No one will miss the Rohe farm precisely the way Robert Glisson will. The Syracuse artist spent countless hours out in the fields painting the third-generation Rohe family farm’s Holsteins.
Glisson will exhibit “A Tribute to Rohe Farm,” featuring scenes painted in oil on canvas and paper, Nov. 1 to 30 at Maxwell Memorial Library.
The Rohe dairy herd, numbering over 100, was sold Oct. 10. Steve and Trish Rohe will continue to farm their land on Onondaga Hill, but without the cows, according to an Oct. 9 article in the Post-Standard.
Glisson’s paintings have mystical quality about them, an infusion of light that creates dramatic contrasts in color. He paints landscapes – and cowscapes – en plein air to capture his immediate impression of color and light. However, he writes in a statement for Alden Gallery in Provincetown, Mass., which represents him, “I am not interested in an exact depiction of a scene.
“I am really more concerned about the emotional response. As I paint, I will add or subtract shapes, push spatial planes, break down an object into an abstraction, and exaggerate color in order to best represent that emotion,” he explains.
The overriding emotion of the “Tribute” exhibit may well be bittersweet nostalgia.
Glisson earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art from Cortland State College and continued to study painting and figure drawing at Syracuse University. He has done commissioned portraits, landscape paintings and illustration work for the Syracuse Chiefs, Stamford Science & Nature Museum, Prometheus Book Publishers and many others. His work may be found in many private collections, as well.
November’s exhibit at Maxwell Library is free and open to the public during library operating hours, except when events are taking place in the Community Room. The artist will hold no reception.
Maxwell Memorial Library is located at 14 Genesee St. in the village of Camillus. For more information, call 672-3661, go to maxwellmemoriallibrary.org, or drop by.
