Date: Fri 27-Sep-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A9

Quick Words:

Adkins-landscape-Platt-Beaux

Full Text:

(feature on landscape painter Tom Adkins & his Platt Farm series, 9/27/96)

A Landmark New England Farm, Rediscovered In A Whole New Light

(with photos)

BY SHANNON HICKS

SOUTHBURY - Landscape painter Tom Adkins has always been attracted to

landscapes. He has studied figures and tried still life painting, but it

always comes back to landscapes for him. Living in Connecticut for much of his

life, he has always enjoyed visiting farms, both for their artistic

inspiration and also for the way of life the men and women who work the land

lead.

Mr Adkins' latest series of paintings, which took him over a year to complete,

meld his love of landscapes with his respect for farms. The series also

presents viewers with the artist's gift of capturing light at different times

of the day and throughout a year. Tom Adkins spent a full year painting on

location at one of two Platt Farms located in the South Britain section of

Southbury.

The completed series of smaller and large-scale paintings, "A Connecticut Gem:

A Year at Platt Farm," is on view through early November at Good News

Cafe/Gallery in Woodbury.

With this series, Mr Adkins, a seasoned veteran of plein-air painting, has

exposed the subtle beauty of light, form and character of the New England

farm. Tucked between a pair of rolling hills facing the Pomperaug River, the

Platt farm is home to Willis (Bill) Platt and his wife, Lily.

The Platt family has been in Southbury for over three centuries; Mr Platt says

his family has been here since 1760. Generations of this family have farmed

the lands in the area since then. While Mr Platt lives in the farm depicted in

Mr Adkins' series, he was born in the main farmhouse located about five miles

away from his home, a large expanse of property his brother now owns in what

is referred to as the "Purchase" area of town (one of the main roads running

through the area is Purchase Brook Road, hence the shortened nickname). While

Bill Platt's farm may not be considered a full "working" farm these days, the

farmer does continue to raise young stock on his land.

Tom Adkins discovered the beauty of this Southbury family's landmark farm

nearly four years ago, when he was driving through the more rural area of the

expansive town in search of some inspiration.

"I kind of stumbled onto [the farm] because it's off the beaten path," he

recalled recently. "You wouldn't know where it is - it's a dirt road - unless

you're familiar with the town, and I came around the bend one day and it was

just sitting there, this gorgeous piece of property tucked between two rolling

hills.

"It's very well kept, and it has an awful lot of character.

"I think what makes it exquisite it the way it's lit," the artist continued.

"A lot of properties, a lot of landscapes, they're not necessarily lit early

morning and late evening. That's what I'm really striving for, the lighting on

the landscape. I'm trying to capture the spirit of the light, the luminosity."

Tom Adkins combines his realistic, contemporary style with influences from the

Impressionistic artists Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro. He says he has

always been more interested in a landscape's lighting, capturing a specific

time of day of the way a shadow falls at a particular time of year, than the

actual subject matter. Once his work began focusing so strongly on landscape

painting, about ten years ago, the more he found himself more interested in

it. While in college (Adkins graduated from Paier School of Art in New Haven)

he did the obligatory studies of figures and still lifes, but it was always

the capturing of a landscape the burgeoning artist returned to.

Born in San Antonio, TX, Tom Adkins' family moved to Connecticut when Tom was

nine years old. He has been in the Nutmeg State since, having lived in

Terryville, Waterbury and Prospect before moving to Southbury five years ago,

into a new development in the near vicinity of the town's high school.

"Growing up ... I loved the farms. I always spent my leisure time around this

area. I just like the way of life out here." Tom's heart has always been with

the arts. He won a few scholarships for painting while in high school (his

first show was at the Waterbury Library while still in high school). He then

went on to graduate from Paier, and continued with graduate classes at the

School of Visual Arts in New York City.

By day a creator of art and designs for his ad agency in Stamford,

Silverstone-Adkins-Breit, Tom enjoys his career but craves the freedom a

full-time occupation in painting would afford him. By building his repertoire

and clientele, Tom is hoping to one day be able to give up the advertising job

and hold a full-time career in the fine arts.

Tom sold his first painting nearly twenty years ago and fortunately, sales

have increased each year since them. Mr Adkins is represented by Beaux Arts

Gallery in Southbury and also PS Gallery in Litchfield.

"You have to build that body of works," he says. "You can't walk into a

Manhattan gallery and say `I want a show.' You need something to stand

behind."

Tom paints with oils on Belgium linen, a material he says is an upgrade from

canvas. Looking at it, the naked eye usually cannot tell the difference

between the two fabrics once covered with oils, but an artist surely feels the

difference when painting.

"It's a better material, and it probably lasts longer," he said. "It's just a

better quality material. A lot of museums require works to be on linen."

When he is creating works, Tom Adkins will work on location with his easel,

oils and self-stretched linens to create smaller studies, which he then brings

back to his home studio to reproduce on a larger scale. While many of the

works in the Platt farm series average 24 by 46 inches, this is the first time

the artist has felt comfortable enough to play with a larger area of linen;

the largest piece in the new show measures forty by sixty inches.

After "discovering" the Platt farm, Tom began visiting the farm for

preliminary work on some paintings. He met Mr and Mrs Platt on his second or

third visit to the farm. Mr and Mrs Platt were walking around their property,

when Tom made a point of introducing himself and formally asked for permission

to paint on their property. The painter describes the farmer, with an obvious

amount of respect in his voice, as a "very generous" man.

"From then on, I was there early mornings and late evenings, watching the sun

set, and painting," said Tom.

"He painted over here through all kinds of winter weather," Mr Platt recently

concurred. "I don't know how he stood it out there."

A few months after their first meeting, Tom presented the Platts with a small

painting of the property as a token of thanks for being allowed to roam the

property for the months it took him to work on his series.

The opening for "A Connecticut Gem: A Year at Platt Farm" was September 15 at

Good News Cafe/Gallery. Located within the confines of an upscale

restaurant/cafe, the gallery area of Good News was busy during the Sunday

afternoon reception, with the artist's family and friends mingling among the

art appreciators who turned out for the show's formal introduction.

The show, which remains on the gallery's walls until November 8, features the

thirteen works in the Platt Farm series, along with three additional

landscapes by Mr Adkins. The three "outside" works include two local views,

the first of Main Street Woodbury, the second a scene in Bethlehem; the third

is a depiction of Menemsha, on Martha's Vineyard.

But it is of course the works of the series that is drawing the crowds during

the show's run. The grand-scale works ranging up to forty by sixty inches in

size, grab the viewer's attention from the get-go because of their beautiful

portrayal of sunlight reaching or leaving each scene. Even the titles of the

pieces give away Mr Adkins' love for capturing light, rather than subject:

"Horizontal Shadows, November," "Morning Light" or "Fading Light," a

terrifically stunning work with a beautiful red-violet sky. This work needed

to be its 40x60-inch size in order to fully convey its captured light.

Anything smaller, and the sky's colors would never have come through so

powerfully.

One of the most intimate pieces (re: closest views) in the show is also one of

the largest. "BitterSweet Smokehouse, October," at forty by thirty inches, is

coupled with a possible companion piece of the same size,

"Smokehouse/Outhouse, January." And one of the smallest works in the show,

"View From North Pasture, May," is one work of the few with animals included

in the scenes. There are a few cows seen in the pasture.

The Platts have yet to visit Woodbury to view the entire series, with all its

grand size landscapes of their land, but they are looking forward to visiting

it.

"We need to get over there," Mr Platt said earlier this week. Even without

having seen the full series, however, the Platts have a good idea of what they

are in for. In addition to the small painting Tom Adkins presented the couple

in gratitude, they were also sent six smaller pictures of some of the works.

So they are familiar with what the works look like.

"We were real pleased with him, and his work," Mr Platt added. "I've seen some

of them, and I thought they were real good. Those are real nice pictures."

Like a farm continuing to grow, change and flourish each year, Tom Adkins is

proud of what he produced this year, but ready to move on to the next crop of

paintings.

"I enjoyed doing this series. It takes a good year, year and a half, to

produce a good body of work like this, and I am pleased with what I've done. I

feel I've learned something along the way.

"But I'm ready to move on to the next series."