Glimpses of the divine
This story was featured in the May 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art May 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
MANY ARTISTS celebrate the grandeurs of nature in their work, and justifiably so. But there is also something to be said for portraying nature’s less magnificent and seemingly unremarkable views—spaces where beauty exists yet silently goes unnoticed. It’s these humble places that most often inspire artist Joel R. Edwards, who views his works as quiet meditations on nature. “You wouldn’t call it grand,” he says of his Waco, TX, surroundings. “But living here, that’s what I see most, and that’s what I experience. And maybe that’s where the idea of finding beauty in unexpected places germinated.”
An accomplished artist in oil, watercolor, charcoal, and pencil, Edwards has received accolades for his work in all of these mediums. Last fall he garnered Best Landscape in the respected Best of America exhibition for his tranquil oil painting of a Texas field at sunset. Meanwhile, his plein-air watercolor of an old, weathered log appeared in the juried Bosque Art Classic, and an arboreal-themed drawing was a finalist in the International Art Renewal Center Salon.
Although his style is realism, the artist seeks to capture more than the mere physical qualities of his subjects. “I do believe the physical world is imbued with a spirituality, something beyond what we can see,” says Edwards. “I think drawing and painting are a good way to get ahold of that idea. It’s not mechanical like a camera; it really does come through the artist, his memories, and his experiences.” —Kim Agricola
Edwards is represented by Studio Gallery, Waco, TX, and www.joelredwards.com.
This story was featured in the May 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art May 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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