Connie Neal

"Growing up in a small town in Nebraska, Connie Neal was surrounded by farms, fields and sky. This is where she learned that landscapes have the power to convey beauty, solace, grace, and restoration. The goal of her work is to create a path for the viewer to be pulled into a scene. Using charcoal or sepia pastel, each piece tells the story of a particular place and time. Her challenge is to capture fleeting moments of stillness just as change and possibility take hold. Connie is largely self-taught. She is inspired by the work of landscape artists Stanley Maltzman and Takeyce Walter and continuously seeks opportunities to learn from other artists through demos and workshops. Her studio is outside of Albany, New York and she frequently explores the landscapes in and around the greater Capital Region, Adirondacks, Catskills, and Hudson Valley. These locations serve as references and foundations for future pieces. “My recent works have largely been in charcoal. There’s something elemental about using a medium that has spanned centuries. Since the first moment a charred stick was used to make marks on a stone, charcoal is immediate and accessible with the stories it can tell.” She has also created a series of farm scenes using sepia pastel. “This medium is excellent for building a sense of nostalgia and reverence with the viewer. The warm, earth tones bridge the past and the present and add a vintage element to every piece in the series.” Connie is an award-winning artist, and has exhibited her work in New York City, Hudson Valley, Central, and Capital Regions in New York. Her work is in several private collections across the state."