"First Brush of Spring" - Hoosier Salon - May 11, 2005 - 3 stars

Plein air works from the 2005 New Harmony Paint-Out are exhibited in this show. A healthy amount of stereotyped landscape works, which have pigeonholed this organization, can be found side-by-side with truly inspired landscape gems at this annual event. On the inspired end of the spectrum is Ray Hassard's pastel, "Woodland Patriarch." It's a cropped view upwards into a gnarly-branched tree, black and brown against a shadowed green forest dappled in bits of light blue daylight. It defies the pastoral stereotype of many of its counterparts by expressing the natural world reflectively. "Morning Light," an 8-by-10-inch oil on panel by Pamela Turnbow, is executed with heavy knifed gestures over a hot pink wash, so all the subtleties of light and shadow pop effectively with simple scratch marks or unpainted spots. Beth A. Forst's "Barn on the Secret Pond" is another hit among a collection of mostly average artworks. An oil on panel with lightly applied (wash-like) oils, the usual angle of viewing a distant red barn uphill through trees (it feels sneaky) makes this work quite commendable. Through May 28, 2005; 317- 253-5340, www.hoosiersalon.org. -Mary Lee Pappas