Shoreline City Hall Gallery: Brush with Nature, May 4 - July 29

The Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council and the City of Shoreline present: Brush with Nature, May 4, 2011 – July 29, 2011, Open Monday-Friday 9 - 5.

The public is invited to an Open House to meet the artists on Tuesday May 17, 5:30-7:00 p.m. at Shoreline City Hall, N 175th St and Midvale Ave N. (date change)

The Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council and the City of Shoreline present a new exhibit, Brush with Nature, featuring paintings by Fran Holt, d’Elaine Johnson, Jan Pollard and photography by Ellen Witebsky.

Fran Holt

Holt’s paintings stem from a chance encounter with a book of carousel horse photos, discovered at a second hand store and have triggered a two-year art exploration about carousel horses. At first, the paintings were simply a celebration of my childhood spent in Maryland, where the carousel at Ocean City was a great treat. Later, the paintings evolved into imagining life from the horses’ point of view. More about her work can be found here  

d'Elaine Johnson

d’Elaine Johnson

Johnson’s paintings focus on the principals of water. They are concerned with the cycles of fortune, wheels of justice, departures or banishments and returns, regeneration and rebirth. She comments, "My art form ties all life on this planet together in a universal context through the seas, where life began and today connects all as one.” Website

Jan Pollard

Shoreline artist Jan Pollard, like Holt is also fascinated by horses. “I enjoy painting any subject matter that has a rhythm and flow. That is why horses and the human form are particular favorites of mine. Although my work is becoming more and more abstract, living things are still a basis for most of my paintings.”

Ellen Witebsky

Ellen Witebsky

Witebsky’s manipulated photographs of nature around us play into what she sees happening in the world. “We love nature. We revere nature. Yet we insist on tinkering with it, turning it into something not quite natural. This series explores — with a sense of fun and whimsy — our compulsion to make changes to the natural world and the objects in it.” Her work can be viewed here.

In addition, small works by local sculptors will be displayed on pedestals recently purchased with a generous grant from King County 4Culture and the City’s 1% for Art program.

This exhibit runs from May 4 through July 29, 2011 at the Shoreline City Hall Gallery. The Gallery at City Hall may be viewed any time during regular hours, Monday – Friday, 9am – 5 pm except holidays. The Shoreline City Hall is located at 17500 Midvale Ave. N, Shoreline, WA 98133. For more information please contact the Arts Council at 206-417-4645.

The Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to nurture all of the arts in the community through programs and events, arts education, advocacy, and support for artists and arts organizations.