Dona Nelson
American, 1947 -
Dona Nelson received a B.F.A. from Ohio State University in 1968 and subsequently moved to New York City to attend the Whitney Museum of American Arts Independent Study Program. Weather in a Yard is typical of much of her work, which is often large in scale and executed in vivid colors––saturated reds, yellows, and blues are favorites. The windowless side of a bright yellow house or barn occupies the foreground and lower half of the canvas. Beyond it, a dark and threatening sky is punctuated with the thick, naked branches of winter, which appear almost to grow from the building’s red rooftop. The stormy weather contrasts with the bright yellow, sun-drenched structure and seems to duel with it. Or perhaps the artist is depicting that rare and fragile moment of sunny calm before a storm. In either case, the forces of nature and man’s world are poised in delicate balance––if only for the moment.
