Toby Bartles

On the Square

Red Dune, oil on canvas, 2009, 10" x 10"

January 8 - February 6, 2010
Opening Reception January 8, 5-7pm
Artist's Talk: Tuesday, January 19, 7pm

An exhibition of oil paintings by Toby Bartles will be on view in AVA Gallery and Art Center's Rebecca Lawrence Gallery Entry from January 8-February 6, 2010. A reception, free and open to the public, will take place on Friday, January 8, from 5 to 7pm.

Toby Bartles, of Vershire, VT, studied at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture and at the International School of Drawing Painting and Sculpture in Umbria, Italy. A graduate of Kimball Union Academy (KUA) in Meriden, NH, Bartles had a solo exhibition there in 2004 and was on the faculty as an art teacher from 2006-07. Bartles has had a number of other exhibitions and commissions in the Upper Valley and has been included in several exhibitions at AVA Gallery and Art Center, including a solo exhibition in 2003.

For his exhibition at AVA, On the Square, Bartles will be showing oil paintings from his recent explorations into invented imagery, all painted on square canvasses. With a strong background in plein-air landscape painting from direct observation, Bartles' redirected focus on working from imagination and memory has provided a greater sense of spontaneity and freedom in the creation of his work. About his exhibition, Bartles says: "these paintings reflect my ongoing effort to engage and respond to the environment around me while attaining a heightened sensibility concerning abstraction and color rooted in form."

On Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 7pm, Bartles will give a talk about his exhibition. The talk is free and open to the public.