Landscapes Truly From The Earth

If you didn’t already know that Don Bracken paints with dirt — when you see the work you will feel a visceral connection between the painter, the paint and the earth. 

Bracken, a California- born, Berkeley-educated, landscape artist used to paint with acrylics on canvas. Always immersed in the landscape, Bracken was painting in a field on a farm in the Connecticut Valley, when, he says, he was “sick of painting with regular paint,” so he picked up a scoop of earth and mixed it in with the paint beginning this phase of his work. 

He once had a studio on the 91st floor of the World Trade Center as part of an artist-in-residence program and painted the city and clouds from what he called “a lofty perch.” Although he no longer occupied that space at the time, he was deeply affected by the tragedy and destruction of 9/11 and he began incorporating ash and debris into his work. 

He says, “Through my dirt paintings I have tried to express the omnipotence of the earth, of nature and the fragility of man.” His technique incorporates earth, river sand, clay and limestone into an acrylic gel which preserves the material and adheres it to the canvas. He says that his paintings are not “about the place but of the place.” 

After the recent California fires Bracken started using ash in his work and several of the ash paintings (which are more figurative than landscape) are in the show. The ash paintings, unlike the dirt paintings, have a light, temporary feel, as if a strong wind could blow them away and you could watch them disintegrate into the atmosphere. 

The Cornwall Library with its abundant natural light is a perfect place to see this sampling of Bracken’s work. 

“Now and Then from the 21st Century, from Perspective to Ashes, personal favorites by Don Bracken,” until April 30. The Cornwall Library, 30 Pine St., Cornwall, CT, www.cornwalllibrary.org