Contemplation: The Artwork of Paula Cleggett

From an early age, art has bridged my inner and outer worlds.  Growing up an only child in a quiet corner of a large and boisterous urban city, art was my best friend and close companion.   Inner peace remains paramount for me.  Despite the constant distractions society offers I believe we can find and cherish those quiet, calm moments.  Perhaps these paintings will trigger memories of warm and contemplative times you’ve experienced.  I hope my joy of painting these works resonates with the joy in you.

—Paula Cleggett

Join Sandy Spring Friends Meeting for a special artist’s talk with Paula Cleggett on Saturday, May 25 from 2:00-4:00pm at the Sandy Spring Lyceum (17801 Meeting House Road, Samdy Spring, MD 20860). Coffee, tea and snacks will be provided.  Paula will give a short talk about the inspiration for the oil paintings in her show. All paintings in the show are for sale along with notecards (single and boxed) and 2024 calendars featuring her work.

Paula Cleggett Bio

Since I can recall, I’ve been drawing… on whatever paper I could find, even in the margins of magazines, newspapers… no whitespace was safe. My high school art teachers maneuvered to get me into special summer workshops as well as the Art Institute of Chicago. I took the practical approach and got a degree in Art Education, though I didn’t have the desire or enthusiasm for classroom teaching. Mercifully, I was able to get a master’s in Journalism. I thought marrying words with images would lead to something interesting. The good news is that I managed to have an engaging, rewarding career that was intellectually, emotionally fulfilling. The other news is that I wasn’t painting…until recent years. So, after almost a 40-year, career-induced hiatus, I’ve returned to my first love.

I’ve been all over the place with my art. I’ve painted abstracts, figures, landscapes, seascapes, and tablescapes; crafted and demonstrated assemblages; and beaded and embellished necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and brooches. When I lived in Kenya, I created calligraphy to write the names of local diploma recipients. And, yes, I’ve even done windows—producing window displays for a dress shop and a health food store.

Now, I paint with oils almost every day. I was 16 when I received a paint box, filled with fresh tubes of oils, small bottles of medium and long-handled brushes. Like a kid’s security blanket, the box has been with me ever since.

For me, art happens somewhere between the eyes and the heart, the hands merely facilitate the forms and feelings. If the subject resonates deeply with me, I stare it to bits. The crevasses of a cabbage or the folds in the face of an aging farmer can gain my almost endless attention. Inspiration can come from any direction: the sight of light hitting a forehead; cool skin meeting a worn, warm blanket; a toddler’s hands holding an oozing berry pie. I follow the inspiration and allow it to take me further down the road. I am grateful for each day that grants me time and space to paint.