Page 48 - The Hunt - Summer 2024

So close to Wyeth Country, Blue couldn’t resist moves to Chester Springs in 1995 and finally West Chester, where he now paints behind his home in a garage studio. “There’s such a rich cultural and art heritage, and I’m happy to surround myself with it,” he says. “There’s certainly been grist for my mill here.”
Blue sees Stroud Preserve as his “partner on the path” to reconnecting with the natural world. For him, it’s a place to think and to feel at home—“a haven for my imagination.”
And he’s returning the favor. Natural Lands is receiving 10% of the proceeds from the sale of his Stroud-inspired work. The funds go to support its commitment to protecting open space. Other artists display art or donate time and resources to Natural Lands. This past December, Sienna Proetto completed a mural at the Binky Lee Preserve in Chester Springs. Through October, Natural Lands is hosting an outdoor installation of Ann Hopkins Wilson’s art at the 25-acre Saunders Woods Preserve in Gladwyne. It features native insects.
Blue’s project is unique in its ambitious scale and its intense focus on one of the Media-based organization’s 20 public preserves. “We know the preserves are inspirations for visitors in a variety of ways,” says Kelly Herrenkohl, Natural Lands’
vice president of communications and engagement. “Gregory’s exhibits are a great way for us to meet new people and expand our audience beyond folks who already know and love us. We’re less connected in the city, so to take Stroud into the Bok Building in Philadelphia ... He finds new lovers of his work, and new people get to know us.”
Blue winces at the notion that Stroud saved him and his artistic career. But he
does admit that it buoyed him after a series of personal traumas he won’t talk about. “It reinforced beliefs I’d held onto, and it helped me see things I’d forgotten,” he says. “Stroud made me aware again.”
Stroud reconnected Blue to the mountain trails and cornfields of central Pennsylvania, where he grew up. It also reminded him of his fascination with light. “As a little kid, we were called home when the street lights came on,” recalls Blue, who’s now 68. “At the end of the day, I’d watch how light changed on, say, field grass swaying in the wind. These were images imbedded in who I am—and those things became interesting again.”
Blue had always been able to conceive the
46 THE HUNT MAGAZINE summer 2024