…was great! The place was packed with folks all evening long!
BOTTOM: “Tornado – Clay, AZ” Encaustic on Masonite, Mounted on Plywood Mat and Framed 8″ x 10″ — O.D. 15″ x 11″ ©2006 Marilyn Fenn
Quite a few of my friends came by, and I ran into several other people I knew from other venues. The music by the Atlantics was really good; there was plenty of wine and some great food.
The show was full of very strong work. I really love the 2 pieces by young artist Miranda Mueller — one of them is a sort of Chuck Close-like portrait, beautifully painted. Fabulous brushstrokes in these little ‘pixelated’ squares — very juicy.
Theresa Bayer was doing caricatures all night long for free! She’s very talented at this and was kept busy the entire night. She sold her piece last night, as did another friend of mine, Melanie Lewis. In fact, I think several pieces sold last night.
There were some really nicely done landscapes by Cindy DeBold and Donald Smith (among others), some wonderful photography (I particularly liked the work of Cecilia Ling), some great sculptural works and jewelry, and a gorgeous abstract triptych by Lise Carlson.
Fellow alum Bryan McMath had a huge portrait in the show — when I first saw his work (not knowing at the time whose it was), I felt sure I was looking at the work of a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and I was right. It rocks!
I had 2 of my little tornado paintings in the show, and they were hung very nicely and really sparkled. A sculptor friend of mine thought my work was some of the strongest in the show (!) — I don’t know about that, but it was nice to hear. I talked to one of the judges, who said my pieces were very ‘elegant.’ Elegant tornadoes — I love that!
The show continues through July 30th at the Dougherty Arts Center. Click the title link above for hours and a map.