Hearts or Red” is the title of the upcoming Small Treasures exhibit in the Town Center Gallery, which will be filled with art that represents romance, love, hearts, or simply the power of the titular color.
A public reception to celebrate the exhibit will include a demonstration by Joyce Nelson, who will paint a rose. She’ll break down the process of making a flower grow and bloom with oil on canvas, exploring how to capture the beauty and delicacy of petals. Nelson has painted flowers for 36 years—creating more than 3,000 paintings.
Ellie Plumer will also contribute a watercolor titled Red Shoe. She said the shape and color of a particular piece of footwear fascinated her, so she decided to paint it.
The exhibition there was the brainchild of the gallery’s publicity chairman, Michael Corob. He said he came up with the idea to spark artists’ imaginations.
“I hope that the artists enjoy the opportunity to play with ideas, subjects, and materials to express love, romance, or just something red,” he said.
Corob entered his own interpretation of the theme, called Heart Puzzle, the result of playfully drawing several compositions of a hand and heart, with watercolor tinting the final image.
“I want to give the impression that I am dropping a puzzle piece that will cover up layers of other hearts below,” he explained.
Small Treasures’ various themes tend to give rise to fantastic creations. Last year, for instance, more than 40 gallery artists created art using 33 RPM records.
The gallery already has several themes scheduled for the year in the Small Treasures Gallery. Artists will explore “Spring” and “Red, White, and Blue” later this year. Each show will be on display for two months, with opening receptions staggered in a way that will allow the gallery to have a new show every month.
Along with the shows, the gallery will continue with its featured artists of the month. January’s featured artist is Janice Howard, who uses acrylics, watercolors, oils, and colored pencil to show her personal interpretation of large water birds, California landscapes, churches, and missions.
Corob said the timing of this month’s Small Treasures Gallery show, “Hearts or Red,” is to give visitors a chance to view and buy unique, affordable art for Valentine’s Day.
“We hope that these shows will bring new people in to see the creative works done by local artists,” he summed up.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone would like something
This article appears in Jan 13-20, 2011.
