Photo: Jens Gerber
Atelier auf Zeit / Temporary studio
Susanne Pomerance
Borderland
20 August – 24 September 2023
Aspart of its "Atelier auf Zeit / Temporary Studio” programme for 2023, Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim is pleased to present “Borderland,” an exhibition of work by the Neuenhaus-born artist Susanne Pomerance. Since July, Pomerance has been using the spaces of the Kunstverein as her studio, and has been taking drawing walks through the County of Bentheim. For this exhibition, the artist juxtaposes the results of these walks with pencil drawings completed in Görlitz/Zgorzelec, where she has lived since 2021. In their depictions of unspectacular nature, Pomerance’s small-format drawings honour the everyday landscapes of Germany's western and eastern border regions. Where a nation state, language and, to some extent, culture changes immediately with the crossing of a border, the landscape does not follow its lines, and only changes gradually.
Susanne Pomerance chooses dawn or dusk as the time of day for her drawings, which lends her landscapes an almost magical quality – an inner tranquillity that is at peace with itself. The rhythms of nature and the hours of the day, the alternation between light and brightness, day and night, darkness and shadow, all come to the fore. The starting point for these layered landscapes is the spontaneous line that emerges on the spot. Composed of two-dimensional cross-hatching, the long process by which the artist completes the drawings in her studio is reflected in their sense of serenity.
The line as a starting point connects Pomerance's new works with older ones made during her time living in other places, such as Birkenwerder and Duisburg. In both of these phases of creativity, the artist worked on acrylic glass. More recent works from Frankfurt/Oder (2005-09), created in Birkenwerder whilst Pomerance held an art scholarship, articulate scenes from nature, while those from Duisburg (2000-02) depict cityscapes.
In Duisburg, Pomerance would set up her easel-like structure directly in the city itself. This held the large acrylic sheets onto which she drew, and enabled the artist to work in place for hours at a time and to capture the street scenes of architecture, traffic and people. Later, in her studio, she would work up the spontaneously created lines with oil paints in muted tones, and join together the lines to create areas of focus or condensation. In contrast to the more
recent pencil drawings, which capture only the briefest moment, these paintings extend the mark of perception into an effort of several hours. Yet
in their effect, the paintings communicate the hectic, fast pace of the urban environment – the opposite of the idyll of Pomerance’s landscape drawings.
Works from the artist’s time in Birkenwerder – drawings on glass which were developed from the perspective of a walk in nature – are similar to the Duisburg cityscapes in their division of space: these works depict two thirds of the ground surface but only around one third of the vertical plane. Here Pomerance used the same mode of construction – sketching freely without being able to foresee the final result. It is only in the studio that her initial lines make sense and are ready to be worked up into their final form. To achieve an additional sense of spatial depth, some of these works are formed
of several layers of acrylic glass – in some instances, up to three layers of acrylic are overlaid on one another. Drawn with black fibre pencil, Pomerance’s works have a completely different effect viewed from a distance than when up close: Standing directly in front of them, her compositions appear like a wild jumble of strokes. Yet seen from a distance, forms detach themselves from the lines and the figurative image of a landscape emerges.
Programme
Friday, 28 July 2023, 3-6pm
Temporary open studio day
Saturday, 29 July 2023, 3-6pm
Bicycle tour to Lage & drawing walk with Susanne Pomerance
Sunday, 30 July 2023, 11am-6pm
Temporary open studio day
Coffee & Art
Saturday 19 August 2023, 5pm
Opening of the exhibition
Welcoming words by Carolin Itterbeck, interim director Kunstverein Grafschaft
Bentheim, and Günter Oldekamp, Mayor and City Director of Neuenhaus, followed by an introductory speech of Marina Rüdiger M.A., art scholar / PhD student at the University of Cologne.
Saturday, 26 August 2023
Neuenhaus town festival
"Neuenhaus paints" in front of the Kunstverein, 2-6pm
"Spritz in the backyard" - Drinks behind the Kunstverein, 5-8:30pm
Sunday, 10 September 2023, 4pm
Open Monument Day: Talent Monument
Architectural tour of the house with Petra Bergmann-Leßmann, Dipl.-Ing. Architect
Sunday, 17 September 2023, 4pm
Talk with Dr. Regina Göschl, Cultural Manager Landkreis Grafschaft Bentheim,
on the interdisciplinary project and photography competition:
"Crossing borders: Triggers, Feelings, Effects" (2019-2020)
The exhibition was supported by the Emsländische Landschaft, the Landkreis Grafschaft Bentheim, the Stadt- und Samtgemeinde Neuenhaus.
Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim
Hauptstraße 37
49828 Neuenhaus,
Germany
+49 5941 98019
kvgb.de info@kvgb.de
Hours
Thursday to Sunday 3-6pm
and by appointment
Free entry
Susanne Pomerance
Borderland
20 August – 24 September 2023
Aspart of its "Atelier auf Zeit / Temporary Studio” programme for 2023, Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim is pleased to present “Borderland,” an exhibition of work by the Neuenhaus-born artist Susanne Pomerance. Since July, Pomerance has been using the spaces of the Kunstverein as her studio, and has been taking drawing walks through the County of Bentheim. For this exhibition, the artist juxtaposes the results of these walks with pencil drawings completed in Görlitz/Zgorzelec, where she has lived since 2021. In their depictions of unspectacular nature, Pomerance’s small-format drawings honour the everyday landscapes of Germany's western and eastern border regions. Where a nation state, language and, to some extent, culture changes immediately with the crossing of a border, the landscape does not follow its lines, and only changes gradually.
Susanne Pomerance chooses dawn or dusk as the time of day for her drawings, which lends her landscapes an almost magical quality – an inner tranquillity that is at peace with itself. The rhythms of nature and the hours of the day, the alternation between light and brightness, day and night, darkness and shadow, all come to the fore. The starting point for these layered landscapes is the spontaneous line that emerges on the spot. Composed of two-dimensional cross-hatching, the long process by which the artist completes the drawings in her studio is reflected in their sense of serenity.
The line as a starting point connects Pomerance's new works with older ones made during her time living in other places, such as Birkenwerder and Duisburg. In both of these phases of creativity, the artist worked on acrylic glass. More recent works from Frankfurt/Oder (2005-09), created in Birkenwerder whilst Pomerance held an art scholarship, articulate scenes from nature, while those from Duisburg (2000-02) depict cityscapes.
In Duisburg, Pomerance would set up her easel-like structure directly in the city itself. This held the large acrylic sheets onto which she drew, and enabled the artist to work in place for hours at a time and to capture the street scenes of architecture, traffic and people. Later, in her studio, she would work up the spontaneously created lines with oil paints in muted tones, and join together the lines to create areas of focus or condensation. In contrast to the more
recent pencil drawings, which capture only the briefest moment, these paintings extend the mark of perception into an effort of several hours. Yet
in their effect, the paintings communicate the hectic, fast pace of the urban environment – the opposite of the idyll of Pomerance’s landscape drawings.
Works from the artist’s time in Birkenwerder – drawings on glass which were developed from the perspective of a walk in nature – are similar to the Duisburg cityscapes in their division of space: these works depict two thirds of the ground surface but only around one third of the vertical plane. Here Pomerance used the same mode of construction – sketching freely without being able to foresee the final result. It is only in the studio that her initial lines make sense and are ready to be worked up into their final form. To achieve an additional sense of spatial depth, some of these works are formed
of several layers of acrylic glass – in some instances, up to three layers of acrylic are overlaid on one another. Drawn with black fibre pencil, Pomerance’s works have a completely different effect viewed from a distance than when up close: Standing directly in front of them, her compositions appear like a wild jumble of strokes. Yet seen from a distance, forms detach themselves from the lines and the figurative image of a landscape emerges.
Programme
Friday, 28 July 2023, 3-6pm
Temporary open studio day
Saturday, 29 July 2023, 3-6pm
Bicycle tour to Lage & drawing walk with Susanne Pomerance
Sunday, 30 July 2023, 11am-6pm
Temporary open studio day
Coffee & Art
Saturday 19 August 2023, 5pm
Opening of the exhibition
Welcoming words by Carolin Itterbeck, interim director Kunstverein Grafschaft
Bentheim, and Günter Oldekamp, Mayor and City Director of Neuenhaus, followed by an introductory speech of Marina Rüdiger M.A., art scholar / PhD student at the University of Cologne.
Saturday, 26 August 2023
Neuenhaus town festival
"Neuenhaus paints" in front of the Kunstverein, 2-6pm
"Spritz in the backyard" - Drinks behind the Kunstverein, 5-8:30pm
Sunday, 10 September 2023, 4pm
Open Monument Day: Talent Monument
Architectural tour of the house with Petra Bergmann-Leßmann, Dipl.-Ing. Architect
Sunday, 17 September 2023, 4pm
Talk with Dr. Regina Göschl, Cultural Manager Landkreis Grafschaft Bentheim,
on the interdisciplinary project and photography competition:
"Crossing borders: Triggers, Feelings, Effects" (2019-2020)
The exhibition was supported by the Emsländische Landschaft, the Landkreis Grafschaft Bentheim, the Stadt- und Samtgemeinde Neuenhaus.
Kunstverein Grafschaft Bentheim
Hauptstraße 37
49828 Neuenhaus,
Germany
+49 5941 98019
kvgb.de info@kvgb.de
Hours
Thursday to Sunday 3-6pm
and by appointment
Free entry
