Trending
WARREN -- Exhibitions by Sue Hood, Julie Martin and the TAG Portrait Group open Saturday at Trumbull Art Gallery.
Hood is a Warren native and 1978 Warren G. Harding High School graduate who has lived in the Cleveland area for the last 40 years, where she taught in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District.
It will be her second TAG exhibition. Monoprints she created as part of her master's program at Kent State University were displayed at TAG around 1990 when it was located at the Gillmer House on Mahoning Avenue NW, Warren.
Hood said TAG Gallery Director William Mullane saw one of the paintings she created for her "Generations" series online and contacted her about showing her work. The generations series features paintings of six generations of women in her family.
"When I retired, I had more time to paint," Hood said. "I did a painting of my niece and set her up like Mona Lisa with a swing set in the background. It was about leaving childhood behind. It did really well in shows, and a friend of mine said I need to do more of these."
Hood said she's always enjoyed doing paintings of people, but the "Generations" series was different.
"I'm choosing these models because of what I know about them," she said. "I chose them specifically because I already know about them. That's why I enjoy it. I don't do commissions. If someone asked me to paint their mother, it's not going to be the same. I don't know your mother."
The exhibit also will include Hood's landscape paintings.
"I do a lot of landscapes, plein air and in the studio from memory and photographs and sketches," she said. "That's a real passion of mine. I like hiking, I like to be in nature, looking for the light. That's what makes me want to do the painting."
Martin originally is from Colorado and studied at Colorado State University and the Colorado Institute of Art. She worked for years as a graphic designer in Chicago and Akron, doing package design for such brands as Johnson Wax, Montgomery Ward and Kraft.
She moved to Masury seven years ago, and her work has earned juror awards in the TAG Annual.
Martin also is inspired by the human figure, but her portraits feature a distinctive fragmented style that makes the images look as if they are painted on slats that are out of alignment.
"A long time ago I was looking at a fashion magazine," Martin said. "I had painted a lot of traditional portraits and it was like a lightbulb came on. What if I sliced this here and experimented with where the slices went? … I've been doing it ever since. When I look for a person to paint, it's boring for me if I can't make fragments."
The show features more than 40 works, from a series of 12 6-inch-by-6-inch mini portraits to large scale paintings.
She's also started experimenting with the same visual technique using ceramics, and some of those pieces will be on display as well.
"I keep wanting to try other things," Martin said. "I don't want to just do acrylics."
The TAG Portrait Group meets weekly at the gallery and its members do sketches and paintings with a live model.
Artists participating in the exhibit are Allison Breese, Paulette Catchpole, Scott Chopko, Marie Dippolito, Salli Kowalski, Rebecca Nan, Terry Polonsky, Yasmin Rashid and Pete Vouvounas.
All three exhibitions will be on display through June 24, and an opening reception is planned from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday.
If you go …
WHAT: Exhibitions by Sue Hood, Julie Martin and the TAG Portrait Group
WHEN: Saturday through June 24 with opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday. Gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
WHERE: Trumbull Art Gallery, 158 N. Park Ave., Warren
HOW MUCH: Admission is free. For more information, go to www.trumbull artgallery.com or call 330-395-4876.