August 19 - September 27, 2025
Every summer, I tend to a garden where the flora, fauna, and insects call to me. Textures are my passion, and with the use of printed fabric, I have created a technique that allows me to accomplish my vision of merging my fascination with the compositions and designs of nature with painting. What were originally hand-embroidered scenes are now paintings with a background of man-made prints, with favorites consisting of Indian batiks, insect, bird, and plant prints, vivid flower prints, and even snowflakes and ocean waves. Each painting has a foundation of fabric pieces placed with matte medium, with complex surfaces and multi-layered works that challenge the viewer to look beyond the ordinary and engage in the story of what it means to be alive and rooted in the soul of living things. As the painting unfolds, with the help of a preliminary drawing to guide me, I meticulously incorporate the patterns in the cloth with oil paints to bring the images into focus. Inspirations come from natural arrangements, whether they are the wavy lines on an armadillo’s skin, the patterns in a seashell, or the six-fold symmetry of a snowflake. There is an endless array of motifs and designs in the natural world and I continue to be inspired and fascinated by this process of merging them with paint.
Meet the Artist - Elaine Fleck
Born in Ft. Monroe, Virginia into a military family, Elaine Fleck is a painter best known for paintings of fabric and oils. The colors and textures of the many cultures she experienced in her early years contribute greatly to giving her work its vibrant and deeply complex quality. A cross-country bicycle trip during which she immersed herself in the colors and compositions of her native land, has been a huge influence on her work as well. She holds a BFA in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University and further art training from the San Francisco Art Institute and City College of San Francisco. Solo exhibitions in recent years include the Columbus Cultural Arts Center in Columbus Ohio, the Cary Arts Center Gallery in Cary, North Carolina, and the Alexander/Heath Contemporary Gallery in Roanoke. Fleck is a member of the Market Gallery, an artist cooperative in Roanoke, and maintains a studio at her home.
If you'd like to purchase a work of art, please contact our office at 540-586-4235.
