ARALLEL VISIONS | TOM PEGGY ROOT | Sarasota

In both the life of the artist and of the college student finding oneself becomes as vital as gaining skills and knowledge. Ringling College graduates Tom and Peggy Root managed to find both themselves and each other. After meeting at and graduating from Ringling College the married pair went on to pursue their art in parallel careers including continued study at Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Connecticut.

Peggy’s body of work picks up right where the original plein air painters left off though she shies away from the label because of differences in practice and aesthetics. As the painter Jerry Weiss wrote so aptly in the Art Students League of NY publication Linea: “These are in total a sustained meditation and celebration of the Southern landscape that is rare in American painting. They are among the best plein air work done in this country in the last few decades.”

Tom’s paintings focus primarily on portraits and figures with an exquisite understanding of the subject borne of his uniquely thorough process of observation. “I paint solely from life from live sittings with real people or out in the open-air landscape” he says “and I require a considerable degree of freedom in executing my work.” Often traveling with his portrait subjects to get a feel for their life and spirit his work sidesteps the sometimes contrived aesthetic of commercial portrait paintings in favor of a more organic personal response.

In-person viewings are free and open to the public Monday-Friday 9am-3pm. The Thompson Alumni Skylight Gallery is located at 2621 Bradenton Road on the first floor of the Keating Center.

This exhibition was made possible by the Ringling College Library Association and in part by WUSF 89.7 and paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues.