Artist-in-the-House Opening Reception: "Effect: Texture and Patterns"

In the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve, the turning of the seasons renews and nourishes the landscape, providing fresh inspiration for artists as well. In a new Riverworks Art Center exhibition, the work of fiber artist Bev Thoms and painter Cynthia Jennings Field highlight complementary approaches to seeing and making from nature: two perspectives, but one sense of place.

“Effect: Texture and Patterns” will be on display from Wednesday, February 5, 2025, through Sunday, March 23, 2025, at Locals Farm Market, 19929 Fisher Avenue, Poolesville, Md. This show is the seventeenth Riverworks “Artist in the House” exhibition to be featured on the second floor of the historic Veirs-Stevens House at Locals.

An opening reception will be held at Locals on Sunday, February 23, 2025, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The reception is free and the public is invited to attend.

Known for her gorgeous vests, scarves, accessories, wraps, table wear, wall art, and blankets, Bev Thoms employs the ancient art of felting and uses specialized dyeing techniques, often combining repurposed silk and viscose fiber with wool sourced from her sheep into many of her pieces. Having lived on a farm in Dickerson since 1974, she has a longtime connection to the land and the resources it provides, both creative and tactile.

“My felting studio and dye kitchen reside in our big red barn, surrounded by rolling pastures and gardens, with my beloved sheep close by,” Thoms says. “I’m enchanted by the magic of transforming wool from my sheep into functional artistry.”

For Jennings Field, immersion in nature is more recent but no less profound. With a background in mural painting, graphic design, and antiques and architectural salvage, she approaches the world outside her Barnesville studio with a sensitivity to re-using and reclaiming natural elements, creating fine art, jewelry made from found objects, and signs on salvaged wood, in addition to her stunning, evocative paintings.

“My art represents my view of my surroundings through my dreamy, impressionistic lens,” she says. “Reflections, mist, light, mountains, local animals, birds, waterfowl, trees, flowers, gardens, old buildings, antiquities and figures—I paint these all with a profound appreciation of their beauty and hope for their preservation.”

For Riverworks co-founder David Therriault, pairing the work of Jennings Field and Thoms in a single show was an easy decision. Both artists are longtime members of the Countryside Artisans, a select group of artists who live and work in rural or historic areas of Montgomery, Frederick, and Howard Counties. Welcoming the public to their studios three times a year, the Countryside Artisans offer visitors a perspective that changes with the seasons, and the nature that surrounds them is central to their art.

“They use different media, but it’s striking how Bev and Cynthia capture the same textures and patterns we see in the landscape,” Therriault explains. “Their earth tones, a sort of ‘fuzzy’ abstraction, the blending of colors—for me, they share a sense of calm, rural peacefulness, which is what so many people seek in the Ag Reserve in the first place.”