2023- Everlasting New England

Everlasting New England

This year's calendar is named "Everlasting New England." A descriptive phrase illustrating Woodward's use of poetic effect in all his work. It is the philosophical principal behind Woodward's objective to portray things as they are without embellishment.

Woodward held a fascination with evolution, particularly the principles of Darwin's natural selection. So much so, that Woodward once named a mare he owned "Tsune." Tsune (soo-ney) is an ancient Japanese Kanji character meaning, "always" in everyday usage. But in a strict philosophical sense, it means, "everlasting" in a specifically sempiternal and temporal sense. That is, being faithful to time alone.

For the sake of brevity, it means that while a leopard may evolve and change its spots, it is still at its essence a leopard. The same can be said of New England. As much as things appear to change, they also unequivocally stay the same! In assembling the paintings for this year's calendar, we realized that each scene is one, which can be found on any given day driving through Western Massachusetts, seemingly unchanged from Woodward's time.

This is critically important to understanding Woodward. Audiences in his time, as we still do to this day, look at his work through the eye of sentimentality. We view his work as "pastoral," a time gone by and passed. Woodward was actually capturing New England, as it is, and always will be ... The everlasting and constant present moment. The now and future that endures because New England can't be anything other than what it is. No more than Woodward can be anything other than the artist he became.