost makes me want to have a beach house!
Late Morning Break III by Stephen Brehm.
Stephen’s landscapes are also very engaging and vibrant. Pastoral pathways or country creeks wind their way through the canvas to draw us in and leave us to wander through an idyllic, quiet country scene that is curtained with a large turquoise majestic sky. His work has a serene beauty, but it also is charged up with a sense of “majestic nature” in the form of a spectacular sky, or natural light reflections. Stephen was recently featured in Philadelphia Style Magazine and American Art Collector Magazine, and comes to Galer Estate directly from an exhibition in Maryland.
Other fun art happenings in the area include the Fantasy and Abstract show underway at the Franklin Common Gallery in Phoenixville. There was a very lively and successful opening this past Saturday, and this show will continue through until September 5th. These shows keep getting better and better and I look forward to the next show’s theme!
For a wonderful mixture of new and old, go for a stroll through the Delaware Art Museum which has a world renown collection of beautiful Pre-Raphaelite paintings, Howard Pyle illustrations and paintings as well as very contemporary changing exhibitions from current artists. August 3rd, the “Gallery Talk” will focus on the contemporary exhibit “Transitions: The Brandywine Photo Collective” which features work from this eclectic group of photographers that specifically capture bright light and subtle shadow. It will be interesting to hear from these artists about their work! On the first Fridays of every month the museum hosts “Art is Tasty” where visitors are invited to engage in a 30-minute discussion of art over a nice lunch.
www.franklincommons.net/art-gallery/exhibitions
Lele Galer is an artist who has chaired numerous art shows, taught art history and studio art, public art and has chaired, written and taught the Art in Action Art Appreciation series for the UCFD schools for the past 12 years. She worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and wrote for the Asociated Press in Rome. She has been dedicated to Art History and art education for most of her adult life. Lele and her husband Brad own Galer Estate Winery in Kennett Square and co-Chairs the CCAA’s New Building Campaign.
