Linda Rugina’s oil on linen of a quail blending into the underbrush.If You Go• What: North River Civic Center 10th Anniversary Exhibition.• Where: 1009 Executive Drive, Suite 102, Hixson.• When: 2-4 p.m. today opening reception, exhibits through Feb. 28.• Admission: Free.• Information: 423-870-8924
To mark the 10th anniversary of the North River Civic Center, two exhibitions are opening in the Hixson venue today — one featuring the work of local professionals, the other a show-and-tell by folks who just learned to paint through a class.
“Camouflage” focuses on work of animals, bugs and birds protected by their coloring in their natural habitat. The fine-art exhibit brings to fruition a long-time goal of the center’s executive director, Linda Rugina.
A bear hidden in tree branches is by JoAnn Bracey.“The idea for ‘Camouflage’ was created from a safari I took years ago in East Africa,” she explains. “Many of the animals we saw blended into the landscape, making them very difficult to photograph.
“Since that trip, I’ve always wanted to do paintings of those animals for an exhibit,” says Rugina, an artist whose paintings of lions from the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya are included in the show as well as her oil-on-linen painting of a quail hiding in wintry brush.
Rugina says she put out a call for artists through an email blast and received a positive response from several local wildlife artists: JoAnn Bracey, Nancy Diwan, Marlene Dickshinski, Bud Ellis, Amanda Farris, Madeline Gavin, Irma Herzog, Judi Hostetter, Rena Malone, Lynne Mayer, Denton Ridge, Carol Ruocco, Evelyn Williams and Virginia Skipper.
The second exhibit, “Introduction to Oil Painting,” features work by local senior adults who completed a beginner’s class taught by Judi Hostetter. Pieces by Cecilia Chang, Joyce Dudley, Mary Jett, Norma Jo Hamilton, Polly Kettering, Brij Singh, Myola B. Spivey, Dotty Volz and Deborah Yeary are hung in this show.
“The premise of the class was that it was for people who had never painted, but there were a couple of participants who had painted 40 years before in college and hadn’t touched it since. The class opened this up to them again,” says Hostetter.
“Owls” by Bud Ellis is part of the “Camouflage” exhibit.Rugina says the class was funded by an ArtsBuild grant, so instruction and supplies were free to the new painters.
Hostetter, a retired art teacher who has painted for more than 50 years, says weekly lessons were designed to build upon techniques learned the previous week. She also taught fundamentals such as how to clean a brush, how to select a brush appropriate for a specific technique and what supplies beginners need to buy.
“The first week I brought an apple for everyone to paint on a small canvas. The following week I brought a landscape, then a still life with a vintage enamel pot filled with apples. We did two florals, sunflowers and zinnias, then another landscape.
“They were quick learners and so excited to learn. One of the ladies has completed 12 pieces on her own at home since the class ended. It really pushed a button with her.”
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.