Vista Studios Gallery 80808: Vista Lights! It's time to take a stroll in the VISTA

LEGALLY TWENTY-ONE IN TIME FOR VISTA LIGHTS!

Gallery 80808 will feature the resident Vista Studio artists during the Vista Lights celebration on November 17^th, 2011, from 5-9pm. Diversity is the theme as VistaStudios celebrates its 21^st Anniversary. The show will run from November 10^th-29^th with the Opening Night and Open Studios on the 17^th.

Vista Studios is home to 13 artists whose works range from realism to abstract, from drawing and painting to stone, ceramics, and post-consumer waste. On opening night, each artist will have his or her studio open for the public to view additional works and processes, and to meet the artists.

With a preference for strong colors and design, Ethel Brody will be trying something new this year. She will be painting with sponges on a prepared surface. The paintings will create the color harmonies she is fond of but with a much different feeling than her previous “Stripes” series.

Jeff Donovan is working with pastel on canvas to create his enigmatic studies. The strong design in his new work Long Distance shows a woman sitting on a chair with her head tilted at an impossible angle, her body leaning forward, the phone receiver held with the opposite hand you would expect. Such is the way Jeff portrays the world and the viewer is left to decipher the meaning.

Jeff and David Yaghjian recently returned from Kaiserslautern, Germany, where they participated in an Art Exchange. They worked in a group studio and ended their stay with an Exhibition of work created during that time which will remain on display inGermany.

Known for her figurative sculptures, Pat Gilmartin is working on a new series which are more abstract and ambigious in meaning than previous work. She will, however, include a more realistic figure in the show, “Woman Entwined”, made of terra cota, with black winding around the woman.

In a body of work titled “Last Words", Susan Lenz investigates the concept of remembrance, personal legacy, and our common human frailty. Crayon on silk grave rubbings, vintage household linens, recycled material, stitched and calligraphy epitaphs, and angel images are meant to reflect both personal and universal mortality, and the passage of time through generations. The exploration of final words marking others’ lives causes reflection of ones own existence.

Sharon Licata was recently awarded 3^rd place for Sculpture in the State Fair. This year, she will create a limestone installation with some of her figurative pieces titled Pompeii.

Laurie McIntosh continues working on a figurative series that she introduced last year which pertains to Body Language. In her work, this form of non-verbal communication consists of body postures and gestures- signals the brain often sends subconsciously, but which reveal the person’s state of mind. The works are oil pastel on paper and canvas.

Laura Spong paints with an energy that proves she is far from slowing down. Her abstract expressionistic work is tied together by her style, rather than by theme. All of her pieces in this show expresses the energy in which she created them.

Michel McNinch will be showing a painting in which she recently won Merit Award in the Professional Category at the State Fair Competition. Recent paintings are from S.C. Parks: Sadler Creek, Hickory Knob, and Dreher Island. Visitors are encouraged to stop into her studio and see the beginning of her new figurative series.

Kirkland Smith, known for her Assemblages of post-consumer waste which hang on the wall like 3-Dimensional paintings, will present a life-size 3-Dimensional figurative piece. This playful installation will utilize many post-consumer donations she has received from members of the community. She also plans to display the interactive Assemblage created by visitors to her solo show last month.

Stephen Chesley, Heidi-Darr Hope, Robert Kennedy, and David Yaghjian will also participate in the show.