Above: The library is featuring artwork by a Southborough resident featuring still lifes and nature. (images from Facebook post)
The Southborough Library is exhibiting another local artist this summer. The latest display is of oil paintings by Southborough resident Amanda Oakleaf.
The works will remain up through the end of September.
A dozen of Oakleaf’s paintings are hung throughout the main floor of the library. Works are a mix of still life and nature scenes. (Below are a few examples from Facebook.)
The library promotes:
The Southborough Library is proud and gratified to exhibit local artist Amanda Oakleaf in the Main Floor Stacks for the remainder of the summer. A Southborough resident, Amanda’s primary medium is oil painting. From her website https://www.amandaoakleaf.com/: “A central theme in Amanda’s work is her admiration for all things handmade, specifically objects and spaces both created and inhabited by her family and the memories contained within.” One of her pieces was even slightly inspired by an area on the library grounds!
A closing reception for the exhibit will take place on Saturday, September 20th at 11:00 am.
Oakleaf’s bio reveals that the artist’s “career has bounced around between fine art, cake decorating, business ownership, and back to fine art again”. Her background includes creation of Amanda Oakleaf Cakes and Oakleaf Cakes Bake Shop.
The bio draws a connection between her sweet work and artwork.
As a bake shop owner, she:
guided a team of bakers and cake artists to create some of the best custom, sculpted cakes and edible art in the Boston area. . .
Many of her cake creations featured both watercolor-esc paintings done with food color and sculpted cakes realized with a palette knife and buttercream.
According to Oakleaf’s website, her non-edible paintings include watercolor. But it’s the oil painting that she appears to currently be focusing on. Her artist statement notes:
My current paintings are nearly all created with the palette knife, which allows me to sculpt an image; a process that is rooted in my cake decorating experience. Painting with a palette knife is a more familiar artistic process for me than line drawing, for example. It allows me to maintain abstract shapes and colors longer in order to make a scene come to life before getting bogged down with lines and details.
As for the subject matter in her paintings, her bio highlights:
A central theme in Amanda’s work is her admiration for all things handmade, specifically objects and spaces both created and inhabited by her family and the memories contained within. . . Her paintings are mostly still lives, interiors, and landscapes as she searches for the cozy corners of her created world to transform into paintings
