I owe a debt of gratitude to these amazing artists, some of whom are no longer with us. This fact of temporality, impresses upon me the importance of the legacy of their visual understandings. After so many years their lessons continue to challenge me to strive for artistic excellence. A heart felt thanks to the following:
Albert Alcalay Nathan Goldstein Richard Filipowski
Meryl Brater Rob Moore
Selma Bromberg Ed Movitz
D.Lowry Burgess George Nick
Paul Celli Dean Nimmer
Dan Dailey Otto Piene
Paul Earls Alejandro Sina
Jeremy Foss Normann Toynton
Sarah Feragen believes that painting has the power to conjure landscapes in our mind's eye depicting our places in the cosmos. We easily internalize a humid spring day as a recollection of a Constable painting or view the night sky and think of Van Gogh. In the midst of globalization,
climate change, past and future pandemics, our viewpoints shift to an immediate space, profoundly seeking connection.
Much of Sarah's childhood was filled with Romany-like wanderings. During these travels, endless landscapes spilled past the backseat window. Observing from the middle seat, a child's vision was always just out of reach and quickly gone when pulling out of yet another scenic outlook.
Objects from those many places were held in precious memory. A chunk of pipestone returned the artist to experience reflected light playing upon the canyon walls from the river on the canyon floor in Pipestone , Minnesota or an obsidian shard invoking an ancient quarry in Yellowstone National Park. Opening a treasure box filled with these talismans could instantly draw one's mind back to the experience of each place.
Sarah's paintings are evocative of forgotten spaces along winding back roads of wooded New England. These quiet spots are where time is suspended in the magic of the light, and a deep calm returns. There is a feeling that all is perfect. No need for an invented future or a sepia toned nostalgia, for in this place, this time, the now is enough. And each painting is a small piece of a "now" touched in experience; a sense of sacredness made more poignant by the sorrow of knowing the fragility that hovers over the loveliness of the scene. The peace of immersing oneself in the myriad natural forms while being aware of their transience, is a message in a bottle to our children's children: this is what it was like when we rested in the eye of the storm and experienced our "beingness" in this place together.
This is the core of "The Intimate Landscape" shared through the lens of a developed style and a hard won aesthetic. The artist enjoys giving the viewer an opportunity to experience this communion by their own participation.
About SKF Designs 
