Courthouse Gallery Fine Art presents ‘Jon Imber: Pastel Rhythms’ and gallery talk with Jill Hoy

Ellsworth Courthouse Gallery Fine Art is pleased to present “Jon Imber: Pastel Rhythms,” an exhibition of oil pastels by the late Jon Imber (1950-2014). With the exception of one, the pastels in this show are all of Deer Isle and Stonington, where Imber summered with his wife, artist Jill Hoy, and their son, Gabe.

There will be a gallery talk with Jill Hoy at 5 p.m. Aug. 20. Hoy will talk about Imber’s pastels and how they their relationship impacted his life and approach to painting. A catalog is available. The exhibition and talk are free and open to the public.

The pastels in this exhibition were created in the 1990s when Imber and Hoy met, during their courtship, the first eight years of their marriage, and the birth of their son. Imber’s approach to pastels was highly singular, nontraditional. He selected specific locations with personal resonance like “Quarry Behind Our House, Stonington” (1997) and “Janice Plumb’s Queen Anne’s Lace” (1991), which he painted during one of their many painting dates. “Thickery, November, Fifield Point” (1991), was another “date painting.” When they set up their easels in the field, Hoy naturally faced the ocean, while Imber would invariably face in the opposite direction toward the thickery. He liked the energy of the tangled vegetation and the gnarled tree trunks.

From beginning, Imber had a practice of working in pastels en plein air and then bringing them into the studio and developing them into large major oil paintings. He worked out his ideas in this manner.

Once Imber became a father, he was unable to spend endless hours in the studio. Instead, he began to move away from studio painting to working en plein air in oils. He found that he could finish a painting in one setting rather than labor over a canvas for months in the studio. Eventually, Imber began to work in pastels solely for their own intrinsic value, using them less as source material.

Imber worked intensely with pastels, drawing in color and building an energy field that connected deep within his soul. His raw strength and spiritual essence is on full display in “Cedar Tree By The Reach” (1992). This visually arresting and emotionally charged pastel sits between representation and abstraction, order and chaos, asking the viewer to feel what it’s like to be among trees, to move and breathe in that space.

Artist Philip Allen, for whom drawing is central to his work, and Imber’s best friend since childhood, best describes the allure of pastels for Imber: “Pastels were a more spontaneous and reactive medium than oils, one wherein he could simply pick up a color — by intention or mistake, and crosshatch or overlay — rather than deal with all the complex considerations of mixing paint.”

These pastels truly illuminate Imber’s gestural hand. They are the rhythms seen throughout his paintings as well, full of vigor and nuanced muscularity.

Jon Imber (1950-2014) divided his time between the Boston area and Stonington, and the coastal landscape of Maine is where he derived most of his subject matter. Imber received his MFA from Boston University, where he studied under Philip Guston, who became a very strong early influence. Over the years, Imber developed his own painterly, semi-abstract vocabulary that, in a way, followed a reverse arc to that of Guston.

Imber exhibited his work throughout the United States and Ireland. His work is included in many publications. Awards include an NEA Grant, AVA (National Award funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, Equitable Insurance Corporation, and the NEA), Massachusetts Council for the Arts Award and an Engelhard Award.

Imber, who died in 2014 from Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS), re-invented himself as an artist living with ALS. He trained his left hand to paint and devised methods to overcome his physical limitations. During these final years, filmmaker Richard Kane’s produced “Imber’s Left Hand,” a stunningly beautiful film, documenting Imber’s remarkable resolve as he continued to create vibrant work right up until his untimely death in 2014.

Courthouse Gallery is at 6 Court St., Ellsworth, with gallery hours Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The gallery also recently held an artist reception for a group show on Aug, 6, which will remain on view through Sept. 2.

For more information, call 207-667-6611 or visit www.courthousegallery.com.