Ring in the new year with Water Street Studios' 2nd Friday Soirée
Step out of the cold and grey of winter into an explosion of color at Water Street Studios' 2nd Friday Soiree on Jan. 13.
Toast to the new year at the artists reception from 6 to 9 p.m. at the gallery, 160 S. Water St. in Batavia.
The walls of each gallery feature the works of five artists from central Illinois.
Featured in the Dempsey Family Gallery will be "Botanica Imaginaria" by Jan Brandt, an artist working in mixed-media, textiles, printmaking, and painting and the owner of Jan Brandt Gallery in Normal, Ill.
The fiber installations and paintings of "Botanica Imaginaria" have grown from Brandt's lifelong fascination with plant life. Brandt's aim is to transform the gallery space with saturated colors and contrasting textures with the use of abstracted interpretations of botanical themes. She forms petals, vines, and leaves, oftentimes using thrifted and gifted materials. The abundance of sculptures and vines inspires a sense of surreal, childlike curiosity and wonder.
Jim Neeley and David Dow of Wisecracker Studio in Bloomington, Ill., have their shows "Flower Bomb" and "Perennial Optimism" on display in the Kane County Magazine Gallery.
Neeley's "Flower Bomb" is a celebration, an explosion, a riot of the flowers, fruits, weeds, and fauna. Inspirations and elements tangled into the imagined bouquets include fashionistas of the 1960s and '70s, iconic architecture that fascinates Neeley, pop culture and improbable mashups of all these elements.
David Dow's "Perennial Optimism" takes inspiration from the tenacity of perennial plants and flowers. He tells a visual parable using exaggerated, fantastical part human, part plant souls constructed of papier mâché, reclaimed lumber, a vintage store fixture, paint, wax, and glass beads to illustrate the optimism of perennials - from winter emerges spring, from deepest slumber emerges exuberant life.
Artists Krystal Kay Lyon and Kelly Hieronymus are featured in the upstairs gallery with their show "Layers." Their work invites you to see the beauty hiding in the details of our lives and the natural world.
Lyon works with fiber and recycled materials to create abstract sculptures that reflect human and organic life and the joy we experience from family and relationships. She incorporates circles into the shape of each fiber work representative of the circles that can be found in every aspect of our lives, from hugs and wedding rings to circular arguments and round-trip flights.
Hieronymus is fascinated with the world from above, specifically the parts of our world most drastically changed by nature or mankind, like salt flats, suburban spread, deforestation and agriculture. The shifting and morphing of the land results in some sad but beautiful places. Hieronymus hopes to inspire others to explore the world from a new vantage point, find beauty in what they see, and strive to protect it.
To RSVP for the opening, go to www.facebook.com/waterststudios.