SAS Gallerie, located at the Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier City is pleased to announce its exhibition featuring the works of Rebecca Bartel Madura. An opening will be held Thursday, May 9th at 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wine will be provided. This is open to the general public.
Ms. Madura is a New Orleans born visual artist and art educator. Many of her colorful paintings represent our relationship with nature within an urban environment. Working primarily in oils, the emotional impact of color and color relationships is as important as the subject matter itself in her paintings.
Ms. Madura earned bachelor's degrees in both Fine Arts (studio) and French from the University of Texas at Austin as well as a Non-profit management certificate. She also holds a master's in liberal arts from Tulane University. Retired from more than 30 years teaching K-12 visual art in schools, New Orleans Museum of Art, and YAYA, Inc., Rebecca now focuses on her own practice. She is a painting and drawing instructor at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Art, teaching course on various topics including color theory, oil painting, and abstract painting. Her work is included in the collections at Tulane University, A.B. Freeman School of Business; Jung Hotel New Orleans; Ochsner Elmwood Sports Medicine Center, Ochsner Slidell Campus, and North Louisiana Campus; Provenance Hotels, Portland,OR; Global Business Center, New Orleans; The Uptown Asthma & Allergy Center, New Orleans; The “Queen Sugar”television series set, and various local and national private collections. She is currently affiliated with Where Y’Art Gallery in New Orleans.
Abstraction is often defined in terms of what it is not – specifically the absence of discernible subject matter or reference to the visible world, placing content in an uncomfortable, yet dynamic place between representation and abstraction. It is within this space that she works. While primarily focusing on abstract compositions, while continuing to create representational pieces as a part of her practice. Each approach to subject matter, allows her ongoing exploration of formal concepts. Her paintings convey an ever-present tension even while the surface may appear calm or quiet. I often work in series of paintings around a common theme or concept which allows more complete exploration and growth, not to mention, inspiration for my next painting.
Her recent work is especially concerned with the balance between saturated and muted hues depicted in both abstracted and representational compositions. While often finding subjects in the local flora, she embarked on a series of paintings informed by demonstrations and content from the painting courses Isheam currently teaching.