July 17 - September 14, 20215

RE-EMERGING

Vicki Arthur • Richard Brooks •Anne Harmon • Jay Sidebotham

We are pleased to present Re-Emerging, a group exhibition featuring four artists who, after shifting their focus to pursue other careers, have returned in recent years to more fully dedicate themselves to their own artwork. These artists—Vicki Arthur, Richard Brooks, Anne Harmon and Jay Sidebotham—bring to their renewed practice a depth of experience and perspective shaped and enriched by time away.

Vicki Arthur’s art practice is grounded in her lifelong connection to the natural world, shaped by decades of work as a wildlife biologist and conservation educator. Whether working outdoors en plein air in Hawaii or in her Brooklyn studio, Arthur channels movement, light, and bold color into expressive images of forests and landscapes. Her work reflects a reverence for nature and a deep concern for the disconnection and ecological harm caused by human activity. Through her visual language, she encourages viewers to reflect on their own relationship with the environment and the urgent need for collective care and stewardship.

Born in Arlington, VA, in1956, Arthur first pursued a 34-year career with federal agencies in Oregon and Washington, DC, working in wildlife biology and environmental education. She holds a BS in Biology and an MS in Environmental Education. Her transition into the arts began with studies at the University of Hawaii, Hilo, where she completed a BA in art. She went on to earn her MFA in painting from Pratt Institute in 2023. Her work has been exhibited in juried and invitational shows in New York and Hawaii and has been featured in Canvas Rebel Magazine and Kanilehua Art & Literary Magazine. Arthur divides her time between Volcano, HI, and Brooklyn, NY.

Richard Brooks’s intuitive process is an ongoing exploration of possibilities, rooted in the act of painting itself. With no plan or preconception, each gesture leads to the next until a visual idea emerges. The goal is a harmonious balance that encourages contemplation and rewards open-minded viewing. Central to his work is the idea that the two-dimensional picture plane is the only art form that presents the entire visual experience in a single moment—unlike other art forms, which unfold over time. While initially inspired by post-WWII Abstract Expressionism, Brooks now draws from a wide range of sources, including Daoism, theoretical physics, mythology and painters such as Agnes Martin, Robert Ryman, and Ad Reinhart.

Brooks was born in Rochester, MI, in 1956. He received his MFA in painting from Wayne State University in 1986. He has taught at the School of Visual Arts and Wayne State University and for over a decade was a research assistant on Alfred Stieglitz and his artist circle. Since moving to New York in 1990, Brooks has worked at the Smithsonian Institution, the School of Visual Arts—where he curated many exhibitions—and has held senior positions in several New York galleries. Following the birth of his son in 2002, family became his priority and Brooks put his painting on hold until his son went to college. During this period his artwork focused solely on photography. His work is in multiple private collections. He lives and works in Nyack, NY.

Anne Harmon recent work marks a pivotal shift in her practice. Moving away from pure abstraction, she has embraced a more figurative approach to capture the emotional texture of gatherings with family and friends. Working from old photographs, she uses a combination of acrylic and oil paint, pastels, oil sticks, and charcoal on canvas to depict scenes that at once intimate and universal. She draws inspiration from the psychological depth of Alice Neel’s portraits and the vibrant immediacy of Jennifer Packer’s work. In a time of increasing division, she offers a reimagined space—an invitation to return to presence, to connection, and to the art of simply being together.

A North Dakota native, Harmon began her creative career in Los Angeles, working on film sets while studying art at UCLA. She later continued her studies at L’Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, Italy, where she focused on classical studies in life drawing, anatomy, and art history. There she began painting large abstract works, while also continuing her life drawing and sketchbook practice. After returning to New York, Harmon spent 25 years painting for film and television sets and on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. She is now fully immersed in her studio practice in Nyack. Her paintings have become increasingly narrative and figurative, drawing from her extensive travels and interest in cultural storytelling. Her work has been exhibited in group shows at Time & Space Limited in Hudson, NY, and at Lagstein Gallery and Perry Lawson Fine Art in Nyack, NY.

Jay Sidebotham approaches painting as a vocation—a daily practice driven by reverence, curiosity, and a love of beauty. Working primarily in oils for their vibrant and expressive qualities, he paints places that hold personal significance: the serenity of Central Park, the shifting light of the North Carolina coast, the quiet intimacy of domestic interiors. His style is rooted in observation but often carries symbolic weight. His paintings of museum-goers on their phones, for example, highlight a modern tendency to overlook beauty in plain sight, while his still lifes invite viewers to slow down and consider the elegance in the everyday. In all his work, Sidebotham underscores the sacred in the ordinary, encouraging a renewed attentiveness to the world around us.

Raised in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, Sidebotham comes from a family of illustrators—his father and grandfather both worked in advertising on Madison Avenue. He studied Fine Art at Trinity College in Hartford, CT, where he was mentored by a student of Josef Albers, deepening his sensitivity to the power of color. After college, he worked in animation, cartoon illustration, and art direction before shifting paths at age 30 to attend seminary and pursue a long career in the church. Throughout those years, he continued to draw and dabble in painting, inspired by Charles Schulz’s proclamation that “cartooning is preaching.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, a return to painting marked a significant deepening in his studio practice. Now retired from church work, Sidebotham devotes his time primarily to painting. He currently lives and work in Wilmington, NC.