Rachel Folsom and Natania Hume will exhibit “Inside and Out,” a show of paintings at the Grubbs Gallery in the Reed Campus Center at The Williston Northampton School from September 8 to October 31, 2010. An artists’ reception will be held on September 19 from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Exhibiting still life paintings and portraits, Rachel Folsom’s paintings are studies in patience. Her realistic depictions of vegetables, fruits, and people are painted with the utmost precision, with importance given to composition, color, and light.

“I aim to do more than copy what I see. For me composition is paramount—it’s the bones of the image,” says Folsom, who describes her process as meditative.

Rachel Folsom grew up in the 1950s in Roosevelt, N.J., graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in art history, studied painting in Florence, Italy, and went on to teach studio art at Wheelock College. Trained in abstract expressionism, Folsom ultimately turned to realism, working in watercolor for ten years before switching to oil.

Ceramicist and painter Natania Hume will present recent paintings of her pottery. Her two- and three-dimensional works are connected, since both stem from a common aesthetic. Her paintings reflect a domestic sense, as her ceramic objects are usually arranged in interior spaces. However, her colors, shapes, forms, and shadows are informed by the natural world, and in this way her work responds to the environment in which she paints.

“Between the worlds of two and three dimensions, I am able to explore a wide variety of artistic sensibilities and stay perpetually engaged in the painting process,” Hume says.

Hume has taught art at The Williston Northampton School for six years. She says she values the process of teaching art, and says that teaching is “integral to her painting process, because it provides continuous inspiration and is a venue for exchanging new ideas as well as a means to revisit old ones.” She holds a BFA from UMass and a master’s degree in art education from Southern Oregon University. Before Williston, she taught art at the Channing School in London, England, and worked as an art education consultant and teacher for public school districts in both Massachusetts and Oregon. Her work has been featured in solo and group shows throughout New England and Oregon and represented by galleries in Oregon and Michigan.

The exhibit is free and open to the public and takes place in the Grubbs Gallery of the Reed Campus Center at The Williston Northampton School.