About Threads

In Sheilah Rechtschaffer's exhibition"THREADS" the recurrent theme is fire and water. Elements so connected to issues of environment, political events, history, and awareness of current problems, became the basis for this body of new work.

Beauty and conscience combine in this exhibition at Buster Levi Gallery. Rechtschaffer has been making pastel drawings for decades and in that process employs vigorous expressive lines and spaces in high keyed colors and multiple layering. She uses her own recycled and resurfaced papers which leaves a base of rich muted color with textures which are imbued with the echoes of previous mark making that creates another "thread" of history and technique expressed in the newer work.

A recent rediscovery of her large 1994 painting, Fire in the Lake, (also on view) reminded her of the loose and brushy, high keyed colors, an Asian mountain range, a lake aflame, calligraphic mark making, tied to events and travels, that dramatically changed the direction of her work. This exhibition follows the threads of Rechtschaffer's thought process, color, materials and mark making, that never disappear and have evolved series after series, subject matter after subject matter throughout her art career, unconsciously in the earlier work and consciously in this latest exhibition.