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"Turning Pencil Lead into Gold," New York Daily News, August 21, 1998

By Mila Andre

It’s amazing what can be wrought by a pencil, if the hand that wields it is an artist’s. Case in point is the exhibition at Hollis Taggart Galleries of recent works by Carol Rowan. 

On view through September 12 are more than thirty detailed works in graphite of places she has visited in the past four years, while travelling in England and Italy, and some renderings of New Mexico and New York City as well. 

In “Derwent River Cottage,” for example, every blade of grass, every leaf of the vines that cover the walls, and every brick is as clear as it if were photographed. “Holly Place,” a house/barn-like structure, shows up the uneven, weather-worn shingles you mightn’t have noticed if you were just driving by. “An Umbrian Abbey,” set in a field, surrounded by hills, exudes the peace and tranquility it must have shown the weary traveller. 

The muted drawings have a feeling of timelessness about them, as in “Montepulciano Clock,” which may have been on that wall from time immemorial, but now, thanks to Rowan, has been stopped at six. 

The artist focuses on places -- not people -- so it’s surprising and at the same time promising to see her renditions of statuary. Who knows, she may yet do portraiture. 

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