It has been noted recently that there is a reaction against minimal, conceptual and degenerate art. The cycle has swung full circle back to a quest for beauty, especially evident since September 11. Beauty is reassuring, timeless, and inviting. Wallace Harding's work belongs to this category. In her quest for beauty in her surroundings she expresses joy through her choice of color and light.Training in Philadelphia and in New York at the Art Student's League, she has been painting in the Northwest corner of Connecticut since 1975.Wallace gains inspiration from her weekly sketch group for her figure studies. She studies T'ai Chi, which strengthens, relaxes and focuses Wallace for her hours standing before the canvas. T'ai Chi also lends balance and calmness that is expressed in her paintings.
The Harding's home is located at a bend of the Housatonic River at Cornwall Bridge; Wallace's architect husband, John, has designed the perfect house and studio for the setting, its windows framing beautiful views which inspire her. The house was conceived as a viewing platform for nature. Each morning starts with Wallace and John tracking the light as it moves across the mountain ridge and illuminates the surface of the river. In winter months Wallace retreats to her studio, which also serves as a greenhouse sheltering the flowering plants she loves to paint. In good weather she ventures forth to paint, exploring the bounty of beautiful sites in Litchfield and Columbia counties.
Wallace Harding has had solo shows in Pennsylvania, Connecticut and New York City, and her work is found in collections throughout the U.S., Europe, and South America. She is represented by the Lenox Gallery of Fine Arts in Lenox, MA, and at the Fairholme Gallery in Villanova, PA.She has taught drawing at the Washington Art Association, and painting privately. Her next venue will be at the Norfolk Library, Route 4 in Norfolk from March 3 through April 4, featuring her recent paintings.In her own words, "Art is an expression of how I feel about the world. I try to capture special moments of beauty, depth, caring and other positive attitudes. I hope people who see my work will be touched or moved in a positive way".
Wallace Harding, artist, is passionate about her vocation. She comments, "Art to me is an intimate, personal expression of how I feel about the world. I try to capture in my work those special moments of beauty, depth, caring and other positive attitudes".Favorite subject matter for her work includes still-life, figures, landscapes, and flowers in pastels, oils, and terra cotta color pencil. Her latest canvases include seasonal interpretations of spring and winter and a series on flowers she has grown. Her palette is wide-ranging; some pieces incorporate bold and vibrant color, while others are soft and serene. Her work offers and interesing balance in a wide range of mediums and colors.
Interestingly, Wallace did not pursue drawing and painting in school, but dared to try it for the first time at The University of the Arts. As she recalls those first attempts, she says, "It was a miracle, and I applied myself with every cell of intelligence and passion for learning." Later she studied drawing with Robert Beverly Hale and oil paintings with Robert Brackman in New York at the Art Students League. For ten years, she also studied acting and performed in NY and CT.Wallace strongly believes that beginning artists need good teachers and comments that "I get a terrific thrill in helping students and seeing their work improve." She has taught drawing at her studios in New York City and Cornwall Bridge, CT as well as the Washington Art Association (CT).
Wallace has exhibited her work in galleries in NY, CT, and PA and in invitational or juried art shows; twelve have been single-artist exhibitions. Her work is slated to appear in the gallery at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church from April 18 - May 31. Art enthusiasts may also view her work by contacting her sister, Grace (Judy) Barnett Frazier '63, who created Fairholme Gallery (610-688-4135) to exhibit her paintings.
Hildreth Daniel's monthly treat at the Cornwall Library is the work of one of the area's finest and most original artists, Wallace Harding. Her last show here was in November 1986, so different because that one was of her winter work, figure drawings in terra cotta pencil in her New York studio. Now you will see the result of her summer work, flowers and the Housatonic painted from her home on a bank high above the river. All have the freshness and bright colors of spring. Except for a few pictures of flowers in colored pencil, all are oils. There is something compelling about her pictures. Her flowers seem to reach out and communicate to her with a subtlety that is arresting. She is joyously in love with her art.
The flow and movement of her artistry is a reflection of her as a dancer. Her winters with people and her summers with nature have a strong relationship in flow of line. They have an ethereal quality that makes one know that this woman paints not only what she sees but also what
she feels. It is remarkable that so strong and intense an artist should paint with such delicacy. There are 21 pictures of Mrs. Harding at her best, and as one wanders around among the bookshelves with the lighting all wrong for an art show, one hopes for the day when the library will be blessed with exhibit space that is suited to what Cornwall artists deserve. All things come to him who waits. Wallace Harding studied at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art and at the Art Student's League in New York. Since her show at the library three years ago, she has exhibited at the PS Gallery in Goshen, The Gallerie OONA in Kent, the Salisbury Bank and Trust Company, and Rose Algrant's popular show. The exhibit will be at the library until March 17. All the pictures are for sale.
Wallace Harding is the resident artist at the Cornwall Library for a month. Anyone who doesn't go to see her work is missing a treat. "I love to draw," she says. It is quite obvious. Mrs. Harding is athletic. The joy of skating and dancing flows uninhibited in her drawing. Professional athletes fascinate her with their impressive, beautiful movement. All this shines out in her remarkable work. Her models have strong, lithe, beautiful bodies; their aliveness captured and set down with love and freshness. Wallace doesn't just draw pictures of athletes. They communicate their spirit and their moods to her, and she responds. The result is captivating. Wallace works in sepia. She presents a kaleidoscope of moods. There is strength and rugged beauty in her faces as well as sensitive introspection. Antipodally removed from the legions of painters whose work is tight with every last little detail depicted, Wallace uses unusual and pleasing restraint. At first blush, her drawings look incomplete; they are not. Their apparent incompleteness is a studied trailing off of lines that flow into the viewer's imagination. Wallace started her career as an artist very young. She is still very much with it, gloriously, intensely in love with her art. "When someone loves and buys my work, I am thrilled," she said. "I get a double pleasure. The first from drawing something I love, and the second from having someone else get pleasure and value from it."
Wallace Harding has two ways of expressing creativity - through painting and through acting. One facet; her art work, is currently on display at the Cornwall Library. "I worked primarily in oil for a long time," she said, adding that "a while ago I decided to try something different. I tried watercolor and I loved it." She found that watercolor allowed her to get more involved in color and to have deeper, stronger relationships. "I allowed my imagination to come out more. I also found that I loved the dark colors. But now I'm ready to go back to oil." Mrs. Harding's subjects are landscapes, still-lifes and people. One of her favorite scenes is the view of the Housatonic River as seen from her Cornwall Bridge home. She explained that she is always aware of the content of her works. "I have an affirmative view of life and I want to show that." She is also very interested in the character of the people she does when doing portraits, an art form she is hoping to do more.Now that she has done what she calls "specific studies" in watercolor, she feels she has more tools to work with and more understanding of color. Mrs. Harding, who has appeared in such Sharon Playhouse offerings as "Hearbreak Hotel," "On Approval" and "The Chalk Garden," as well as in some off-Broadway productions, said a firm foundation in technique is needed in both acting and painting. She believes in developing oneself as far as possible so there are values and experiences to draw from. "Both acting and art need a balance between emotion and intellect," she said. Mrs. Harding has studied at The Art Students League and the Philadelphia Museum College of Art. She has displayed her work at several local shows as well as some in New York City. She has pieces in many private collections. Her show at the library consists of oils, watercolors and drawings. The show runs until Oct. 18.