Published: November 19, 2009 02:36 pm      

Eckert showing unusual exhibit at Palace Theatre

Tom Eckert’s abstract paintings are the latest exhibit at the Palace Theatre in Crossville. Eckert has been a resident of Pleasant Hill for the last fifteen years. Before his retirement, he served as a pastor in the United Church of Christ at locations in Ohio and Kentucky. When an interim minister was needed at the Community Church at Fairfield Glade, he came out of retirement for several months until the congregation chose a permanent pastor.

The artist had a friend by the name of Guy Slover, a water colorist. Eckert admired this man’s work and asked Slover to give him painting lessons. Eckert began his artistic career as a water colorist and has since become a member of the Tennessee Water Color Society. His painting “Granddad’s Horse Shoes” was selected for a monetary award in the prestigious 31st celebration of the T.W.C.S. Since then, he has branched out into oil, acrylics, and mixed media. His present non-representational exhibit is somewhat uneven. It appears the artist is exploring a new dimension of his creativity.

I don’t claim to be an expert on abstract art, but I like to see some form and structure and relationships that result in an integrated whole. In some paintings, subtle and oblique colors, textures, and shapes become fascinating mysteries. In other paintings by the artist, there appears to be less direction.

One of the enjoyable aspects of abstracts is the opportunity for the viewer to use imagination to see their own versions of time, place, or emotions. For example, “Abstract II” is a highly textured piece (texture is one of Eckert’s strong points). The background is formed with swirling translucent colors to one side and a few greenish black spiked verticals in the foreground. The heavy texture makes a nice contrast to the right side of the piece with its light transparent swirls. Eckert was experimenting quite successfully with space. I saw a brown rock, mountain pine trees, and either the unpolluted moon seen in the open spaces of the west or a storm found there as well.

When I looked at “Tri Color,” a mixed media painting, I knew Tom had either visited or lived in the far western desert. Indeed, he spent seven years in California and New Mexico. Eckert told me a friend dared him to use yellow, red and green and make them come together in an integrated painting. He painted this successfully, and I saw a free-form background with the gorgeous sunsets of the New Mexico desert. The heavy form in the foreground is a cactus (sort of) and the spiky diagonal lines in the middle ground crossing behind the cactus but over the sunset represent all of the spiked vegetation of arid lands.

Eckert’s “Bad Friday,” another acrylic, was his only emotional representation, and the piece made the point well. “The Other,” a mixed media piece, was the most structured and well thought out painting in the show. The many rectangles, enclosed triangles, and stamping marks are all integrated with gold paint. The gold, sometimes textured, sometimes stamped, used well with pink, black, and occasional blues fascinated me. The spheres floating on the right hand side reminded me of moons… but who knows?

This unusual exhibit will be at the Palace until the end of November. You are invited to visit the Palace and write your own story about Tom Eckert’s work.