MICHELE KENNA @ RNG

Along the Way
Pastel
Michele Kenna

 
The Rocky Neck Art Colony announces this season’s sixth Summer Artists Series exhibition, Connections Through Nature, featuring pastels by Michele Kenna. This final show of the gallery’s 2014 season opens Wednesday, September 24th and runs to Friday, October 12th. The public is invited to the opening reception on September 27 from 6 to 8 pm at the Rocky Neck Gallery Artist Collective, which takes place concurrently with the Rocky Neck Gallery’s fall “Color Party” celebration.
 
“When I am in nature I feel connected to my source,” says Kenna. “Away from the noise and distractions of daily life, I am able to lose myself while painting a landscape that inspires me.” 

She strives to free herself from the “tyranny of the line” as her teacher and mentor, Frank Federico, once taught her.  Spontaneity, strong strokes of color, gesture, and bold compositions are prevalent in her loosely articulated landscapes that capture the essence of the natural scene.

“The ‘letting go of ego’ and portraying my feelings about the scene and the time of day are always a challenge but an exciting one,” remarked Kenna.  “It is very satisfying when this resonates with the viewer.”
 
A transplanted Canadian, Kenna has lived in Massachusetts for over 30 years. Growing up in a family involved in art and theater, she pursued her own artistic aspirations by completing her degree in Fine Arts at the University of Toronto. After raising two children, Kenna continued to study with nationally known American artists who taught and mentored her in the pastel medium, her primary influences being Frank Federico, PSA 2012 Hall of Fame Honoree, and internationally renowned painter, Wolf Kahn. Kenna has also studied with well-known North Shore painters, such as Betty Lou Schlemm, Charles Movalli, Marilyn Swift and many more. 

Classes at the Montserrat College of Art in Beverly have inspired Kenna to reach out beyond traditional boundaries and to challenge herself to more abstract ways of expression. With a studio at the Porter Mill Studios in Beverly, Kenna continues to develop her unique style of landscape painting. She has exhibited her work in numerous galleries and art associations in the Boston area and the North Shore.
 
 Michel Kenna is a member of the Rocky Neck Art Colony, North Shore Arts Association, Cambridge Art Association, Concord Art Association, Marblehead Arts Association, Danvers Art Association, Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod and The French Library, Boston MA.

 
For more information, please contact Judy Robinson-Cox, manager of the Rocky Neck Gallery, 978-290-2639 or Michele J. Kenna, mjkenna@comcast.net.