Paintings made by Thomas Paquette, of Warren, PA, have been shown in U.S. embassies on five continents, and are collected and exhibited widely in this country’s museums and galleries. Now two solo exhibitions of his work overlap for the month of June. 900 miles apart, they are different in many ways.
“Intimate Landscapes”, a two-part exhibition on view at Erie Art Museum from now through June of next year, focuses on Paquette’s unique, tiny gouache (opaque watercolor) paintings. Most of the paintings measure only three to four inches, and are sometimes much smaller. This exhibition is presented in two parts to accommodate the 150 works assembled from the artist’s own collection of these small landscapes, starting from his first gouache painting in the early 1990s to current works. Many of the works in Part 1 were painted during extended travels and residencies around America, for instance while he was Artist-in-Residence at national parks coast-to-coast – and also around Europe, for instance while he was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome, and resident artist at the Aegean Arts and Cultural Exchange in Greece. The exhibition also includes examples of Paquette’s large scale oil paintings, borrowed from local collections, to demonstrate the relationship between his gouache and oil paintings.
“The little gouache paintings have outsized meaning to me. They remind me, in just a couple square inches, why I paint landscapes,” explains the artist. “This is why so many of them were kept in my private collection, now shown at the museum.”
The opening reception for Part 1 of the exhibition at the Erie Art Museum is Friday, June 26, from 5 – 10 pm. Paquette will present a talk on Friday, July 31, 5 – 6:30 pm.
Part 2 of the exhibition opens December 11 and continues through July 3, 2027. Two books of his gouaches serve as catalogues for this two-part exhibition.
In another solo June exhibition, Lowry Hill Gallery in Minneapolis presents “Living History” from May 30–July 3. The subject of many of Paquette’s paintings in this exhibition is, along with other related landscapes, ancient old-growth forests across the eastern half of the country.
The gallery states that “[f]ocusing on North America’s old-growth forests, Living History serves as a visual reminder that these biological entities, though impermanent, are foundational and steadfast. Paquette, a sophisticated colorist, visually demonstrates the ever-present intersection of human nature and the reliable, and grounding, landscape.”
“These recent paintings come from the awe and a deep appreciation I felt visiting these vanishing ‘original’ environments – a web of living history – and their important function in our world,” Paquette adds.
The paintings in this exhibition range in size from over four feet to just four inches. Whatever the size, the oil paintings are composed of layers of paint that are applied and scraped off the canvases over the course of weeks and sometimes years, making for highly textured surfaces in many works.
The exhibition ends on July 3.
About the Erie Art Museum
Located in downtown Erie, Pennsylvania, the Erie Art Museum holds the region’s leading art collection with more than 8,000 objects spanning American ceramics, paintings, photography, and sculpture. The museum regularly hosts special exhibits bringing art and inspiration to the community. It also hosts lectures, and educational programs and school tours.
The Erie Art Museum is open every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, 11 am – 6 pm, Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm, and Sunday from 1 – 6 pm. For more information, visit erieartmuseum.org or call 814-459-5477.
About Lowry Hill Gallery
Lowry Hill Gallery was launched this spring in Minneapolis, and is already a leading light for contemporary art in the Twin Cities. For more information on the works in this exhibition, visit lowryhillgallery.com or call 612-315-4080.
About Thomas Paquette
Paquette’s oil and gouache paintings have been shown in over a dozen solo museum exhibitions across the United States, as well as many dozen solo exhibitions at galleries in cities around the country. Aside from private, corporate and public collections, his paintings have also been displayed in twenty-two U.S. embassies on five continents. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville in 1988, and his BFA in Painting from Bemidji State University in 1985. He was awarded a three-year residency-fellowship in Miami Beach, Florida, from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. He was Artist-in-Residence at Acadia, Yosemite, and Rocky Mountain national parks, the Aegean Arts and Cultural Exchange (Greece), and was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome, among other residencies. He lives and works in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Courtesy Erie Art Museum
