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Mix of art comes together

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By KLINT LOWRY

klowry@suncoastnews.com

Published: June 17, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - Progress Energy Art Gallery's new director, Nancy Ciesla, faced a daunting task right out of the gate.

It's difficult enough to set up an exhibition of a single artist or of a handful of artists who work in the same medium, let alone trying to figure out how to arrange 60-plus pieces from up to 20 artists whose work spans a wide range of media and an even wider range of styles.

That's the challenge of staging an exhibition like the gallery's third annual Member Artists' Exhibition, taking a visual smorgasbord and creating something that exceeds the sum of its parts. That's also the reward for visitors who walk through the exhibition; appreciation for each piece on its own merit is enhanced by the sheer variety surrounding it. If there is an "artists' statement" to an exhibition like this, it is a joyful proclamation of the endless range of human creativity.

The gallery's multiroom layout helps visitors ingest the feast in courses, with the first room alone offering an intriguing variety that invites comparisons of the artists' works not as a matter of whose is better but of overall appreciation. One can study the use of bright color and textures in Terry Kinderman's mixed media abstracts, then make an aesthetic shift to Suzanne Holland's "frame-within-a-frame" miniature artworks.

One wall features the works of several photographers. Visitors can consider the wildlife shots of Cheryl Molennor, which project a sense of humanity in animal subjects. The eye can then segue to Karren Tolliver's cool black-and-white study of musical instruments, a decided contrast to Erica Urbanovitch's color series of wild mushrooms, which in turn contrasts with Paula Showen's old-fashioned looking portrait of a woman playing guitar.

The game of compare and contrast seems to be inevitable as one exits the front gallery, with Ralph Annan's pop-art comic strip-style depictions lining the archway leading to the next gallery, the "Victorian Room," where large-scale classical-style portraits by Matthew Ellrod transport the atmosphere of the exhibition back at least two centuries.

The viewer quickly returns to the here and now in the next gallery, which Ciesla unofficially calls the "man's room," featuring mostly three-dimensional art. Here again, the infinity of creativity is subtly celebrated through side-by-side entries made from wood - the linear wall-hangings of Lloyd Johnson and the undulating sculptures of Harry Farmlett.

Though the rear gallery has a unifying "tropical paradise" theme, there still is an eclectic mix of sensibilities, from the gentle nostalgia of Gladys DePrias' "old Florida" to C.W. Tanner's scuba-inspired fantasies.

In the gallery hall, Michelle Collins' acrylic mosaics look like authentic medieval Christian iconography, wildly contrasting with the free-flowing collages of B.J. White-Myers hanging nearby.

There are more surprises and more artists in the exhibition, and as with a buffet, each customer's plate will look different, but everyone will get their fill. Progress Energy Art Gallery's third annual Member Artists' Exhibition runs through July 31.

The gallery, at 6321 Grand Blvd., New Port Richey, is open from noon until 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

Reporter Klint Lowry can be reached at (727) 815-1067.

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