a bridge across, a path through
new work by Heidi Leitzke
October 28 - December 10, 2021
Reception: October 28 from 4 – 7 p.m. with artist talk at 5 p.m.
Hess Gallery
Zug Memorial Hall
Elizabethtown College
I began my current body of work, a bridge across, a path through, in the summer of 2019 with a series of ink paintings made while watching the shifting light in the wooded lanes of Mount Gretna, PA. As I looked, I felt like my eyes were getting a much-needed massage. On these winding pathways, I composed images that captured the compressed space and dappled light of this landscape. Building on these ink drawings I started to create larger scale oil paintings, and richly layered thread paintings that furthered my exploration of bridges and paths in real and imagined landscapes.
I have been thinking about how a bridge is literally a way to connect two sides, serving as a metaphor of connection between two people with different experiences or ideals. This was particularly poignant in the fall of 2020, as we were in the midst of a very divisive election season and people were separated by their beliefs. A path winding through a space symbolizes a journey, perhaps through the past two years, living through the pandemic. Now as we near the end, there is both joy and anxiety associated with re-emerging into the world. We are all trying to navigate our world that feels both familiar and forever changed.
In an essay that accompanies the exhibition artist Bill Scott wrote, “The ensuing whimsy of Leitzke’s experiments make the viewer feel she is presenting the world to us with a childlike wonderment. It opens the door to what sets her apart from other landscape painters….A good memoirist can write a story that makes readers feel they too have a valuable story to tell and share. Leitzke paints in a way that makes me want to remain speechless so as to simply continue looking and to see how her images slowly unfold to reveal more than I see at first glance.”