Gloria Plevin (1934-)
Cottonwoods, Spring, 1999
Materials: Chalk pastel drawing 26.5" x 21”.
Location at Summa Health: Dr. Gary B. and Pamela S. Williams Tower on the Akron Campus (141 N. Forge St.), blue neighborhood, sixth floor hallway outside patient rooms H6-117 and H6-118.
About the art and artist
This chalk pastel drawing — the artist also worked with the materials of acrylic paint and watercolor and the techniques of monoprint and etching — captures the briskness of cottonwood trees just leafing out and shrubbery in a hopeful bright green. The cloudy sky with its light and dark contrasts creates a set of patterns against which the budding tree branches create natural traceries. Their movement suggests a chilly breeze, contrasting with the controlled, regular rhythm of the vertical porch railings in the foreground. Signs of human presence, human-made structures, are inserted around the edges or screened behind plant growth, which predominates.
Plevin came to Cleveland with her husband after growing up in West Virginia and then attending Ohio University; she continued her study of art at the Cleveland Institute of Art while her children were young, and she has resided in various Cleveland neighborhoods ever since. Chautauqua was the Plevins’ summer home for many years; Plevin and her late husband owned a gallery there, and often her 2-dimensional works begin as candid photos taken of the surroundings in and around that summer home.
Photo by @keithberr.com
Where you can see more of this artist’s work:
A lively interview with Plevin can be seen here. She has exhibited regularly in Cleveland and Chautauqua, and most recently had a solo show at Art Neo Museum of Northeast Ohio Art. You can see some of her extraordinary prints here. She is represented by galleries in Cleveland and her work is archived in the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve.