This exhibition marks a culmination of several tendencies already in evidence in Pat Badt's paintings eight years ago. In a1993 catalogue essay Sarah McNear, then curator of the Allentown Art Museum, points out the significance of the small scale of Badt's work. The size of the paintings she relates to their source; table top still life.

The subject matter hasn't changed: fruit, vegetables and small objects are dominant. The paintings are still small. If anything, the thrust is towards an ever-smaller scale, as the largest painting in this exhibition is smaller than the smallest one in the 1993 exhibition.

This reduction of scale is important in the fact that it coincides with an increase in the size of the subjects. Now the object has overwhelmed its background, it has in effect grown beyond the boundaries of the frame.  The monumental and the minute have collapsed into a single expression· This accomplishment is enhanced by the artist's uncanny powers of observation in that the object depicted does not loose its identity but rather asserts it. It is as if the artist has uncovered the essence of the object. We can almost smell the fruit and feel the hard lacquered surface of the croquet ball.

In 1994 Badt spent a year in Japan.  During this time she immersed herself in that culture taking with her, among other things, an exquisite sense of presentation . This, combined with her sense of scale and contemplative sensibility, has since grown into a new art form, or the unique book. The two examples in this exhibition arecharacteristic of the high quality of craftsmanshiP and lyrical sensibility that goes into their making. Academic Calendar, a folding book style with twelve paintings takes its order from the artist's academic working calendar. It starts with the month of September and marks each month with a landscape as it goes through its mood changes. Every month is also marked by a few days, which have special significance in the artist's life. The second book, Winter Framed, is a collection of eight paintings in a folding-book style. Each painting is a record of the changing sky as seen through a single window in the artist's home.

As in her paintings, Badt presents us with her highly personal and intense obsewations Unfolding the pages of these books leaves one acutely aware of their private nature, as if we were somehow intruding. Still the artist's ability to relate to the human spirit on a grand scale allows us to participate in her vision without guilt.