Kerry Buckley
Shared Realities
Artist’s Statement
My lifelong passion for painting and drawing became a full-time obsession when I retired from academic life in 2013. I look upon art as more of a craft. For me, the work itself is a form of meditation. It is a creative process that absorbs the heart and hand. My landscapes tend to reflect seasonal changes on the outer cape from the brooding tranquility of an autumn afternoon to the off-season, when the bones of the landscape are laid bare. There is a quiet dignity to these empty places. They are unoccupied but not abandoned. They lie in wait for the next cycle to begin. I am drawn to liminal spaces, a portal to somewhere else. I do not try to capture reality, but a mood, the fleeting light of a solitary moment. My still life paintings explore the rituals that give meaning to the random contingencies of life or the ambiguous innocence of childhoods past. There is a whimsical wistfulness about these mementos that evoke a lost time of wonder and delight. I seek to engage the viewer with a shared human emotion and a slice of lived experience preserved from the relentless flow of time.
About the Artist
As a student, Kerry W. Buckley won several statewide art competitions and initially considered a degree in fine art. He was offered, but declined, an art scholarship choosing to become an historian specializing in American History. Throughout his academic career he continued to draw and paint. While living in western Massachusetts he developed friendships with regional neorealist artists Scott Prior, Randal Deihl and Jane Lund whose vision and techniques inspired his work. Since his retirement from academic life, he has studied portraiture and painting at the Guild Art Center in Northampton, MA, classical painting technique with Barbara Johnson, and indirect painting techniques with Julie Beck at the Academy for Realist Art. He is a Professional Artist member of the Copley Society of Art in Boston and is a Master Artist member of the Cape Cod Art Center. His work has been featured in competitive shows throughout New England and has received awards in national and regional shows.
Website: www.kerrywbuckley.com
Instagram: @kerrywbuckley
