Forty years ago in my senior year at RISD my work in painting led me to a profound transformation of consciousness. As a result of this experience and repetitions of it with my own work and that of others, I have come to believe that the purpose of the arts is the evolution of awareness. It seems that artists are drawn to whatever kind of work accomplishes this for them and their work, in turn, makes their discoveries available to the culture. Landscape painting functions that way for me. When I first go out to paint, the countryside seems very ordinary and uninteresting. Then my perception shifts and it becomes intensely meaningful, as if I have access to another dimension of reality. When the paintings are successful in transmitting this experience to others the cycle is complete.

Margot Trout, 216 Hillsdale Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230, 413 854-4322
Forty years ago in my senior year at RISD my work in painting led me to a profound transformation of consciousness. As a result of this experience and repetitions of it with my own work and that of others, I have come to believe that the purpose of the arts is the evolution of awareness. It seems that artists are drawn to whatever kind of work accomplishes this for them and their work, in turn, makes their discoveries available to the culture. Landscape painting functions that way for me. When I first go out to paint, the countryside seems very ordinary and uninteresting. Then my perception shifts and it becomes intensely meaningful, as if I have access to another dimension of reality. When the paintings are successful in transmitting this experience to others the cycle is complete.

Margot Trout, 216 Hillsdale Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230, 413 854-4322