One paints, the other prints

Woody Allen once spoofed a biblical phrase something like this: "The lion and lamb shall lie down together, but the lamb won't get much sleep."

While this droll maxim coerces a grin, Allen's pessimistic witticism is the antithesis of what artists Kathleen Peterson and Blanche Wilson are accomplishing with their uplifting and life-affirming two-woman show at Phillips Gallery.

Peterson is the painter, Wilson the printmaker. Together they give us memorable imagery and technical virtuosity.

There is much about sisterhood and motherhood in Peterson's oils; her warm palette narratives plead for peace, love and understanding.

To emphasize her message of hope, friendship, equity and kindness, the artist has included adages by individuals known for their passion for peace. These printed sayings are positioned next to her paintings and help us to better understand the meaning of her works.

Peterson's employment of the mother-and-child motif is nearly as old as art itself. The composition in her piece "The Red Ball" suggests Mary Cassatt; the painting's rhythm brings us visually to the ball, but the adoration in the mother's eyes for her child gives the painting pathos.

Her "African Queen" screams Paul Gauguin, but, once again, it's the love in the mother's eyes that brings ultimate satisfaction.

There is only one other local artist who can portray friendship, love, companionship and harmony with such panache: Brian Kershisnik. And while Peterson is not copying Kershisnik, several of her images are so comparable — "The Upward Glancing" for example — they must be sharing a fork at the dining table of art.

One thing you will not encounter in any of Peterson's paintings is a man.

"In planning the paintings for this show," she writes in her artist statement, "I wanted to explore visual and intellectual alternatives to the patterns that I believe are weighing us down. I selected the feminine form not only because they are women, but because they are representative of something very different than the current powers in our lives."

That power would be the destructive tendencies of the men running the world. "The qualities that nurture, restore, nourish and accept are all qualities that are commonly associated with the feminine," Peterson writes.

It's hard to argue with her reasoning — or the resulting paintings.

Wilson is confederate with Peterson when she utilizes the mother-and-child motif on several of her woodcuts — "Olga," "Girl in Red Chair" and "Patterns." However, the majority of the printmaker's work is landscapes and cityscapes, but her scenic depictions advance harmony, peace, serenity and other positive aspects of an upright society that are so close to Peterson's heart.