A few months back Mabrie Ormes and I sat down and conducted one of a series of local artisan interviews. It was a rainy day and we kept having to turn the recorder off to attend to the running of Art & Soul Gallery. It is fun to hang in art galleries while it pours rain outside. Lots of folks had the same notion that day. We would get through a few questions, then help a client. An interesting little challenge, and the interview was a lot of fun. I learned a lot about my new art friend Mabrie. That article appeared in the May edition of Locals Guide (click here for a link to the whole article).
It was rainy all Spring at the Market. This shot was taken May 29, 2011, a typical day this last May. Mabrie was a trooper bringing her art papers out in the rain, scrambling to keep dry. See her in the warm setting of her gallery opening at Art & Soul, First Friday ArtWalk, downtown Ashland... today. Sometimes the lens sees things we can't see with our own eyes. Cool aura.
Mabrie is a wonderful artist with a close connection to the natural world. She is the featured artist this month at Art & Soul Gallery. Being a dedicated member of the Lithia Artisans Market, I thought it appropriate to give a shout out about this show.
The show is called “Congruences” and features drawings from a live nude model on painted papers. The paintings are all on handmade mulberry paper using the same process as the papers she sells at Lithia Artisans Market. The addition of the sketching makes these pieces totally unique from the items Mabrie typically sells at the outdoor marketplace.
“One fine day about 8 months ago I brought one of my tempera paintings to an artist-run drawing session and drew the model on it. It was a ‘Eureka!’ moment. The new drawing expressed something poetic about us and the congruences between our human selves and Nature.”
The opening of her show is today, First Friday Art Walk, from 5:00 pm ’til around 8:00 pm. If you are out and about for Ashland’s First Friday, and I highly recommend that you do so, please stop by to say hello and check out the newest pieces by Mabrie Ormes. The Gallery is located right next to Chase Bank at 1st and Main Streets in Ashland.
— Stay tuned for the music lineup for Lithia Christmas Faire, and other updates about the Holiday Season as we get closer to Thanksgiving.