In April, the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village, Connecticut will welcome back artist and author Pieter Lefferts, who inaugurated the library’s ArtWall exhibit space in 2011. Lefferts’ new exhibition features pastel paintings inspired by his recent book, “What the Kek Kek Saw,” an animist fable of braided plot twists that grew out of Lefferts’ many years of immersion in the Adirondack Forest. The paintings bring to life the imaginary forest realm of Borea and of the protagonists, Aramook, a raccoon passionate in his beliefs, and Rana Kek Kek, an intrepid amphibian. Opening with a reception for the artist on Saturday, April 8 from 4PM to 6PM, there will also be a reading from the book by Lefferts on Earth Day, Saturday April 22 at 2PM. Copies of the book, “What the Kek Kek Saw,” will be available for purchase. The exhibition will remain on display through Friday, April 28. Sales proceeds benefit the artist and Hunt Library. For more information, call the library at 860-824-7424 or visit huntlibrary.org/art-wall. 63 Main Street, Falls Village, CT 06031. Hours: Tues & Thurs 10-5, Fri 3-7, Sat 10-1.
Well known for his landscapes, animal studies and portraits, Pieter Lefferts is also a musician and an author who weaves his myriad talents into a verdant tapestry of life and exploration equally vivid on canvas as on the page. With a lifelong passion for New York’s Adirondack Mountains since childhood, Lefferts turned to that well of inspiration and knowledge when he began writing the tales found in “What the Kek Kek Saw”. Published by UnCollected Press in January of 2022, Pieter only recently returned to his animist lore to depict them in pastel art for the first time. Scenes previously encountered only in the author’s imagination and words, now spring to life with the action and agency provided by Lefferts’ sensitive pastel strokes and mastery of pigment and shadow. The paintings that bring “What the Kek Kek Saw” to life unpack the nostalgia of the artist’s boyhood environment and experiences, linking them inextricably to the growth and never-ending life education of the adult.
Pieter Lefferts’ artistic background combines extensive color theory study with an academic foundation acquired at the Art Students League of New York and Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He is a highly regarded art educator who has lectured at the New Britain Museum of American Art and the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, CT on topics ranging from the evolution of painter’s pigments to a survey of the nude in American Art. “My training is invaluable to me. It is the foundation for me to explore the multitude of ways I can approach my materials. It becomes the departure point for how I choose to interpret my subjects. As a result, my process becomes deeper and I feel I am grasping life beyond appearances.”
