‘Heritage Gardens’ in bloom at North End

Friday, July 18, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DICKSON MERCER ‘‘Heritage Gardens” continues through July 28 at North End Gallery. The reception for the community show is Aug. 1. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

You could also find some ‘‘art for art’s sake,” not to exclude a realist garden portrait or ceramic dish from that category. Or should it be? What did the artist intend? While this cooperative gallery of artists from Southern Maryland deals mainly in fine art, members dabble in other realms too, and the best results (which make a walk through the gallery worth it for someone who wants to view, not buy) transcend easy ideas of classification.

‘‘Heritage Gardens” opened on June 6 and continues through July 28. While shows normally rotate monthly, the extra month will give the members a breather before the big ‘‘Community Show,” a non-juried exhibition open to artists throughout Southern Maryland, the reception for which will be Aug. 1.

‘‘Heritage Gardens” was open to all North End gallery members. The show emphasizes gardens and the outdoors. The work, in terms of styles and media, is about as diverse as flowers, which seem to be the primary focus, rendered in pastels, watercolors, oil, acrylic, serigraph and photographs and done, in one case, on handmade paper.

Just take a look to the right after you enter: There is Judith C. Conrad’s oil on board, ‘‘Dogwoods,” and the slightly more atmospheric oil on board, ‘‘Sotterly Seats II” by Linda M. Epstein. Within the same cluster, Nadine Bardin Chicoine’s ‘‘Sotterly in Summer,” a manipulated, pointillist photograph, has more of a painterly touch. Among it all, some of the best work is found in Tom Ball’s digital master⁄archival prints, laser-sharp, zoomed-in studies of flowers in bloom.

Alongside the paintings and photographs, one finds a variety of fused glass and ceramic dishes, plates and bowls, and other creations that range from functional jewelry and hand-dyed silk to Bill Penn’s whimsical fused glass piece, ‘‘Baby Dinosaur in Egg.” (I’m still waiting for someone to snatch-up the wine holder.)

Next to the baby dinosaur one can sift through a case of small prints, drawing and paintings; perhaps there’s a bargain to be had. Lurking above it all are bright, dream-like paintings by Ann Crain and Mimi Little — abstract expressions mixing easily with flowers and gardens and landscapes.