Bone Creek presents Jane Scott retrospective

Nationally known impressionist visits DC on Sunday

"Jane Scott Retrospective: Mid-America Impressions" opens Sept. 9 as the feature exhibition at Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art.

The public is invited to meet Jane Scott at a reception on Sunday, Sept. 13, with curator and artist remarks at 1:30 p.m.

Patrons and family from around the country are traveling to attend the reception honoring the 91-year-old artist, one of America's greatest impressionist painters in pastel.

Scott is one of only a very few pastel painters to have earned the exclusive title Master Pastelist, Pastel Society of America (MP/PSA).

She has the rare distinction of being entitled to sign her paintings with these initials.

Bone Creek Curator Mark Moseman has followed Scott's work for over 20 years.

Says Moseman, "When I became curator here responsible for exhibiting nationally known agrarian artists, Jane Scott was one of the very first artists I wanted to present. We are proud to be the first art museum in America to recognize and commemorate the career of one of America's best ever pastel impressionists. You know this is true when you see Scott's Autumn Pond (illus.), and it brings Monet's Water Lilies to mind."

Both pastel and oil paintings were selected by Assistant Curator Amanda Mobley. Only recently Scott started working again in oils. She is a multifaceted artist who beautifully handles various media and subject matter.

Mobley also selected two paintings by Scott's friend and mentor, Augustus Dunbier (1888-1977), so that visitors will be able to glimpse the relationship between two of America's great artists.

Scott loves painting en plein air or outdoors.

"I have no interest in painting from a picture. There is no change of light, no life."

Her teacher, Augustus Dunbier, stressed the importance of capturing the mood of the atmosphere. Outdoors, Scott feels the liveliness of nature and infuses that into her painting. While influenced by Impressionist painters Degas and Cassatt, Dunbier was the single greatest influence on Scott.

She met him in her teens, and their rich friendship lasted nearly 60 years until Dunbier's death. While Scott was Dunbier's prized student and protŽgŽ, her own skill, desire and passion to paint what is beautiful, leaves a legacy beyond her master's shadow.

Dunbier would have envied the brilliance and intensity of light in Scott's pastels.

Scott began painting as a young woman. After raising three children she became a full-time painter. "As a woman, there were a lot of sacrifices that I had to make, but now I am free," she said.

Scott views raising a family and her artwork as a labor of love. Great things do not come without sacrifice. Still painting at 91, she feels fortunate to be able to wander down a trail, find a lovely landscape and interpret it in a beautiful American impressionist painting.

"I like beautiful things, I always have," Scott said recently. This has been the motto of her life.

Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art, 575 'E' Street, 10 a.m-4 p.m., Wed.-Sat.; 1-4 p.m., Sun. Appointments and tours available. Phone: (402)367-4488.