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"Outside and Inside: Works in Oil and Watercolor"
by M. Pia De Girolamo

Horsham Township Library is pleased to launch its series of exhibits with the work of local painter M. Pia De Girolamo. Dr. De Girolamo's paintings will be on display in exhibit cases and on the display wall in the library's main corridor from mid-October until November 29, 2004

Artist's Statement

The interior of my home here in Horsham, the objects therein and the landscape around it are my most accessible sources of beauty, comfort and peace, so I find it natural that I should paint my surroundings and in so doing amplify these qualities through my work. I often use strong light and color in my painting because of their expressive qualities. Evoking for example, the brilliant wash of light of a summer day, or the sunlight illuminating a colorful room often serves as an antidote to the darker aspects of the workd, which oftentimes seem so overwhelming.

Red Chair

Woods Behind My House - Oil

Edge of the Ballfield - Simmons - Oil

Woods Behind the House - Watercolor and Gouache

In my paintings, there are varying degrees of realism. Though my painting would be classed as primarily representational, it is not strictly realistic. One of the ways I "abstract" a subject is not to use the so-called local or "true" color of an object but to use colors that best evoke the feelng of the scene - the way the light looked, the weather, the time of day, the season.

For my landscapes, I have looked for inspiration to the work of Camille Corot for his rendering of masses of shadow and light in the landscape, Pierre Bonnard and Fairfield Porter for their use of color and to Porter also for the intensity of his light.

Biography

Formerly a practicing physician with a lifelong interest in art, I am now raising my family, painting, and am enrolled in the Continuing Education Division at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. There I have studied with Maryann Matlock-Hinkle and Joe Sweeney. In the past, I have studied with Mike Geno at the Abington Art Center and Jim Wallace at the Woodmere Art Museum in Chestnut Hill, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Continuing Education Division.

To contact artist M. Pia De Girolamo, you may email: M. Pia De Girloamo