As is tradition, In-Town Gallery begins the new year with an all-member showcase on a common theme. For January 2018, the featured exhibition at the North Shore gallery will immerse visitors in a "Wonderland."
"Who could predict what images the artists would produce when given a title and told to interpret it," says spokeswoman Jennie Kirkpatrick. "Using a variety of materials and methods creates a whole range of possibilities."
Here's how five of the 30-plus member artists interpreted "Wonderland."
Want to learn more? A reception with the artists is scheduled Friday. Visitors will be able to view these and other two-dimensional creations, along with sculptures, pottery, woven shawls, hand-dyed silk wearable art and wood pieces customarily displayed in the gallery.
If you go
› What: “Wonderland” opening reception.› When: 5-8 p.m. Friday. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday.› Where: In-Town Gallery, 26A Frazier Ave.› Phone: 423-267-9214.› Online: www.intowngallery.com, www.facebook.com/intowngallery.
CLOSE-UPS
* Leslie Dulin, "A Ribbon Runs Through It." The lively surface of this painting teems with bubbles, swirls of color and other visual activity, achieved by pouring and manipulating the acrylic paint.
* Spears McAllester, "Yosemite Storm." McAllester channels his inner Ansel Adams in a peaceful photograph of trees in a quiet color palette of velvet blacks, grays and bright whites.
* Sandy Washburn, "Earth Angel." A floating white dress with wings provides more questions than answers in this mixed-media, acrylic painting. Who wore this dress? Why is it flying, and what is the meaning of the written background?
* Margaret Park, "Hope Springs." The tree at its center is bare of leaves and deep in still falling snow, but the warm colors in the background suggest that winter may not last much longer. Parks' choice of watercolor on a yupo surface allows for selectively removing pigment to create effects not possible in traditional watercolor.
* Nadine Koski, "The Seeker." Koski's popular series of owl paintings continues with this one in encaustic. Oil paint, oil sticks, alcohol, beeswax and other materials can be used in encaustic paintings for a rich, deep, matte finish that adds to their mystery.
* Linda Kerlin, "Wonderland." A city of buildings that seem to grow ever upward captured Kerlin's imagination. Her version of "Wonderland" is acrylic paint in her trademark blue-and-pink color combinations.
* Miki Boni, "Alice & Her Wonderbird." This zoomed-in version of the contrasting communication between a woman and her parrot shows the woman in intense concentration and the parrot appearing uninvolved.