Mission Belle 2022

Terri Kelly Moyers made "Mission Belle" with paint on canvas, I don't know exactly when, but it feels pretty contemporary to me. I'm drawn to the way the floral shawl really pops against the grey, stony interior. It's like the painting is all about this dialogue between cold, hard structure, and soft, vibrant decoration. Look at the way Moyers uses small brushstrokes to build up the textures of the shawl, each flower kind of blooming on the canvas. And then compare that to the walls, where the paint is smoothed out, almost like a fresco. There's a push and pull that creates a really interesting tension, and it reminds me a bit of some of John Singer Sargent's society portraits, where the sitter's personality kind of bursts out of the formal constraints of the setting. Ultimately, paintings like this remind us that art is always a conversation, a back-and-forth between ideas and materials.