title Together Again publication The Nelson Mail description Review by Gail Tresidder date 14:03:2007 "Searching for Gold on the West Coast recently is the visual starting point and a metaphor for Anna Leary's new mixed media on board artworks. As she says, "a process of searching, experimentation and eventual discovery"... The lightness and elegance of her subtly layered and complex work has been missed." Nine months sinse their last Nelson exhibition, Jane Blacmore, Nic Foster and Anna Leary again join forces at Catchment Gallery. To quote Jane Blackmore: "I show the ocean just before or after the sunrise, or reflecting the brilliant light of an absent moon; the tremulous wake of a ship but never the burst of energy created by the ships engine." Landscapes of the mind, deeply personal yet candidly frank, inviting and challenging us to look beyond and behind a painted surface. I find Blackmore's work disappointing this time. In the past, contrasts between light of sky and sea or land gave balance and definition to her sweeping canvases. In an earlier painting of hers that I own, the shape and form is lovely. More recently, in the last exhibition at Catchment, Blackmore's new warm colours delighted and had an edge. Having said that praise where praise is due. The oil and acrylic on canvas Low Light and Love is the most effective. Using violet tones with a touch ofyellow, Blackmore depicts light through low clouds on to a silvery sea or land below, slivers of shine we can interpret with our own personal experience. This artist is technically capable and has the capacity to do more, expose more and take more risks with her art. Nic Fosters latest series of mixed media paintings is based on his visit to Arthur's Pass National Park late last year. He is inspired by this dramatic landscape and willingly acknowledges the influence of Petrus Van der Velden, Ralph Hotere and Colin McCahon on his own work. The very large oil on board, Baxter's View, incorporates a quotation from James K Baxter's Temple Basin, Foster adding to and illuminating the text with his own spirit. Brooding green, light balanced with dark, a shining tarn with overflowing waterfall, snowy tops, a place of fabulous beauty- "From Cloud to tumbling Cloud". In 3 Rocks - Arthur's Pass, we have departures, almost abstract, heavily textured, always of interest and a real step forward in Foster's work. This is a sublime work of atmosphere, light, darkness and drama. Perhaps it is time to leave behine the clearly delineated snow-capped mountains, however excellently executed, for the mystery dreamscapes, the territories of the soul. Searching for Gold on the West Coast recently is the visual starting point and a metaphor for Anna Leary's new mixed media on board artworks. As she says, "a process of searching, experimentation and eventual discovery". It is good that Leary has returned home from her holiday with the three-dimensional. The lightness and elegance of her subtly layered and complex work has been missed. Spend a little time with Touching the Earth. you will find seed pods, leaves, shreds of fabric, found bits and pieces, a soft silver moon in gold, curve of the land. I also appreciate the coral pink and turquoise blue lightness in Becoming. Whispers of charts, half-submerged mountain or prow of a boat, the delicate tracery of veins. I like it a lot. There is much to discover at Catchment. The exhibition is on show until the end of the month.