Jack Silverio. This Rhode Island School of Design grad has been an architect for 40 years designing homes and in Boothay Harbor, Jack designed St. Columba's Episcopal Church. For the last 12 years he's devoted himself to painting and making sculpture full time.

At first sight, you might find Jack’s paintings a tad daunting. And I totally get it, and here's the thing: he has a passion for the Golden Ratio and it figures into most all of his paintings. He’s also intrigued by the influence of patterns on the Golden Ratio and how they reflect the presence of both in nature and art. I’m thinking, am I ready for this one?  I've wondered this many times over the years Studio 53 has been here; the art owners Terry Seaman and Heidi Seidelhuber show here are outstanding.

Jack is one of the artists whose work can be explored every year... So despite this show's coming to a close this weekend, you'll still be able to experience his work!

What attracts me most about his work, are the patterns behind his Golden Ratio geometrics. These patterns are close to the 137.5 degrees of the Golden Angle, a derivative of the Ratio. Jack explained the leaves, petals (or seeds, even) of plants – and more than we might think – are close to the Angle (about 137.5 degrees). We began this conversation because I was so intrigued by these various patterns behind each of the 20 paintings in this show. And that’s probably because I can get lost in those far easier than the shapes, although I try! Most of these patterns/background brought to mind wallpaper designs from the Victorian Era and 20th century paper from the UK.

We also talked about the personal and interpretive nature of art in general. This called to mind the Boothbay Summer Theater’s production of “RED,” about the artist Mark Rothko and the conversation he has with his assistant about the very same thing. I guess it can’t be helped; art helps us work through more than what we’re aware of as we “enter” each piece...

He prefers to use natural materials including clay and charcoal. Regarding these fabulous backgrounds, he begins by applying a very thick coat of gesso on an aluminum panel. Next he texturizes the gessoed surface with the same brush by just slapping it on (the panel) and “dancing around” in various directions and angles.

“So these patterns, this design in the background, you do by hand, you do with the brush. I tried sponges, rollers and things like that - it was too mechanical,” Jack said. “You've got the brush in your hand to put the gesso on anyway, so I just start modeling it. So that's the substrate (base) and each (subsequent) layer you put on becomes part of the work and influences it quite a bit.”

Jack showed me a few of the rulers he’s made over the decades he uses to be sure that each space between the shapes in his paintings are the correct Golden Ratio distance apart. What must it be like to have a mind that can wrap itself around this, and pursue this exploration for decades?

“I guess it goes way back,” Jack said, “because even my own house and what I was interested in the late 60s were things like Norwegian stave churches (see one at https://sandalsand.net/whc-list-0058-urnes-stave-church/), I always liked this kind of diminishing, stepped design. But the question is always, what's the order of the stepping, what's the proportion, what's the ratio of the steps? I've always been interested to find the answer to that.

"My own house is based on squares; so I have a square floor plan on the first floor, and the second floor is on the diagonal of that. That's a square. Then the third floor is on the diagonal of that. Well, that's a ratio, but it's not the Golden Ratio - it's the Oriental Silver Ratio.: He went on to explain the differences between the two and even though I recorded our conversation, when this one ended with ‘...And that's it in a nutshell,’ I thought, "OK!" As I was writing this I was so glad I could Google a Norwegian church to link for an up-close visual.

Anyway, back to that gesso “wallpaper" ... visiting the paintings I perceived a connection between the past and present in some of them, which sometimes affected me emotionally. Yeah, I thought it was weird, too, at first. Conversely, the Golden Ratioed geometric shapes are harder despite having the exposed “wallpaper” throughout them. However, as always there are exceptions…

Take a “Forest Walk” with me. This vertical piece is a favorite. The gesso pattern has a leaf-like feel and appearance, the greens are calming – just like being in the woods, walking or just sitting and thinking. I like that Jack titled as he did because it’s exactly what it appears to entreat the viewer to do. While we both looked at this one, Jack pointed out a faint bit of yellow running through the painting that I saw as a path ...to walk through it. Later when I returned to “Forest Walk” alone (and shrunk down to the small version of “Alice”) I sat down on the leaf-covered path imagining the yellow to be muted rays of the sun.

Art travel is a real trip.

“Glorious Mud.” I started thinking sooooo, is the perspective of this painting a view from above? Am I looking down at this? Interesting point, Jack says. He takes me to his three-piece granite sculpture he has “purposely left so it can be played with and when you do you’ll see the patterns in each painting.”

After that, I was visiting and revisiting some of the work, taking photos, and approaching several from that perspective.

Listen, I could go on about this fascinating artist. But, if he is new to you, and even if he’s not, check out this show through the weekend. And, if you can’t make it, as I said earlier, Jack Silverio is one of the regular artists at this gallery. 

Studio 53 is at 53 Townsend Ave. in Boothbay Harbor. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. daily.