Showing at the Lauren Kindle Studio and Gallery was a delight. As my first true solo show, Resonance was the fulfillment of a dream and the beginning of a career.

It was a thrill to see my work hung together on the walls of the Lauren Kindle Studio and Gallery. Lauren and I had a fun, late night figuring out how to best hang the show. We arranged and rearranged the work and watched as the paintings began to relate and speak to one another, gaining poignancy and presence together as a body in the room.

Lauren and I hustled around on the day of the opening finishing our last-minute tasks. We printed lists, swept the gallery, and bought wine and snacks, our anticipation growing with each completed task. By 6:00 we were ready to go and already slightly exhausted! I loved that the opening of Resonance was a part of July’s Easton Out Loud. Among our opening night visitors, we welcomed band members from the masquerade that paraded down Bank Street as Resonance opened. What fun it was to join the revelry of that late-July evening in Easton! It was a privilege to be welcomed with such joy and fanfare.

I am honored by the reception I received in Easton. I have treasured the affirming words spoken to me during the opening and throughout the weekend of the show. I have reread the kind words written in my guest book with great gratitude. I liked what many of you pointed out in my works—the things you saw that I see. You expressed a recognition and an understanding of the intention of my work—my desire to see and translate the abstract nature of our visual experience, to find balance between depiction and dissolution, and to convey resonance through painted colors. Many of you commented on my use of color—calling it luscious, sensitive, and even (thank you!) superb. All of this, I am after in my work.

My work finds its purpose in the eyes of the viewer. An artist friend of mine once said to me—we don’t know how to look at our own work because we’re often too emotionally involved and close to it. Having a show invites others’ eyes, preferences, and experiences to give meaning to our work—Showing in Easton afforded me the opportunity to have new eyes on my work, giving my paintings new life apart from me.

As I stated in my Resonance artist statement, the aim of my work is to invite the viewer into an experience of awe and fullness of presence to the moment—to welcome one to notice simple things, like the leaves of a brussel sprout plant in autumn, and to make known the poetry of light revealing color and form. In truth, I cannot fully name the why of why I paint—there’s a mystery to it. Yet, there is simple and deep knowing in me that it is my life’s vocation.

I am grateful to Lauren Kindle’s invitation to show at her Studio and Gallery and to the many hours she spent laboring in love promoting and pulling it off with incredible success. I thank you, Easton, for the affirmation you gave to me both in words and in the purchase of my work. You have honored me by giving my paintings life beyond my studio walls and by confirming my leap from painting as avocation to vocation. Thank you for a memorable first show!

With Gratitude,

Kristen Peyton