The Maude Kerns Art Center is pleased to present Everyday Inspiration: A Still Life Invitational Show, on view May 14 – June 4. The Center’s first-ever still life invitational features the artwork of 34 Lane County artists ranging from established to emerging artists and includes over 120 individual artworks in the genre of still life.
Mediums include drawings in charcoal, graphite, and pastels, photography, oil, acrylic, gouache, and watercolor paintings, linocut reduction prints, and textile work. The subjects range from those traditionally associated with still life, such as flowers and fruit, to uncommon objects like a pierced pickle on a fork and broken glassware with a conch shell, to modern stylized forms.
For the exhibit, Kate Bollons, Sarah Ciampa, Carolyn Gates, Gabriella Soraci, and Jordan K. Walker present three-dimensional examples of still life set ups that function as installation sculptures. The choice and arrangement of objects in these still life installations reflect each artist’s signature style. All five artists are current or past art instructors as well as Lane County artists.
In “Everyday Inspirations,” Sarkis Antikajian displays five of his colorful, impressionistic oil paintings featuring bright bouquets of flowers alongside luscious fruit. Bets Cole, who is well known for her landscape and figurative works, exhibits light and airy still life flower paintings in watercolor, gouache, and acrylic. Current Art Center instructor Kate Bollons presents five intimately sized oils of items she enjoys painting and that she uses in still life set ups for her students. Heather Halpern exhibits four intriguing drawings created in soft pastel and acrylic medium that hint at an underlying narrative. Connie Mueller shows three crisp and colorful linocut reduction prints of floral subjects.
