Ebb and Flow refers to the motion of the tides, alternately coming from and returning to the sea. We experience this repetition as rhythmic and meditative, reflective of all the natural cycles of life. As a metaphor for the work of Joanne Freeman and Audrey Stone, Ebb and Flow speaks both to their creative process and its outcome. The rhythmic beat of their work reflects the cycles in their studio process. For these two painters, decades of making work has included periods of moving out into new terrain as well as returning to more familiar territory. Both painters work non-objectively, using self-generated systems of repeated motifs and forms, and both explore the invention and variation possible within the boundaries of those structures. Freeman’s linear and geometric forms abut and overlap, creating alternating shifts in pictorial space. Stone builds subtle color gradients to produce sensations of vibration, moments that hover between ebb and flow. The paintings’ pacing – of color for Stone and forms for Freeman – echoes the rhythm of the tides.
