When We Were Young by Sarah McRae Morton

Every February since 2007 artist Sarah McRae Morton has had a solo exhibit at the Red Raven Art Co., 138 N. Prince Street in Lancaster, PA. As her life changes, so too does her work. Now living in Germany, Morton has taken on the challenge to “paint what I love instead of what haunts me.” The result is “Pony Sails and Fox Bucks,” which opens today with a First Friday artist reception from 5 to 8 pm, and runs through February 25th.

The exhibit features a wide variety of animals, including dogs, pigs, rabbits, horses and crows. Morton, working in both oils and charcoal, explores them in various poses or running and jumping. Many are in a blurry dreamlike state, others in formal poses, such as a rabbit in a military uniform in “Time Keepers”. Some are in strange, almost surreal situations, like a dog standing on a table at a wedding reception, while a bride and groom walk a tightrope in “When We Were Young”.

“What I have painted in the blurred gestures, dark passages, obscured by clouds or masquerading as a rabbit is Time, the way for evolution,” she declares in her artist’s statement.

To see more of Sarah’s paintings visit http://www.redravenartcompany.com/ and her website.

*Text by Jane Holahan, reprinted from the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal.