Arts center to feature works of two painters
May 23—CLAYTON — An exhibit featuring the works of two painters at the Thousand Island Arts Center focuses on the "caring" scenes of one artist and another inspired by the words of poet Robert Frost.
The exhibition showcasing the work of Elizabeth Grater and Becky Harblin will be on display Wednesday, June 5, through Saturday, July 6. A reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 26, and is open to the public.
— Elizabeth B. Grater (1924- 2021) was a painter who depicted scenes from her life. She devoted her life to caring for others, expressing that care through love for her family and friends, and a desire to share her vision of the world's beauty through her painting. She was born in Ogdensburg and began painting as a child in LaTuque, Quebec, before moving to Cornwall, Ontario. She attended Smith College, earned a nursing degree from the Montreal General Hospital in 1946, and, with her husband Bill, moved to East Tennessee in 1954. There, she raised their four children and became an invaluable member of her community.
Grater always made time for her art: sketching, painting, attending workshops and studying with artists such as Charles S. Chapman, Rex Brandt, Hans Junga, Betty Lou Schlemm and Keith Crown. She painted not for the accolades (though she received many), but for the love of art and especially her subjects: the landscapes of East Tennessee, her home for almost 70 years, and the St. Lawrence River, especially her beloved Halfway and St. Margarette's Islands, where she spent every summer of her life.
Treasured also are her portraits of her children and grandchildren. Always humble about her talent, Betty was hesitant to sell her work, but hundreds of her paintings grace the houses of friends and families across the country. In a statement about one of her more abstract paintings, Grater once described her work in this way: "I have enjoyed experimenting with many approaches and art media, but I keep returning to realism. This is not photographic realism, but the relationship of people and things around me which stimulate me to paint. I love the play of light and shadow and the hint of mystery which I hope will interest and involve the viewer."
Grater taught art for many years at Tennessee Wesleyan College through the Continuing Education program. She helped found the Athens Community Art League, and was a charter member of the Tennessee Watercolor Society. She also served for a number of years on the International Advisory Board of the Frederic Remington Museum in Ogdensburg. Her paintings have been exhibited, often winning prizes, in galleries and shows in the south and northeast. Her work has appeared throughout the years at the Thousand Island Arts Center in the "On the River's Edge" exhibition.
— Becky Harblin, pastel landscape and plein air artist, drew her inspiration for this exhibition from the poem "To Earthward" by Robert Frost, one of his few love poems. Harblin pairs each of her pieces with a line from Frost's work, depicting all seasons of rural life — from shores to dirt roads.
A trained painter, Harblin majored in art and did coursework at San Diego State University. Much of her painting now, after a career at The New Yorker magazine and several newspapers, is working in pastels. Over the last 20 years, she has begun to incorporate her studies in Amazonian Healing (shamanism) into all her work beyond painting, including poetry, sculpture and photography. The bulk of her painting is done plein air. She enjoys the direct contact with her subjects and the often-explicit interpretation of light in a landscape.
The Thousand Islands Arts Center is located at 314 John St. and is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. More info: www.tiartscenter.org.
