Kevin Palfreyman

Cedar Grove Studio, 271 Nevis Road, Tivoli 12583 | 845-706-6294 | a few steps into the studio *Studio will also be open on Labor Day Monday
[email protected] 

Artist Bio

Kevin grew up in northern New Jersey but soon escaped suburbia to study at Fort Lewis College in southwest Colorado. While studying the nineteenth century romantic writers, he was taken their notion that all of nature is a manifestation of the spiritual world. Ten more years living in the southwest
strengthened and deepened his love of the beauty of the natural world.

Since his early years he has been involved in design and the making of things. He has trained as a woodworker and luthier and has enjoyed a successful career in furniture making, architectural woodwork, and yacht interior work. In the early two thousands his wife, artist Linda Wainwright Palfreyman, introduced him to plein air painting. There he found the perfect way to combine his creativity with his love of the outdoors. In this new medium he has tried to translate his reverence for nature into his paintings. Living for the past thirty years in New York’s Hudson Valley, he has been greatly influenced by the work of the Hudson River School artists, especially the “luminists” like John Frederick Kensett, Frederick Edwin Church, and Sanford Gifford.

He has traveled widely around the Hudson Valley, New England, and the Southwest in search of inspiration. He has studied with Keith Gunderson, Stapleton Kearns, David Curtis, John Macdonald, and others. His work has been shown at Tivoli Artist’s Gallery, Briggs Mountain Gallery, Longyear Gallery, Equis Gallery, and at numerous shows around the northeast. His work is held in many private collections.

Artist Statement

It seems there is a new term for what I’ve always been and that is “maker.”
All my life I’ve felt the need to create things. Mixing that with my deep reverence for the natural world I feel I have found the perfect mode of expression in landscape painting. I see nature as a benevolent presence. Land, sea, and sky are my sacred places and its a great day when I feel like my canvas carries that romantic sense.
Although I began painting with pastels, I’ve found that with oils I enjoy not only the thought process in creating a painting but even the tactile qualities of the way the paint comes off the brush. I’m attracted to scenes of warmth and tranquility and often edit out signs of the presence of man. For me, there is often civilization enough in real life.
I admire the work of many past and present masters. I’m especially fond of the later generation of the Hudson River School painters, especially George Inness, John Frederick Kensett, and Sanford Gifford. Among contemporary artists, I’ve been influenced by John Macdonald, Joe McGurl, Kathleen Dunphy, and many others. In the end, my greatest aspiration for my work is that it may help to connect the viewer with the sense of spirit and power that the natural world can inspire.