Arts on Douglas Opens the Fall Season with Two New Exhibitions August 26 2015

On view: September 5-26, 2015
ARTISTS TALK: Friday, September 11, 11am

In the alt_space: Looking + Seeing: Anatomy Paintings 2005 - 2015 by Richard Heipp

On view: September 5-October 17, 2015

New Smyrna Beach, FL ––  Arts on Douglas announces the opening of the fall season with two new exhibitions. In the feature gallery, mixed media artist Christine Peloquin presents: Drawn To It, on view September 5-26, 2015. In the alt_space: Looking + Seeing: Anatomy Paintings 2005 - 2015 by Richard Heipp will be on view September 5 - October 17, 2015. An opening reception for both exhibitions will be held on Saturday, September 5, 4-7pm. The opening reception, exhibitions and Artists Talk are free and open to the public.

Drawn To It consists of more than 30 new works by artist Christine Peloquin. The majority of Peloquin's artwork is drawing and painting on fabric and paper collage. Her subjects range from faces and figures of women and children to landscapes, nature scenes and abstracts. Peloquin's work invokes and addresses universal issues such as philosophy, spirituality, motherhood and self-awareness. There is a stillness about her work that will surely draw you in. Layered in her collaged pieces are antique cloths, contemporary fabrics, antique dictionary pages, old children’s school books, atlases, architectural plans, wallpaper, tablecloths, napkins, lace, buttons, flowers, leaves and any variety of papers and 2D found objects. Peloquin will give an Artists Talk on September 11, 2015 at 11am.

Visitors are sure to be enveloped in her large scale artworks. The featured piece Saturated is a striking portrait soaked in autumnal colors and collaged with layers of paper and textiles. Of her artworks, Peloquin states, “The joy in this process of collaging, drawing and painting is the instinctual choices of rendering and harmonizing what I will cover up and what I will leave to be revealed.  Most of the titles come from appropriated words found in the collage. I believe that art and life is always about becoming more conscious, more aware, and more of yourself. For me, this includes life as an artist, a woman and a mother.” In all of her works, especially in her portraiture, one can sense that acute self awareness.

Richard Heipp’s exhibition is riddled with images that appear to be digitally manipulated photographs but are what he has dubbed “photocentric” paintings. Heipp uses this term to describe his carefully airbrushed paintings. Visually stunning in their ability to trick the eye, Heipp’s works are intriguing. The trompe d’oeil lies in his carefully produced rich and highly detailed images. Heipp’s piece Visible Anatomy: Plastic Media Still Life is testament to his ability to connote his sense of humor through the juxtaposition of the 1950s cartoon character Howdy Doody and an intricately rendered almost translucent skull. The scattered glass eyes in the background of his work beg the question, is there something more to see?

Christine Peloquin received her B.A. cum laude from Rollins College. She has exhibited numerous times in various places in eastern United States. She has exhibited her work in both solo and group exhibitions. She lives and works in Mount Dora with her husband and their two sons.

Richard Heipp is originally from Cleveland, Ohio, where he received a B.F.A. in Painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1976. He went on to get his M.F.A. in Painting from the University of Washington in 1979. Heipp has been a painting professor at the University of Florida for 30 years. Most recently he was the interim director for the School of Art + Art History at the University of Florida. He has had numerous public art commissions and his paintings are featured in many public and private collections. He lives and works in Gainesville.