Everyone experiences the arts differently, but for artists, art can be healing and truly inspirational. The process of creating art offers a range of positive effects...it can help process certain life issues, relieve the mind of stress...it can even help to find oneself. This Saturday, August 27th, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., LarkGallery presents two exhibitions...a solo exhibition entitled "Finding Me," featuring the paintings of Young Yun Summers and a group exhibit, entitled "Creative Edge," which features over seventeen artists. These artists all share a creative expression which has had both small and profound effects on their lives and the art they create.
The Great Divide, detail, by Young Yun Summers, 2016, Mixed media collage, 29" x 41.5"
LarkGallery was co-founded in 2007 by Lark Larisa Pilinsky and Pashyo Sarkin. Both are art lovers, curators, artists, and all around creative people. Pashyo is also a musician and the bandleader of SangomaBeat. The band performs world music beats regularly and recently enjoyed a warm reception at the Brand Library & Art Center in Glendale. Members of the band will perform at this Saturday's opening. http://sangomabeat.com/
LarkGallery presents exhibitions in pop up galleries and alternative venues collaborating with Phantom Galleries since 2010. Pashyo said, "It is our mission to promote an artistic dialogue between diverse cultures and forms of expression and to create multidimensional shows, with the elements of painting, photography, sculptures, music and dance."
Lark will be exhibiting a work entitled "When the Light is Awaken" in the group show. She said when she is creating her art, she meditates and allows her intuition to guide her. "Recently I was fascinated by morning light and its impression on the colors of nature," said Lark. "This artwork is a reflection of the magic happening when the light is just awakening and we as a human beings awaken to see it."
"When the Light is Awaken" by Lark Pilinsky, 2016, Acrylic on board 8" x 8"
Pashyo has been curating most of exhibitions this year. "When I curate a show, I look for originality, consciousness and a sense for harmony and flow. I also see that the artworks in an exhibition talk to each other and create a dynamic wholeness. I want to create a space where the viewer feels safely carried and supported in his/her experience and interaction with art."
Artist Peggy Lee has been painting since she was very young. Her art has helped her get through the hardships of life, such as her mother's diagnosis of dementia. "I thought much about the human condition, and the thinking process or rather our memories that lie deep within us," said Lee. "The memories that we only know for ourselves are ours. The color represents our vision of memories and the relationships that amplify into our own 'human sanctuary,' the part of us only we can tap into. The white portions, the actual sanctuary represents truth and the comfort we have when we examine our thoughts thoroughly into the best of memories."
"Sanctuary VII" by Peggy Lee, 2015, Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas, 72" x 48"
Lee paints almost every day. She added that she enjoys the contentment and happiness she feels after completing a work, while also sending a message to her viewers.
"I've been creative since I was very young," said Jean Brantley, another participating artist. "I remember receiving a gold ribbon for a piece I did in a children's art show sponsored by a department store in St. Louis, MO, where I grew up. That was over 50 years ago." After retirement, Jean devoted more of her time to being creative. "My process is rather intuitive in nature, continued Jean. "I most often don't really know what will emerge when I start a piece. I simply love the creative process of making one mark on a blank canvas, and seeing what happens."
"Emerging Hearts" by Jean Brantley, 2016, Mixed media, acrylic on canvas, 16" x 20"
Jean also paints on silk using dyes and fabric wall hangings as well as on found objects. "The exhibit's theme 'Creative Edge' was what excited me because I believe that describes my art."
"Finding Me," and "Creative Edge" open this Saturday, August 27th, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and runs through September 24th 2016. LarkGallery Hawthorne, 12609 Hawthorne Blvd., Hawthorne, 90250.
For more information and a full list of artists, go to http://larkgallery.com/