At the Foyer Gallery in the 樱桃视频Public Library until Sept. 4, acrylic painter and mixed media artist聽Oriana Rollo聽presents her exhibit, 鈥淏loom,鈥� a celebration of flowers, blossoms and buds, captivating the happiness that a simple bouquet can bring to your day.
Although Rollo, like many artists,聽has been drawn to doing art since her youth, she only started making it more of a priority six years ago. She took an art class on expressive flowers, which prompted the creative stimulation for this series of paintings.
鈥淚 really enjoyed the freedom of capturing the shape of the flowers instead of the precision. Painting the flowers brings me lots of happiness and I feel that gets reflected in each piece,鈥� she says.
Since then Rollo has noticed an evolution in her work. After lots of practice she admits, 鈥淚 like where my paintings are taking me. I get a lot of joy from not only painting the brightly coloured petals and shapes, but seeing the finish project up on the wall.聽 I found one of my early flower paintings and surprised myself with how much I have improved at mixing colours and keeping the colours bright, not muddy.鈥�
Rollo incorporates many whimsical woodland themes into her creations. Her passion for creativity includes the process of finding old or interesting objects and reusing them in new and appealing ways. She utilizes vintage items 鈥� scrabble tiles, broken pottery and typewriter keys to create unique hand-crafted pendants, as well as earrings and glass leaves.
As a vendor, Rollo (who does a lot of farmers鈥� markets) enjoys those days, absorbing the vitality and actually feeling the sense of community.
Rollo is headed in many directions but admits that she is addicted to painting flowers and applying bright colours to canvas, infused with positive energy.
Scrapyard 鈥榪uilts鈥�
Weaver聽Fran Solar聽showcases metal vessels, plaited baskets and scrapyard 鈥渜uilts.鈥� Although she considers herself a textile artist, the materials she uses are not traditional but the weaving and finishing techniques are.
Solar鈥檚 broad inspirations are colour, texture and the incessant search to find a new shape or material that can be incorporated into her pieces. She enjoys using these 鈥渕asculine鈥� materials and hardware pieces 鈥� washers, electrical items, bike parts and gears 鈥� and turning them into more of a domestic dynamic.
It was many years ago the Solar鈥檚 work took a fortuitous turn.
鈥淚 replaced wool/mohair/cotton with copper wire as a warp on my two looms and I continue to have more fun working with the metal, even though it is trickier to handle than traditional fibres,鈥� she proclaims. Now she wants to design bigger, more complex pieces, both as sculpture and for the wall.
Nature inspired
Creating dynamic verve,聽Jan Phalen聽utilizes the contrast between the softness of the matt surface and the high gloss of embellishments of聽Mother of Pearl and 22K gold on her聽nature-inspired clay pieces.聽Phelan is continually perfecting her design and application.
鈥淵ou can never stay in the same place as an artist 鈥� creativity requires forward movement鈥� I have been working on the peaceful Meadowgreen series for a few years, and the Blue Velvet series is from a time of great intensity and I think the colour and design reflect that. The creative inspiration is always the beautiful and inexhaustible inspiration of nature, especially here on the West Coast. Every day the stunning beauty of the ocean and mountains takes my breath away,鈥� she says.聽This exhibit represents Phelan鈥檚 current creative work but she is experimenting with fused glass and clay sculptural forms, which take a lot of time to develop鈥� so we鈥檒l have to wait to see what鈥檚 next!
- Toby Jaxon is the curator of The Foyer Gallery聽
