You are cordially invited to the solo exhibition of batik paintings on silk by Laura Pritchard.

Please join us for wine and more

in this beautiful Devon setting at a

reception on Sunday, October 23, from 2-5 pm.

All are welcome!

The exhibition is entitled Entrance and features the debut of The Diaries, a triptych. ( One of the panels was exhibited at the Woodmere Art Museum in 2009 and was awarded the Pearl & Lloyd Van Sciver Prize. ) The three works together are a combination of realistic and abstract portraits and invented written characters. The entire work is approximately six square feet. Approximately eighteen other paintings will be on view.

The exhibition is at the Fireside Gallery at the Main Line Unitarian Church, 816 S. Valley Forge Road in Devon, PA 19333, from Oct. 19 to November 27.

Ms. Pritchard expertly uses the ancient batik technique which is a form of resist painting traditionally used for fabric decoration. She paints with molten wax and French dyes in alternating applications on stretched silk or wool. The wax is removed at the end of the process. Most of the pictures are framed so as to look as if they are floating in the frames.

Entrance is an invitation to enter worlds created from intensive study, and from whim; from the real and from the invented; from the carefully planned to the manipulation of accidents. Fantastic faces beckon the viewer into the picture filled with wonderful decoration and imaginary landscapes. Inspiration comes from illuminated manuscripts, children’s art, folk art, primitive art, writing forms, shadows, sketches made during the quotidian duties of life, and from traveling the world.

Entrance is meant to invoke both meanings of the word. The viewer will explore and wander through the images and be intrigued, transported and entranced – not eager to head for the egress.

The artist is represented by Rosenfeld Gallery, Arch Street, in Old City, Philadelphia.