Neverne Covington: Into the Mystic
On View: July 11 – September 23
Opening Reception: July 11th, 5pm to 8pm
Continuing a tradition at the Morean, we are proud to present last year’s Margaret Murphy Steward Best of Show winner, Neverne Covington. In addition to a cash prize, the winning artist receives a solo show in our gallery to coincide with the following year’s members show. Neverne is the 14th artist to receive this opportunity.
About Neverne:
Neverne Covington’s drawings, prints, paintings and sculpture explore childhood, language, landscape, memory, and the gothic south. Her work has been exhibited at the Tampa Museum of Art, the Brevard Museum of Art, the State Capital, the Florida Museum for Women Artists in Deland, Florida and various venues throughout Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
She recently returned from an artist residency at the VCCA Moulin a Nef in Auvillar, France. Covington was born in Laurelton, New York, grew up in Florida, and attended City & Guilds College in London, England. She graduated from Eckerd College and has maintained her studio in downtown Saint Petersburg for three decades.
Artist Statement:
I use oils, oil sticks and wax on canvas to create my work. Starting with small intimate studies, I expand the work into larger paintings, often working on several at a time. This creates a dialogue between the works as the paintings relate to one another. Each layer informs the next as each brushstroke or mark becomes the landscape of the surface.
Rhythm, pattern, and the repetition color dictate my process and the direction each work will take. The viscosity and consistency of the mediums enhance the work as I manipulate their effects to create substance and form. The oil sticks, paint, and wax, combined with the shimmering transparent glazes, produce texture, complexity and depth. Each brushstroke or mark produces the topography of the surface.
Interaction with the natural world ignites my senses and my intellect. I become inspired through direct observation and by immersing myself in nature. The inherent themes of permanence, impermanence, and transience become the foundation of my work.
Painting makes me pay attention. It entices me into the mystery of nature and the landscape of memory. It is a way of bringing order to the world I know and to the preconscious world of which I know so little. I am fascinated with what came before us and with humankind’s relationship to our environment. In my work I strive to reveal nature’s known, unknown and unknowable entities. This feeds my heart and soul and nourishes my art.
It is my humble hope that the audience will respond to these resonances.
NEVERNE COVINGTON, ARTIST – Neverne Covington, Artist : Home
