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In the dreamlike paintings of Sarah McRae Morton, reality and fairy-tale fantasy freely cross paths.
Doomed French Queen Marie Antoinette, awaiting her fate, is depicted as Rapunzel locked in her tower. Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood encounter one another, surrounded by a surreal collection of forest animals. A red horse races through a landscape, its form blurred to the point of blending with its surroundings. And in a scene as far removed from the rugged outdoors as possible, a group of aristocrats ponder, pose and recline in an opulent drawing room.
That kind of subject diversity doesn't surprise those who know the 25-year-old Strasburg-based artist. "Every year, she tackles a new perspective," said Lee Lovett, manager of Red Raven Art Company, where Morton's newest exhibit, "The Marrow of Tradition," opened Friday.
"We've been enjoying watching her grow as an artist. The art community as a whole has been watching her grow."
The community has had many years to do so. Morton has been painting since childhood. "Every kid paints at the kitchen table," Morton said philosophically. "I just never stopped.
"I feel like I never made a decision about becoming a painter. It's what I do."
It's also appropriate that Morton's art returns to Red Raven. One of the gallery's founders, artist Fred Rodger, was once Morton's art teacher. It was through Rodger that Red Raven came to know Morton's work.
Morton stays connected to the county, but she is by no means tied down. She's traveled to Germany to study the works of Kathe Kollwitz, an artist who lost a son in World War I and a grandson in World War II; Finland, to explore the art of Helene Schjerfbeck, a painter little-known outside her country; and Rome, where Morton completed a course in art conservation and restoration at the Vatican. There she marveled at seeing works of art out of their frames, away from the gaze of visitors.
She recently returned from a sojourn in the desert of New Mexico, where she stayed with her sister, writer and photographer Mary Caperton Morton. (Art has long been a part of Sarah Morton's family life. Her mother, Caroline, was an artist when she was younger, and her grandmother was an artist as well, Morton said. Her father is well-known in a different capacity: the art of medicine. Dr. D. Holmes Morton is a founder of the nationally known Clinic for Special Children in Strasburg.)
"I work in relative solitude here, but [in New Mexico], it was desolate," Morton said. During her visit, she did some landscape painting and studied the techniques of legendary Southwestern artist Georgia O'Keefe. "I really wanted to see how she interpreted that landscape, and try it myself."
In a complete departure from the splendor of the Vatican and the desert made famous by O'Keefe, Morton spent time in 2007 in the rugged surroundings of West Virginia. On her Web site, mcraemorton.com, she compares her experiences there to those of a journalist, attempting to "bring attention to the havoc that mining wreaks on the environment and the people who do dangerous work out of desperation."
Morton infuses her work with a sense of and love for history. She noted a fascination for art from the period of the French Revolution, and cited one particular work as a favorite, Jacques-Louis David's 1793 painting "The Death of Marat," depicting the aftermath of the murder of the fiery revolutionary leader. Jean Paul Marat was and remains a controversial figure, but was known for his inspiring, incendiary prose.
"He was killed for the power of his writing," Morton said. "That's a testament to what artists do."
The title of her Red Raven exhibit, "The Marrow of Tradition," takes its name from a 1901 Charles Chestnutt novel, which was written, Morton says on her site, to contradict sensationalistic and biased news accounts of an infamous 1898 North Carolina race riot. She hopes her reading of the book will allow her to question the truthfulness of her work, and the impact of art on history.
The exhibit also focuses on women, intertwined with several motifs, including fairy tales.
"I had several ideas in my mind for a show," Morton admitted in a lighthearted moment. "I couldn't pick any of them."
"The Marrow of Tradition" runs through Feb. 27 at Red Raven Art Company, 138 N. Prince St. For more information, call 299-4400.
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