The Vietnam Series
oil paintings by Joan B. Tumpson of Miami, FL
Alumnus of Yale University Law School, J.D. 1973.

Art Review in the November 3, 2003 issue of
THE YALE DAILY NEWS
by Matt Baron

Exhibit: October 29 - November 22, 2003
Artist Reception: Saturday, November 1, 3:30 - 5:50 PM

"On September 11, 2001, I was in Vietnam," writes Joan Tumpson, "-- trying to understand one epoch of senseless brutality when another burst upon us. In Vietnam, the scars of war are hidden and a green world grows over old wounds. I wanted to make this green mine: to paint the renewal and growth of wild things and fields under cultivation, yet to render them in the unyielding moment when we realize we will lose them again and again in time.

"On the edge of temporal loss, all beauty seems more radiant. It is a place of change, where things are most creative and most destructive. A dangerous place, but a joyous place as well."

   
Ia Drang Valley
oil painting on canvas
30"h x 40"w
     Tet Offensive (Hue)
oil painting on canvas
30"h x 40"w
Joan Tumpson s characterizes herself as a small-town girl from West Virginia. After achieving her BA at Northwestern University with Highest Distinction as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow & Phi Beta Kappa, Yale Law School invited her to join the Class of ’73. Professionally she believed her options were widening -- big-firm salaries were seductive and she became a lawyer instead of an artist, but never stopped trying to make art. By 1991, she had begun to study and make art with the intensity of obsession, leaving her legal practice, and renting a studio – "Not, as those who find this a courageous decision would think, because I wanted to do so -- but because I could not do otherwise."
   
Operation Attleboro
pastel on paper
30"h x 40"w
     Operation Rolling Thunder
pastel on paper
27.5"h x 39"w
"My work is an affair with color, with all the love, hate, and the passion. I hang my colors on images that make me happy – people, places and particularly the outdoors and living things. I could be characterized as a ‘colorist’ or an ‘impressionist,’ but the thing for me is to get the color and movement right. If one succeeds in that, the painting will communicate and perhaps invite contemplation."
   
Dak To
pastel on paper
27.5"h x 39"w
     Homage to Sidney L. Tumpson
pastel on paper
27.5"h x 39"w
Ms. Tumpson’s larger paintings are done in oils and pastels, the smaller works are mixed media. She is represented by The Americas Collection, Coral Gables, FL, and at the Charles Street Gallery, Beaufort, SC, where "The Vietnam Series" was first shown this year. In recent years she has participated in group shows: this year in "Carnival," at the Elsa Mott Ives Gallery, New York, NY; at Reed, Smith Gallery, Washington, DC; The Rave Gallery, Hollywood, FL; and in Miami in "Fables and Lies" at the Brickell Gallery and "Masks" at the Jewish Museum. Her paintings are in permanent collections around the US, including MetroBank and Deloit & Touche in Miami; and in many private collections, including Ms. Jacquelin Simkin, Miami; Frank Cummings & Karen Kellow, Chicago; Dr. Frederick D. Schuh, Charleston; Mrs. Helen Hill Roundtree, New York; the Hon. Ann W. Richards, Austin, TX; and Judith Harris & Norman Ornstein, Washington, DC.

The York Square Cinema Gallery

gallery curator, Johnes Ruta, (203) 387-4933

azothgallery@comcast.net http://azothgallery.com/