Traversing Terrain


Traversing Terrain 
Daina Higgins, Rita Reisser & Sam Schetina 
March 23 - April 16, 2022 

Cerulean Arts is pleased to present the exhibition Traversing Terrain featuring the paintings of Daina Higgins, Rita Reisser and Sam Schetina.  Whether observed, remembered or purely imagined, each artist ventures on explorations of place and space.  Daina Higgins focuses on the built environment, painting the world close to her home.  Starting with photographs, she combines her mastery of illusionistic painting techniques with her love of materials.  Straddling the line between verisimilitude and pure painting, her use of light, color and composition elevate her modest subjects into the realm of poetry.  Inspired by geometric and organic forms, Rita Reisser paints with a limited palette and in a series of canvases or boards grouped together.  Starting out with marks and lines, she continues layering paint, allowing forms to naturally emerge before separating them to complete as individual works.  While some paintings imply landscape elements of sky, horizon and land, others flow into pure abstraction.  Sam Schetina paints landscapes remembered, imagined, seen, felt, and walked.  His chromatic experimentation and buildup of color coalesces into specific and suggested perspectives.  Obsessed with touch and gesture, he layers and weaves a fabric of represented space – a space he wishes he could enter. 


Daina Higgins, Langhurst on Ridge Avenue, oil on birch panel, 20" x 30"  


Daina Higgins, Monastery Street at Ridge Avenue, oil on canvas, 40" x 60"  


Daina Higgins, Dark Cloud, oil on canvas, 20" x 20"  


Daina Higgins, California Smoke, oil on canvas, 20" x 20"  


Daina Higgins, Forbidden Drive, March 2020 (Pandemic Painting), oil on panel, 20" x 16"  


Daina Higgins, Pandemic Walk 1, oil on birch panel, 20" x 16"  


Rita Reisser, I Call It Home, acylic and ink on canvas, 40" x 48"  


Rita Reisser, Organic Form I, acrylic and ink on canvas, 20" x 20"  


Rita Reisser, Organic Form II, acrylic and ink on canvas, 20" x 20"  


Rita Reisser, Standing Still, acrylic on board, 12" x 12" 


Rita Reisser, When Time Is Running, acrylic on board, 12" x 12"   


Rita Reisser, Out of the Blue, acrylic on paper on board, 7.5" x 13"   


Rita Reisser, Out of the Blue I, acrylic on paper on board, 6" x 13"  


Rita Reisser, Out of the Blue II, acrylic on paper on board, 7.5" x 13"  


Rita Reisser, Out of the Blue III, acrylic on paper on board, 5.5" x 14"  


Rita Reisser, Out of the Blue IV, acrylic on paper on board, 5.5" x 14"  


Sam Schetina, Granite, oil on panel, 14" x 11" 


Sam Schetina, Foothills, oil on panel, 20" x 24"  


Sam Schetina, Lone Cypress (Past Emma Wood State Beach), acrylic on panel, 24" x 18"  


Sam Schetina, Todi, acrylic on panel, 14" x 11"  


Sam Schetina, San Simeon, acrylic on canvas, 48" x 42"  


Sam Schetina, Muir Woods, acrylic on panel, 16" x 16"