CEDARHURST CENTER FOR THE ARTS

What a great road trip it was to drive to Mt. Vernon, IL and visit the Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, a beautifull wooded setting with many sculptures and 2 galleries in 2 separate buildings.  Of course, I went to see Carol Carter's work and was not disappointed.  (Carol's Italy series one-woman show will be there in the spring of 2011 so think about taking a trip if you're within a few hours' drive).

Here are some photos from the brochure of the show, curated by artist, Mary Sprague.






Carol's sensuous swimmers and Mary Borgman's charcoal portraits were especially eye-catching.  Mary's work was on mylar and that, of course, gives me ideas!  Caro's were pure watercolor on paper, all the paintings floated and simply framed in black, which made the focus the painting and not the frame and matting.  All of her's were 30 x 40 framed size and she had 4 there.  Carol and Mary had the only two portrait/figure pieces in the gallery, admidst ethereal landscapes by Ahzad Bogosian and Dan Gualdoni (see photo below).








































Work by Mark Weber, Andrew Millner and Joan Hall also caught our eyes.
Definitely worth the drive.  We visited the main gallery and then toured the second gallery which held the entrants from the juried photography show.  The winners were outstanding!  And then we took a short walk around the wooded area and pond to see several of the sculptures.  It was a beautiful day, a bit overcast but warm (in the 50Fs) so nice for a walk and a day out.

After we spent a few hours in the Cedarhurst Area, we then drove to Terre Haute, IN and got there just after dark, checking in, having dinner, and relaxing in our room until the next day's adventure!