Linda T Hubbard Fine Art Photographs
The Great Hollow Virtual Art Show 2020
is dedicated to
Plonia Nixon (1930-2020)
The Great Hollow Virtual Juried Art Show is dedicated to Plonia Nixon who passed away on March 31,2020. She had participated in the Great Hollow Juried Art Show 2019 and was planning on participating again this year. She loved Great Hollow and was very enthusiatic about the land being preserved for both research and the community.
Nixon herself had lived on a lake in the woods and so loved nature. Her joy every year was watching a snapping turtle come enjoy the sunshine while basking on a rock. Her dream was always that this space will be preserved.
From a young age, Nixon had a love of art. When she talked about her work, there was a sparkle in her eyes as she described her diverse genres including drawings, oils, acrylics, pastels, watercolors, collages and more. She had the capability to capture the exact detail of a feather or a soft flowing winter scene. Her work can be described contemporary, but other paintings bring to mind you of the old Dutch Masters. Her talent was incredibly broad, but her additional love was teaching. As she always said, “Teaching is in my blood”. Her students loved her. She challenged them and was well respected.
Born in the Netherlands in 1930, she had an amazing education in the arts including a MOA and MOB summa cum laude in art appreciation from the Academy for Art Teachers in 1962. She taught for several years and then moved to America in 1971. While living in New York City her work was shown at galleries such as the Summit Gallery before moving to New Fairfield where she continued to work and teach.
She joined the Western Connecticut University Department of the Arts as an adjunct professor in 1981 and retired in 2019. She had taught drawing, advanced figure drawing, watercolor, history and appreciation of western art and given many lectures on 17th Century Dutch art and nature in art. Nixon had exhibited throughout Connecticut including solo shows at West Conn, in New Milford, in Putnam, at the Wooster Community Art Center and in Ridgefield plus many group shows. Her work is part of collections in the Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Monaco and the US.
This pastel by Nixon was shown at a recent solo show at the Sherman Library, October 11 - November 19, 2019. The show included her collages “Seven pages from the Book of Renaissance” (inspired by the Book of Kells from Dublin, Ireland) is a series of collages depicting Curiosity, Contemplation, Trepidation, Awakening, Forbidden Fruit, Isolation and Longing. The show also included a few of her still life pastels.