From Artists Unite Issue
A Forum for Visual & Performing Artists & Writers
November 9, 2007

Review: Kay WalkingStick at June Kelly Gallery by Sky Pape

"The intellectual and historical underpinnings of her approach, including the themes of Chief Joseph and the Cherokees' Trail of Tears, are intense in and of themselves. Yet they become like a surface mist on water that soon parts as Kay WalkingStick's paintings plunge you into their even greater depths and layers of meaning. The paintings are of great beauty, which has everything to do with awe and wonder as opposed to being merely pretty and pleasing to the eye. They emanate ominousness and enormity. Her mountains have a force of being, a spiritual presence as evident and alive as any portrait ever painted. It is this spirituality of the land, and the human connection to it, as well as the implications of rending that connection, that have so much impact."

"Because it involves landscape, her work can be the easy basis of art historical comparisons. In the catalog essay, Cynthia Nadelman aptly refers to predecessors such as Marsden Hartley and Giotto. But WalkingStick has long ago developed beyond the referential, and established her own, very specific voice. As a colorist, she is both outstanding and unique. The richness of her handling of materials is clear evidence of an artist in confident, full command."
 

Our Land, 2007, oil/panel, 32" x 64" Artwork and text © Kay WalkingStick 2012 Any use without written permission from Kay WalkingStick is strictly prohibited.