VERO BEACH — The work of local artist Dawn Mill is the featured exhibition this month at the Artists Guild Gallery on 14th Avenue in Downtown Vero Beach. Entitled Southern Exposure, Mill’s colorful pieces were highlighted at an opening reception Friday night.
Mill is well known around Vero Beach, both for her creative artwork and as an accomplished instructor at the Vero Beach Museum of Art, the Vero Beach Senior Center and the Gallery. The exhibit showcases her proficiency in a variety of mediums, including watercolor, acrylics and oil. Soft watercolor pieces are displayed alongside vibrantly colored acrylic florals, peaceful Florida landscapes done in oil and an intricate Prayer Rug Mandela that combines watercolor with pen and ink.
In addition to multiple mediums, she also employs a variety of styles. “I graduated from standard watercolor techniques that are very realistic, to what I call splash and pour, where I use it a little more naturally,” explained Mill. “It’s looser in some areas and I tighten it up in others. You can’t do that with acrylic; it doesn’t respond the same way.”
“I get bored,” added Mill with a smile. “I’ve always had a lot of variety. I don’t know which I prefer.”
As guests milled around, nibbling on hors d’oeuvres and sipping wine, they also took in new works by other Gallery artists. In addition to a diverse assortment of prints and paintings, Gallery artists also produce sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, pottery and glass pieces.
Over the slower summer months, Gallery members have been busy working on a new cookbook which will come out in the fall that will feature recipes and artwork from all 21 member artists. Entitled From Our Palette to Your Palate, the book will have 440 recipes.
“Every artist is represented,” said Judy Burgarella. “The section dividers all have artists’ works on them, and Dawn’s [Mill] painting of the front of the building will be on the cover.”
Dawn Mill’s Southern Exposure exhibition will be on display through the end of July. Summer hours for the Gallery, located at 1974 14th Avenue in Vero Beach, are Tuesday through Friday 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. {igallery 226}