Southwest Art – August 2019

SeemoreofCavan’sworkat

http://www.southwestart.com/featured/

cavan-j-aug2019.

Colorado-basedGussieFauntleroywritesfora variety

ofartpublicationsandis theauthorofthreebookson

visualartists.Learnmoreatwww.gussiefauntleroy.com.

AUGUST 2019 • WWW.SOUTHWESTART.COM 81

church between Angel Fire and Mora,
have seen transformations—the exte-
rior painted yellow, then re-stuccoed
in an earth tone, then given a new bell
tower—just in the time she’s lived in
the state. Despite these and the world’s
dramatic changes, many of the places
she paints have retained important cul-
tural and visual qualities from an ear-
lier time. “In the northern New Mexico
farming villages, there’s a simpler way
of life that’s been passed down and is
still being lived,” she says.
The timeless feeling in Cavan’s art is,
in part, a result of the absence of fi gures.
“I do like my solitude, and I don’t want
these places to feel crowded,” she says.
“I hope the viewer will want to popu-
late the landscape with whatever they
like.” In the same way, the empty, wind-

ing country roads in virtually all of her

New Mexico scenes are aimed at pulling

in the eye and opening the imagination.

“I hope viewers want to put themselves

into the piece, wander through, and see

where it goes,” she says. She points to

such acclaimed New Mexico painters

as Tom Noble (1941-2017), Ed Sandoval,

and Alyce Frank—all of the Taos area—

as inspiration for this approach.

Although her visual themes have re-

mained constant over the years, Cavan

enjoys exploring variations in materials

and surfaces. Recently she has begun

trying out more highly textured sur-

faces, applying tile adhesive and then

colored gesso to her canvases or boards

before painting, which adds dimension

and qualities of light refl ection to the oil

pastel. Each choice reverberates in other

decisions as she paints. “Sometimes the

texture dictates where compositional

elements can go,” she says. And each

decision adds to her enthusiasm for her

chosen vocation and the place she lives.

“You’ve always got to keep playing,” she

says, and then adds with a smile, “I’m

defi nitely doing what I want to do.” E

cThe Grand Finale, oil pastel, 24 x 36.

eWander Where You Are, oil pastel, 36 x 24.