As the mentor with the role of assisting Sandra Petersen in getting her exhibition 'Earth Designs' organised and publicised it was a genuine pleasure to attend her official opening on Friday March 1st at The Northern Club restaurant in Cameron Street Launceston.
The group of some 20 - 25 works including landscapes and sculptures were professionally displayed to advantage in the lovely rich heritage rooms of the Northern Club. The strong deep red and deep blue of the walls was a perfect foil to the predominantly green and blue pallet of the landscape and seascape paintings and the works were hung expertly and sensitively in the space.
Petersen's works show a mature understanding of both her subject matter and her medium- pastel/mixed media. The paintings demonstrate her wonderful sense of composition and sensitivity to the design repetitions and rhythms in the natural world. there is a strong sense of line and movement in the way Petersen applies her marks to the boards. Her paintings also have a special sense of light and colour with a predominately high key pallet of greens, ochres and blues.
Her focus on coastal scenes and rocky outcrops along with tall skies, shallow inlets and deep bays gave a very unified statement to the exhibition. The overall response of the visitors at the opening was very positive and immediately engaged and delighted.
While the lighting was rather dim for the works to be shown at their best, the public response was still positive.
I felt that the exhibition was a great initial expose of the breadth of skill and the potential of this artist. It is to be hoped that this will be the first of many such opportunities to see the work of Sandra Petersen.
Yours Sincerely
Leoni Duff