In Esmé Thompson’s paintings and multi-panel wall reliefs the use of color and pattern create a dynamic and engaging viewing experience. Colorful and bold, the paintings attest to a lifelong interest in decorative designs as diverse as those found in Islamic textiles and ceramic tiles to those of medieval paintings and illuminated manuscripts. The Bowery Gallery announces the opening of an exhibition of Thompson’s new paintings. The exhibition will run from March 26 – April 20, 2024. There will be an opening reception on Thursday, March 28 from 5:00-7:00 pm and a closing salon on Saturday April 20 from 3:00-5:00 pm.

The current exhibition showcases new paintings on shaped wooden wall panels. Thompson investigates the creative intersections of many influences, forming alchemies of design, pattern, and color. She has refined a visual vocabulary that is distinctly her own, imbuing each painting with a woven language of repeated articulations of line and color.

Thompson says, “I seek to make paintings that blur the boundaries between high and low art and celebrate the work people have made throughout time and across cultures. My work represents possibility and embodies change. The repeated, interrelated images are meant to allow for a cyclical and cumulative, rather than a linear, reading. The experience of viewing the painting becomes a journey that continues to unfold, reminiscent of an ongoing pattern of organic growth.”

Thompson’s travels inform and enliven her art. She has been a resident of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bogliasco Foundation in Italy studying medieval painting and decorative arts. She has travelled to Morocco to study ceramic and fiber art, Ireland to study Celtic manuscripts and lacemaking and Australia to view aboriginal art in Kakadu and Uluru. She lives in New Hampshire and is Emeritus Professor of Studio Art at Dartmouth College.

The Bowery Gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday, 11-6. For further information or digital reproductions contact Esmé Thompson, 603-398-7588, esme.thompson@dartmouth.edu or visit www.esmethompsonart.com