Walk showcases new, seasoned artists

Nine downtown galleries opened their doors to the public Friday night in celebration of the visual arts and the last Downtown Gallery Walk for 2004, Though it was just another walk for some, for others it marked a milestone. \n"I'm really nervous," said Tom Woodson, resident of Muncie. The Holiday Art Gallery Walk was his first show. His acrylic-based art featured vibrant colors of familiar landscape scenes in Indiana.\nAngel Mercado, the other featured artist at TOP Gallery, paints with Woodson once or twice a week. He said he likes to paint in the early morning or evenings. \n"When the sun is close to the horizon you see the most vivid colors," Mercado said. He started painting in 1996 when he took his first oil painting class. \nAt each art venue the atmosphere was unique; the change provided interest as viewers walked from gallery to gallery on the crisp December evening. From the ritzy feel of TOP Gallery, to the friendly, party feel of The Wandering Turtle Art Gallery, the evening brought much commodity, as well as laughter from friends conversing and onlookers meeting the artists. \nAt Gallery West Espresso, the colorful balloons welcomed visitors to a quaint white house featuring the calligraphy of Ms. Su-min Chen and the artwork of Angela Brown. \nMs. Su-min Chen's high school classmate, Jenny Min-ching Yang, a Bloomington resident, was there to represent the Taiwanese artist. Yang said her friend is turning traditional calligraphy into modern work. She uses layered rice paper and each layer turns out differently creating a unique effect. Yang said the words on the art relate to Buddhism.\nAt Gallery West Espresso Jenny Min-ching Yang's husband played an erhu, a two-stringed traditional Chinese violin. The seafood dip and wine added to the unique feel of Gallery West Espresso. Brown, a poet and schoolteacher, had works featured in another room. In one of her pieces she used the wings of a cicada, and attached them to an iridescent heart, giving the piece a touch of Indiana.\nTwo friends, Jacki Frey and Paul Lightfoot, were two of the founding members of Gallery North and have helped each other throughout their careers. The duo had their showing upstairs at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. It was the first year Frey painted full time. Her technique for her watercolor paintings is layering the wash. She let the colors flow onto the paper and then takes a subject matter and arranges it appropriately.\n"It is not abstract really -- more experimental," Frey said. \nLightfoot said it takes about two weeks to produce one of his photographs. The colorful photography is of old machinery, he said.\n"I like to find old machinery that is rusting and deteriorating," Lightfoot said. He said Third Street and the 45/46 Bypass is a favorite place to go. Lightfoot has done over 50 shows, but he said this event stood out. \n"I believe this is my best show yet," he said.\nEach gallery had their own way of hosting the visitors. At Fossil Rain, the deep sky astrophotography of photographer Scott Johnson was featured, and the pottery of his studio partner Kris Busch was featured. \nAt The John Waldron Arts Center, featured photographer H. Joseph Gore gave a half an hour talk on his tribal photographs. \nAt Wandering Turtle Art Gallery, The Great Inbetween played low-key jazz music while people wandered through the gallery. \n"I like the Holiday Art Show the best because every year I do a group show and the dynamic of the group is really neat," owner Jaime Sweany said. \nArtist Michael Redman made a "Tree of Gifts," where you write a wish on a piece of paper and put it in a box, then cut a gift from the tree and keep the gift until March 20, putting the gift in a place where you can see it every few days.\n"It's not about the wish," Redman said, "and will it come true, but rather, why did I make that wish and what does that wish mean to me?"\nAt Wandering Turtle Art Gallery many wishes were made and art was admired. \n-- Contact staff writer Christine Lunde at clunde@indiana.edu