ARTIST OF THE MONTH: FLETA MONAGHAN
Fleta Monaghan is a full time painter, working almost daily in her studio next to the French Broad River. She is the founder and director of River's Edge Studio, a visual arts learning center for adults. She teaches oils, acrylics and mixed media and hosts five other professional artists who teach their specialties at the studio.
In March 2009 she opened 310 ART Gallery, an exhibition space adjoining River's Edge Studio in the historic River Arts District of Asheville, NC where she and 14 other artists exhibit year round.
She is featured in the show "Winter Elements" at 310 ART this January and February. She is the solo exhibitor in January at Clingman Café with a new body of work titled "Riding the Windhorse."
"I grew up by the Gulf of Mexico in a Florida wetlands area. The lakes, muck, trees and tropical flora teemed with animal life of all kinds. There was constant change and movement. The life cycle was always present and visible, succulent and dense. I was outside in the water most days, living with the fish and turtles and insects and water birds and the alligators too! It was a magical and intense experience that has influenced my visual senses always.
Moving to the Western North Carolina mountains brought new visual experiences. The drama of the changing seasons gave me a new perspective to the life cycle and my place in the scheme of life and time.
As I begin a painting, the visible landscape is always a reference point, giving me grounding. Color adds expression to emotion and spiritual experience. The tropical colors of my youth mingle with lullaby gentle hues of the mountain landscape and draw me into the moods and feelings these colors evoke. I have been drawn to the circular shape for many years, and wonder if this might refer to the natural cycles of the earth, and of birth, death and then rebirth. These thoughts and observations have been at the core of my thinking as I paint. Recent work has focused on the visual concepts of water, air and space and how our experiences and presence as human beings relates to and impacts other species and the physical world."
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