By Emma Rausch
emma@thepaperofwabash.com
FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The Fort Wayne Museum of Art will be featuring Wabash-based artist Terry Pulley starting Saturday, Aug. 5.
Through Oct. 1, the museum’s Paradigm Gallery will exhibit 27 pieces of Pulley’s work, including some new artworks, in the series “Terry Pulley: New Abstractions.”
“It’s an honor and I think it’s a thrill,” Pulley told The Paper of Wabash County.
A self-taught artist, Pulley has been painting for nearly 50 years. Throughout the decades he has painted in three styles: impressionism, fauvism and expressionism, or abstract.
His latest series of abstract paintings were what caught the eye of the Fort Wayne museum’s curators, according to Elizabeth Goings, exhibitions content manager.
“We have been collecting Terry’s work for the last few years,” Goings told The Paper. “We have a number of his landscapes, his more traditional works if you will that he’s created throughout his career, and he is very well known with us. He’s shown works at our gallery here at the museum and so we were really excited when he brought this new work to us, which is more abstract. It’s not at all like his old style.
“So we were excited to be a part of that new transition in his career.”
Goings later added that the museum’s partnership with Pulley presents a special opportunity for the exhibit’s visitors.
“It’s one of the special instances where you have a very professional, blue chip artist who is from our local area that you’re not only able to see the work, but you’re able to go down to his gallery in Wabash, Alley Dog Fine Art Gallery, and you’re able to have a personal experience with the art and with Terry,” she explained.
There’s something more to Pulley’s artwork, according to the museum’s officials.
“You can really tell within the art that Terry is really excited and passionate about this new progression in his career,” Goings said. “In some of his earlier landscapes that he showed us, none that are actually a part of the show, you can tell that he was still kind of working within a landscape, but he abstracted it a lot.
“But now you can tell he’s really freed himself to explore with texture and color, and how the two can interact with each other and set a mood for the piece without being representational. They’re very excited and they’re very interesting.”
Pulley’s works will be for sale while on exhibit at the museum, according to Goings.
On Friday, Aug. 4, the museum will be hosting a summer party from 7-9 p.m. that will allow attendees to have the first look at Pulley’s art series and other exhibits. The party will also feature live music, appetizers and cash bar.
Admission costs $8 for museum members and $15 for guests.
The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, located at 311 E. Main St. in Fort Wayne, is open Sunday noon to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursdays.
For more information on the exhibit, visit fwmoa.org.