MARGARET COE - EXHIBIT STATEMENT CHICAGO BY RAIL; Retracing the Oregon Trail..in reverse These paintings are interpretations of the American West as experienced from the window of a train...fleeting scenes viewed in rapid succession. The animation of the windows accompanied by a rhythm section {provided by the engine} and the insistent vibration of the tracks intensifies ones awareness of time and terroir. The series is about landscape and motion. It also strikes me as a metaphor for that universally shared reality: continuous change. I was traveling with my husband in June of 2013 to visit our son and his family in East Aurora, New York. I took many a “Hail Mary” photograph as we chugged along. Back home in my studio, these shots became the basis and starting point for series of paintings. The subjects vary from lumber mills along the Columbia River to farm towns and cities viewed from the grittier side of the tracks. After our arrival in Chicago we made a night train connection to Buffalo. Therefore the series ends in Illinois, the launching point of the Lewis and Clarke expedition.