River Water with Trees
Gabriella Polony Mountain's work includes four major themes. The first three themes are clearly recognizable as the Cosmos, Nature, and Figural works with the fourth theme encompassing history, philosophy, and culture. In her life as an artist, Polony Mountain worked with many different medium including mosaics, weavings, sculpture, stained glass, and repousse. Weaving is a technique used to make textiles by interlacing thread. This technique can be accomplished with the use of an instrument called a loom, or by hand in various methods such as knitting, crocheting, felting, braiding, or plaiting. Polony-Mountain used a combination of loom and hand weaving techniques. And like her weaving techniques, Polony-Mountain used a combination of acrylic, cotton, and wool yarns to create her vibrant textiles.
In "River Water with Trees," Polony-Mountain has created an abstracted, yet enchanting landscape scene. A winding river in light blue is ensconced by grasses of yellow and green. A woody area stands tall on the left side of the composition in hues of green, blue, purple, and orange. A hilly backdrop accompanies the river and trees. Typical of Polony-Mountain, she has included geometric shapes that may reference elements of nature and the cosmos. Bird-like forms in yellow and red are depicted above the river. The circular forms on the horizon may refer to the sun and moon.
A lovely example of the artist's unique ability to leap from one kind of material and form to another and to shift thematic content to create art.