VERO BEACH — The Artists Guild Gallery proudly presents “Asian Influences,” mixed media works by award-winning Sebastian artist Mary Segal, on view in our Guest Artist Gallery March 1-30. An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, March 1, from 5-8 p.m., which coincides with the First Friday Gallery Stroll.
Inspired by her travels in China and Japan, Mary Segal’s mixed media works in this exhibit incorporate traditional Chinese calligraphic forms and Japanese sacred folded paper forms. In China, Mary discovered a source book of traditional Chinese calligraphic forms on ancient seals at the Shanghai Museum that found their way as elegant design elements into her paintings, collages, and monotypes in her series, “Chinese Red.”
In Japan, she was intrigued by folded paper streamers, known as “gohei,” believed to be the first form of origami, which can be found at every Shinto shrine and on other objects of spiritual power, such as ancient trees and rocks.
She folded the rice paper pages from her travel journal into these forms, including them in her painted scrolls, and used the form again in her monotypes, often embellishing them with Japanese origami papers. This will be the first public showing of this series in Vero Beach.
Mary Segal earned her B.A. from Brown University, Providence, RI, and studied Studio Art at the Rhode Island School of Design, with post graduate work at Akademie of Fine Arts in Munich, Germany. She furthered her studies in printmaking at Laguna College of Art, Laguna Beach, CA.
Mary has been an instructor of drawing, printmaking, and mixed media books at the Vero Beach Museum of Art since 1986, and has lectured and taught a variety of forms of art and printmaking throughout Florida and various locations around the U.S.
Gallery affiliations included Mary Woerner Fine Art, West Palm Beach, Hand Artes, Truchas, NM, and Cristina de la Vega in Stuart. Her work resides in private and corporate collections throughout the U.S. and in Japan. She was a National Endowment for the Arts grant winner for her series “Journal Drawings.”
New works by our 19 gallery artists, and numerous consignors will also be on view.
Gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Visit us on Facebook or our website at www.ArtistsGuildGalleryVeroBeach.com or drop by the gallery in the heart of the Downtown Art District at 1974 14th Ave. in Vero Beach.
The gallery is now offering classes in oil, watercolor, acrylic, and glass painting. Please call (772) 299-1234 for the class schedule or visit the website www.ArtClasses-AGG.blogspot.com for a complete schedule and class information.
