Reston contemporary artist to show at North Gate Vineyard in Purcellville.
On the walls of the beautiful new LEED Gold-standard tasting room at North Gate Vineyard, Morgan Johnson Norwood's nature-inspired contemporary abstract paintings will hang September 6 through January 22, 2013. An opening reception is to be held September 8 and 9 from 2 - 6pm.
For the past year, Ms. Norwood has earnestly created a body of soothing nature-inspired paintings based on the shadows seen on the trails through Reston. "With every walk with my children, I become more and more inspired by the shadows and the subtle, shifting shapes from the leaves moving in the breeze," says Norwood. "I can't stop looking and absorbing the shapes of the shadows and of other forms-- roots, seed pods, and other small places for creatures to hide. They fascinate me."
Her serene oil paintings are created by layering and scrubbing away paint, and drawing into the paint to both reveal and hide shadowy leaf forms in a delicate push-pull of negative and positive space. The resulting image is simultaneously arresting and calming.
About the partnership with North Gate Vineyard, she says, "I'm really thrilled. Mark and Vicki's focus on the environment and sustainable growing is so encouraging and it really makes a wonderful connection to the nature-based art that I create."
North Gate Vineyard (www.northgatevineyard.com) is situated in on approximately 26 acres in the northwest part of Loudoun County, Virginia. Nestled against the eastern base of the Short Hill mountains (foothills to the Blue Ridge), North Gate Vineyard produces high quality wine grapes for its own set of wines as well as other wineries in Virginia. Husband and wife team Mark and Vicki have been growing grapes since 2002 and have been part of the winemaking scene in Loudoun since 2003 as winemakers for a small 1500 case per year farm winery. Now they bring their award-winning winemaking style to their own set of Virginia wines. North Gate Vineyard is open to the public Thursday - Monday, 11am - 6pm.
