Peaceful wild things in Hannah Moore exhibit

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The captivating delicacy of Hannah Moore’s new watercolor exhibition “Into the Peace of Wild Things” at the Moore Family Gallery is extraordinary.

The show’s title comes from the poem by Wendell Berry of the same name. “Berry describes how, when he feels the weight of the world and fears for himself and his children, he goes into nature, which brings him a sense of calm that frees his soul,” Moore explains. “This sense of peace is why I chose the poem. With art making and nature, I find a certain type of calm that I haven’t found anywhere else.”

The space is a bit of Eden. The walls brim with arresting portraits of many species of birds amid imaginary wildlife settings. Despite their impressive size, each watercolor is jewel-like in its complexity.

Art flows through Moore’s veins as her parents, painter Andrew Moore and ceramist Heather Goff, are well-recognized artists. Her brother Gordon is likewise a ceramist and exhibits at the gallery with Andrew and Hannah.

“With all the art supplies around and both parents who are artists, it was hard to think of any other profession,” Moore says. “Even before I really knew what being an artist was, I wanted to be one. There was a moment when I thought I might like to be a biologist, but I realized that what I liked about it was the visuals of nature and wanting to do scientific illustration. From high school on, I was set on being a full-time artist.”

Born and raised on the Island, Moore attended Syracuse University and the Rhode Island School of Design, both of which had excellent collections of taxidermy birds. She became intrigued and began drawing specimens from these collections and those in natural history museums. Likewise, Moore says, “My dad works a lot with birds. He would collect specimens and sometimes keep birds in the freezer as models.”

The exhibition was two years in the making. Moore’s process begins with thumbnail sketches. From there, she expands to a fully developed drawn composition on large paper before laying down a single color. Moore works on several paintings simultaneously, slowly building them up together to create a cohesive body of work. “They inform one another, and I’ll learn something from one that I will then incorporate into another.”

Each piece is filled with intense detail in every leaf and feather, some of which Moore renders using a brush with only three or four bristles. The images are inspired by what she has seen in botanical gardens, field guide gardens, or museums. “I’ll incorporate all these different impressions into one piece, curating little moments I’ve seen.”

Moore’s painting process is additive. She lays down an initial light color wash, leaving anything to be white empty so the white of the paper comes through rather than using white paint. Moore adds varying layers of pigment, creating areas that range from transparent to opaque.

Her compositions vary. She frames the bird in “Blue Heron,” in foliage punctuated with white and orange flowers and green leaves, putting us at eye level into the scene.

Moore eschews the sense of depth in “Swan in Flowers,” where an elegant S-shaped bird is solidly silhouetted by a dense floral backdrop whose pattern emphasizes the two-dimensional quality of the painting. The composition immediately evokes medieval tapestries and was inspired by the late 15th-century “Unicorn in Captivity.”

Moore also looks at old wallpaper designs for inspiration and, likewise, admires the 19th-century artist and naturalist John James Audubon, whose influence we can see in “Egret & Swallow.” The small green bird swoops in from above, just over the head of the slim egret, which holds dinner in its beak. “I wrote an essay on Audubon in school and love his work. I get a lot of inspiration from scientific illustrations and naturalist painters who went out in the field during Audubon’s time. Their pieces pushed me to work in watercolor because they did, and it is more mobile. It’s nice, too, because watercolor is easy to clean and doesn’t have fumes.”

There is a stunning pair of peacocks, one in resplendent colors with an Art Deco tail and a pure white one whose regal crown and lacey tail give it a bridal quality. Moore built the tail feathers with titanium white paint that has a consistency of gouache, which adds a subtle textural quality and took some 90 hours to complete.

“Into the Peace of Wild Things” brims with Moore’s masterful artistry. “I would never want to force any sort of experience on anyone,” she says. “I want people to take away what they wish and how m uch of my love of nature and art I put into these paintings. And that they are a sanctuary for me when I’m working on them. I hope that energy from the hours and hours of work comes through, and people feel it.”

“Into the Peace of Wild Things” is on view Thursday – Sunday, August 8 – 11, from 11 am to 5 pm, or by appointment. For more information, visit moorefamilygallery.com/hannah-moore and https://hannahmooreportfolio.com/.