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John and Barbara Opie Artist Reception

Presented by Vickers Theatre at Vickers Theatre Gallery

September 5, 2009

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Join us for an artist reception for John and Barbar Opie. Meet the artists while enjoying refreshments.

"I work almost exclusively in watercolor. I love the fluidity and naturalness of the pigments as they blend together, the transparency of watercolor paints, and the excitement of never knowing exactly how my paintings are going to turn out as the paint flows onto the paper. The watercolor artist cannot be in complete control of the process, but for me, that is the joy of watercolor. After retiring as a Reading Specialist, working with young children, I returned to my childhood passion, painting. I’ve taken many watercolor workshops, studied drawing with Herbert Olds in Pittsburgh, and painting at the Art Barn, New Jersey Center for the Arts, and Krasl Art Center, having been influenced by watercolorists who work is loose and fluid: Matt Payovich, Stephen Blackburn, Ken Hosmer, Ratindra Das, Marlies Glickauf, and Catherine Wilson-Smith. I greatly admire the style of the North American post-impressionist painter Maurice Prendergast. I have been accepted in juried shows at the New Jersey Center for the Arts in Summit, NJ, the Art Barn, Valparaiso, IN, and the Box Factory in St. Joseph, MI.” -Barbara Gerlach Opie

“My photo shooting has been mixed, both 35mm film and digital. Special activity today is toward digital art abstractions (based on photo images), panoramics, and monochrome prints, as well as a long-standing affection for reflections, backlighting, and iconic American landscapes. I have a bad habit. I rarely go out of the house, bike a pathway, travel to a meeting, or journey to my favorite hideaway deep in Canyonlands, without my camera. Because I’ve learned to see the world through a camera’s lens, I’ve chosen journeys to locations I might never otherwise have visited, met people I might never have met, and preserved memories of these experiences. My memories are wired into my photos, and recovered primarily through the photos. My goal is to unveil the inner realities of the outside world. Very often the exact photo image only hints at the inner reality. My photos have been in recent juried shows at the Chicago Artists Coalition, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Box Factory for the Arts, Elkhart Museum of American Art, Southern Shore Art Association, Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Gaia Gallery. Recognition also comes from the Twin City Camera Club (Monochrome Print of the Year 2005, Color Print of the Year 2004), and when I was a teenager, four awards in the national Ansco-Scholastic Photography Competition, including First Place and Grand Award (1951, 1952).” -John Opie