Winthrop artist’s ‘Blue Chicago’ to be displayed in Student Union Art Gallery

Thursday, February 28, 2013

A series of abstract acrylic paintings entitled “Blue Chicago” by Winthrop fine art professor Margaret Louden Moody will be exhibited Monday, March 11, through Sunday, March 31, in the Student Union Art Gallery. An opening reception with the artist will be from 5 to 7:00 PM, Tuesday, March 19.

Moody, a Scotswoman born in Kenya, has taught design and drawing at Winthrop University since 1988. She has received numerous grants to support her work from the South Carolina Arts Commission, the Arts & Science Council of Mecklenburg County and Winthrop University. In 2006, she was awarded a prestigious affiliate artist residency at the McColl Center for Visual Art.

“Blue Chicago” consists of seven abstract collage paintings inspired by Moody’s visit to the city. “I became acutely aware of the color blue seen in various places,” stated Moody. “Each of the blues was different in tone, intensity and nuance of hue. They appeared everywhere, at random, throughout the city.”

The series also explores another aesthetic dimension of Chicago: the jazz and blues scenes for which the city is known.

“There is a strong connection between jazz and abstract art, identified in many artists’ work,” Moody said. She cited the work of Charlotte-born artist Romare Bearden, 20th-century master Henri Matisse and Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky as examples. “What started as a simple interest in and observation of the color blue…may indeed become a more focused study of the interrelationship between jazz or blues and painting.”

Student Union Art Gallery student director Brittany Bryant encourages both newcomers to and aficionados of modernist painting to visit the gallery to experience Moody’s work.

“Marge’s work uses the language of 20th-century abstract art in subtle and intelligent ways,” said Bryant. “Her style is versatile enough to make ‘Blue Chicago’ appealing to viewers with knowledge about art history while also inviting everyone to have an enjoyable and unique encounter with her artwork.”