Artist Statement:
​​As I wander, I see my surroundings through the medium of paint. I notice formal elements, and imagine a painting composed of the patterns, textures, shapes, color, and values I see. The imagery provides a structure for the process of painting. As I proceed from one painting to the next in a series, I explore color and spatial relationships, different marks and methods for rendering the image, and their effect on the tenor of the piece.

Elements in forests and urban neighborhoods are woven together to create a sense of place, recreating the feeling of being in these environments, where trees figure prominently.  The woods are dense, yet there are pathways through – created by light getting through to the ground or openings in the tangle of things growing. I like finding the passage through the visual chaos.  In the neighborhood paintings, trees provide a powerful visual counterpoint to the close space, patterns and colors of the buildings. Trees are an amazing element in the city – uplifting visually, spiritually, and environmentally.
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In the end the paintings are the product of my desire to spend time with paint, and to portray the beauty I see in my encounters. Sometimes my subjects are beautiful in odd, quirky ways, and sometimes as expressions of the power of nature, and I am compelled to paint them in detail.
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Artist Bio: 
Vicki Kocher Paret currently lives and paints in Cambridge. She is a representational painter, exploring beauty in objects and place.
Her formal training began with a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, and later she completed her Master of Arts in Teaching in Art Education at Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Her paintings are in numerous corporate and private collections, including Children’s Hospital Boston, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Fidelity Investments Corporation, and Wellington Management Company, LLP.  
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Vicki’s past positions include serving as the Chair of the Art Department at Waring School in Beverly, and being on faculty at the DeCordova Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.  She currently offers classes at the Arlington Center for the Arts and the Eliot School in Jamaica Plain. 

Artist Statement: 
Architectures of small towns have been the main subject in my work for the last five years. From stairs to poles, boats to houses, every line and shape in the townscape are intertwined to create either the most dynamic movements or the quietest stillness. Thus, I paint on site in these townscapes where wonderful and playful compositions are naturally formed.