Great Hall Gallery

Review written by Gerry Cuite

Tom Kerr’s show at The Great Hall Gallery in the Historic Salem Courthouse is open 11-3, Saturdays until July 19. Don’t miss it. Kerr’s send of composition and color are strong. His subject matter is familiar: barns, outbuildings, dirt roads, grasses and roadside vegetation. Kerr studied with McNeice, ( whose influence is obvious) Bohrer and Larsen.
      About 30 works line the Great Hall, oils, pastels and watercolor. Four small, framed works are available in a silent auction beginning at $50.
       Kerr’s work is generally in sunlight, a series of buildings, diagonal rooflines dominating. When painting a night scene, his work is equally successful because of his control of muted color and tone. The first painting on the right is a cluster of buildings. The roofs here blur into the air. Kerr expressed his sadness when he sees buildings in disrepair as they may "disappear", vanish. The afumato technique enhances his perception of threatened buildings.
     The architecture of buildings relies on parallel lines. Kerr vitalizes the essence of his composition with meandering verticals: electric poles, fences, piles in his painting of Rockport.
     Vegetation emerges in the foreground and background. Kerr does a persuasive job with tall weeds. His final stroke in a light color is a vertical, finished with a flurry, similar to a horizontal ampersand.
     The titles confirm predominantly familiar locale. A walk through the show is akin to a drive through the neighborhood. Some will smile by a rendering named "Steininger’s"on Main Street, Salem. The entire show will follow the viewer out of the Great Hall, embracing the familiar.