Artist Spotlight: Gregory J. Pelly

GIA MAZUR / PUBLISHED: AUGUST 2, 2017

A Susquehanna County artist wants to show residents the natural treasures of the region.

Thompson resident Gregory J. Pelly will display landscape paintings during his exhibit “Through the Half Box — Current Landscapes,” at Artworks Gallery, 503 Lackawanna Ave., Scranton, Wednesday, Aug. 2, through Friday, Aug. 25.

An opening reception is set for Friday, Aug. 4, from 6 to 9 p.m., as part of downtown’s monthly First Friday Art Walk. Aidan Jordan will perform during the event.

Pelly’s work will depict the beauty and natural wonders he sees each day as he ventures into different sites between the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers. The en plein air paintings feature fields, streams, farms, marshes, wetlands and everything in between, he said.

“I go out on location and I just make paintings,” Pelly said. “I’m trying to represent the beauty around us and trying to speak to what we have here, without preaching.”

Always a self-proclaimed “nature guy,” Pelly worked outside for his career and really tuned into the sights he experienced. As an artist, it was second nature to start painting what he saw and embrace the spontaneity.

“It’s about the magic of what’s going on out there and when I go out to paint, I don’t know what I will find,” he said. “Bears, deer, sometimes sunshine, sometime clouds, I never know what I’m going to find and never know what I’m going to come home with. It’s the thrill of the hunt.”

While Pelly has shown his work at First Friday before as well as nature-oriented events like Lackwanna River Conservation Association’s Riverfest and Waystock Festival in Waymart. But he said Artworks Gallery is by far the largest room he has ever shown in, and noted that this will allow him to show some of his larger paintings, many of which have never been seen before. Wherever he shares his work, however, it’s about meeting people and other artists and gaining exposure.

“You put the work out there, and it’s fun to see how people respond to the work,” he said. “Folks have been really sweet on response, and that’s a real sweet compliment when they take the time to really take it in.”

Pelly does not originally hail from Thompson, but he has lived in Susquehanna county for 25 years. Though he has traveled all over, Northeast Pennsylvania has become his home and his favorite artistic subject.

“I love it here,” he said. “I’ve traveled quite a bit, but I know what we’ve got here, and you’re not going to find it anywhere else.”

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