Daily Lives: Peasant Art of China
by Ed and Sylvia Krebs
January 3, 2009 - February 28, 2009

"Daily Lives: Peasant Art of China" focuses on rural China where some 65% of the country's 1.4 billion people live. The exhibit includes the work of peasant artists in Hu xian (Hu county) about fifty miles south southwest of Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Hu xian artists made colorful art that celebrated socialist ideals and communal achievement. They became models for artistic work in socialist China. By the late 1970s in the immediate aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, the peasant paintings had declined in popularity. Then in the 1980s, as China initiated economic reform and more foreign connections, the peasant art movement revived. At this point, the political content disappeared almost entirely. The artists retained the brilliant colors while focusing on the life around them.

Ding Jitang, president of the Shaanxi Peasant Painters Association has written: "The artists use the language of a simple and unadorned painting style to represent what they see and hear, to express their rich imagination and feeling. These painters use a bold, sometimes exaggerated style to extol the life around them."

Taken together, the work of the Hu xian artists presents a view of rural life which is far removed from the explosive growth and change occurring in China's cities. And it reflects active way of life still enjoyed in China's countryside.

Learn more at www.peasantpainting.com
   

The American Family Quilt
by Pat Drew
March 1, 2009 - April 30, 2009

Pat Drew creates her unusual style of art by combining quilts and family photos to capture memories of families and relationships. Pat Drew uses Xeroxed copies of photographs from family archives to create a paper quilt which she then laminates on a canvas. She then paints over the quilt with transparent paint. Finally, she uses an enlarged Xeroxed image of a single photograph to obtain a transparent photo-transfer. This image is laminated on top of the quilt by using transparent paint in layers.

Pat comes from an extremely large and very diverse family. Both her mother's family and her father's family made quilts. Her Grandmother Drew created a special quilt for Pat's college dorm room. Her Grandmother Clyatt created patchwork quilts from old fabrics and elegantly embroidered around each piece. While working on the Drew and Clyatt family paintings, Pat realized that America is comprised of a lot of family groups which merge into the rich fabric which we call America. Pat's subject matter for her paintings includes: Families, Immigrants, and Spirited Ancestors.

Pat will be conducting a workshop at the Smyrna Library the morning of March 7th for parents and children. Contact Lisa Tarr, Youth Librarian, for more information. Pat will also be giving a gallery talk on the "American Family Quilt" on March 21st at 4:30 in the second floor gallery at the library.

Visit Pat Drews website

A Carver of Fish
by David Kelly
May 1, 2009 - June 30, 2009

David Kelly of Dallas, Georgia has been a fisherman all his life and enjoys few things more than a visit to a choice fishing spot. After moving to suburban Atlanta and no longer living by the water, he didn’t have time to fish. So David went in search of a new hobby.

He decided to experiment with wood and carving tools and see if he could make a fish emerge from the wood. He knew he would have to cut away the background. The first carving was pretty bad but after several more tries he began to see improvement and was having a good time. “It’s not like painting, where you might be able to add a new layer. You can’t put a piece of wood back, and you can ruin the whole thing with a slip of attention,” he says.

After a year of carving, Kelly felt it was time to “make a splash” and get some exposure for his art by donating it. He called the High Museum in Atlanta. Although not invited to donate, he got words of encouragement. He was told that his work was good, marketable and that he appeared to have natural talent. “That meant a lot to me,” says Kelly.

His next step in self-marketing was to introduce himself to the staffs at various public organizations in his community and offer a donation. This strategy was successful; his works are now owned by the Cultural Arts Council of Douglasville, the Mable House Cultural Center (run by the South Cobb Arts Alliance) and the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association.

Kelly makes it a point to donate his time demonstrating his woodcarving technique at events such as “Pioneer Days,” sponsored by Douglas County and the North Georgia State Fair. “I like doing educational things for kids and families; it’s great to see how interested people are in what I’m doing. It makes me feel good about myself, and I like to think I’m inspiring some people along the way. All day long when I demonstrate, I have a crowd around me of kids—from 5 to 80!”

Kelly has progressed from focusing on single items in his carvings—such as an individual fish or bird—to complex and detailed scenes. As an outdoorsman, he likes to depict wildlife and their natural habitat.

Contact David Kelly at (678) 363-7220.

Portraits and Watercolors
by Dimitri Walker
July 1, 2009 - August 31, 2009

Dimitri Walker of Marietta, Georgia grew up in Atlanta, Georgia and its surrounding suburbs. His mother, upon discovering his talent when he was six years old, became a huge supporter of his artistic endeavors. With almost zero access to art supplies or any real art education, he began drawing at a very young age.

Young Dimitri’s favorite subjects were anything that was in front of him or any wild fantasy that popped into his head. Growing up with no outside influences except comic books and his own desire, he would simply render objects as faithfully as possible while still giving them his own flair.

As a senior in high school, he managed to acquire an art scholarship and attended Reinhardt College. Unfortunately it was not a good fit and after two years of minimal growth he left.

He spent the next 21 years honing his craft, fulfilling portrait commissions, custom picture framing, and for a short while owning a small art gallery in Southeast Atlanta.

In 2005, he returned to Reinhardt College and graduated in 2009 with a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts. His education at Reinhardt helped him to focus on the importance of process and to investigate a subject by going beyond the obvious and to question why he was painting the object.

Dimitri is drawn to still life, portrait, and landscape painting and will quite often combine any or all three subjects. His work also tends to lean toward surrealism, but not so much that the idea behind them is impossible only extremely unlikely.

Currently, he is preparing to continue his education by attending Georgia Southern University to earn a Masters degree.

To see more of Dimitri’s work, visit his website at www.studio66.zoomshare.com.

"Off-Leash"
by Alex Neely
September 1, 2009 - October 31, 2009

Alex Neely of Smyrna, Georgia is a dog lover. Alex has combined his love of dogs and his love of photography into a successful career.

Dogs enrich our lives. Dog and man have been companions for at least 15,000 years. Both are social animals and need interaction with other members of their species. “Off-Leash” is a collection of images of dogs being dogs at the off-leash dog areas at Lake Court and Burger Parks in Smyrna, GA. Its purpose is to call attention to the benefit of these areas with the hope that more of these parks will be added not only in Smyrna, but in all communities.

"My love of photography started when I was 9. My Grandmother always wanted "snapshots" of special occasions or when family members would visit. If my memory serves me well, she had an Ansco box camera that used 620 film. Everyone would take a turn with the camera so that all combinations of those present would be captured. She gave me my first camera, a Spartus Rocket.

Alex had a friend whose father was an avid photographer and had a darkroom where he learned the process of developing film and printing black and white photographs. He also had a Zeiss Ikon 35mm that fascinated Alex. It was his introduction to exposure control and depth of field. He was hooked.

The summer that Alex was 15, he got a job washing windows for a portrait photographer. His film processor was returning to college that fall and he needed a replacement, Alex had a little experience and was cheap labor. Occasionally the portrait photographer would let Alex print. “I learned a lot."

Mr. Neely is an active member of the Atlanta Photography Group and has exhibited several prints at their gallery on Bennett Street in Atlanta. His last major exhibit in Smyrna was "Moments in Time" at REV Coffee during Atlanta Celebrates Photography 9 (www.acpinfo.org). Samples of his work can be seen at www.aneelyphoto.com.

Vintage Car Illustrations
by John Lander
November 1, 2009 - January 2, 2010

Lander’s artistic talents were redirected into the exhibition business until his retirement when he returned to illustrations of vintage cars. John’s art work quickly began appearing in classic car magazines like Car Collector, MG Magazine, Vintage and Motor Sport.

John uses a colored ink technique for drawing his cars. Ink has the vitality of oil but is quicker drying and is great for showing detail. Lander sells originals and signed prints of most of his works and also does commissions for enthusiastic collectors.

You can contact John Lander at 678-322-6105 or by email at johlander35@yahoo.com.