Christmas at Ouachita River Art Gallery!

ORAG OFFERS CHRISTMAS GIFT ITEMS IN DECEMBER

Among the co-op members in the Ouachita River Art Gallery are painters, potters, photographers, woodworkers and jewelry makers. In December, this varied group of artists will offer special Christmas gift items as well as their usual artwork in the Ouachita River Art Gallery on Antique Alley in West Monroe, Louisiana. Sales of original works are tax exempt under the Louisiana Cultural District, so visitors not only support local artists but also save by not having to pay sales taxes when shopping in the co-op’s gallery.

With the year coming to an end, the Ouachita River Art Gallery is grateful to the local community for the continued support of the arts in our area and our galleries on Antique Alley in West Monroe and OIB Plaza in Monroe. The Ouachita River Art Gallery members is looking forward to being able to continue in these rough economic times by providing not only the best of what they have to offer in artwork to the public but by also by being a viable member of the local art scene in lending their efforts to other art groups in the area.

The Ouachita River Art Gallery, 308 Trenton Street, West Monroe, Louisiana invites you to come see the wide variety of local and regional items available. When you shop at your local gallery, you not only help our economy by keeping your money in the area, but you also save on taxes and shipping . The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 am to 5 pm. In December, the gallery will open on Sundays from 1 pm to 5 pm. Admission is free. Paintings by gallery members can also be seen at ORAG’s extension gallery located in the lobby of Ouachita Independent Bank/Bankers Mortgage Plaza at 18th and Louisville in Monroe, Louisiana. For more information, call 318-322-2380

Donna Tucker, November Artist-of-Month

The Ouachita River Art Gallery’s featured artist for November is Donna Lenamon Tucker of Monroe. She is a native of Louisiana, having grown up in Delhi, and is a long time resident of Monroe. Donna has been a member of The Ouachita River Art Gallery since 1995. Her paintings have been exhibited in museums, galleries and national shows. Donna is an intuitive and instinctive painter who enjoys creating paintings with lots of colork. She enjoys just letting the paint flow. Her style of painting ranges from abstract realism to nonobjective. This show, 2010 Overview: Mixed Media, is composed mostly of mixed water media and collage.
Donna says her goal is to share her love of art and color, through free expression, with the public.

Don Holloway, October Artist-of-the-Month

The featured artist for October at Ouachita River Art Gallery is Don R. Holloway of Monroe, Louisiana. Don specializes in crystalline glazed porcelain ware and has devoted himself to this very challenging and precise ceramic medium since 1978. No two pieces of crystalline porcelain are ever exactly alike and long hours of research and firing often result in only a 50% success rate. There are less than fifty full-time crystalline potters in the world today who produce nothing but crystalline ware. Don wrote and published the first text book on this medium, “The Art And Craft Of Crystals”, which is now in its’ fourth printing. He founded the International Symposium Of Crystalling Artists in 1982 and publishes the group’s newsletter. Holloway’s crystalline pieces are in collections both here and abroad. He participates in many regional exhibitions and shows around the USA and has won “best of show” and “sold out” status in many states. Besides studio work under renowned teachers, Don received his art degree from NLU (now ULM) in Monroe and did his graduate work there. He opened his own pottery studio, “Crosscraft Originals” in 1982 in Monroe. He teaches three workshops a year and also teaches basic pottery to beginners. He is also a dealer for pottery supplies and equipment.

Joyce Beauvais, September Artist-of-the-Month

Joyce White Beauvais of Farmerville, Louisiana is the Ouachita River Art Gallery’s featured artist in September. Her show, Leaves, depicts different forms of plant life. As a lover of nature, Joyce looks around and sees that beauty abounds locally. The subject of her painting, Dried Corn Stalks, is something that all locals see every year.
As a Orleans native, Joyce lived in that area until her move to Lake D’Arbonne about
fourteen years ago. Her paintings reflect both south and northeastern Louisiana influences. Some of her paintings have depicted south Louisiana cemeteries. She has also painted scenes from Lake D'Arbonne, Bayou DeLoutre' and other area bayous.
Joyce paints in acrylic, oil and watercolor. Her favorite medium is watercolor on yupo paper. Yupo is not really a paper, but plastic. The paint sits on the surface and lets the artist be creative. Her latest award was the Dr.H.B. Wright Memorial Award at the 2010 53rd Annual Spring Exhibition at Barnwell Art Center in Shreveport, held by the Hoover Watercolor Society. The winning painting, called Forest Floor, is included in this exhibit.

Brenda McDaniel, August Artist-of-the-Month

Brenda Clark McDaniel of Monroe, Louisiana is the Ouachita River Art Gallery’s featured artist for August 2010. Her show, Running Out Of Time, consists of oil and acrylic paintings depicting the decline of common living things.

The artist says, “This show was inspired by the beauty I see in common living things as they near the end of their lives. I hope to show the viewer that a living thing coming to the end of its life does not have to be ugly but can be a beautiful process. Death is not the end but a beginning. Also, anyone who has ever cleaned out their refrigerator’s crisper drawer will relate to these images!”

A native of Mer Rouge, Louisiana, who has lived in Kentucky, Kansas, Texas and Europe, Brenda specializes in representational paintings of animals, people, places and objects, taking side trips into fantasy and imagination. Before deciding to paint full time, Brenda was a commercial artist employed in the advertising business, where she garnered many local as well as national awards. Although Brenda attended several universities and private schools, she considers herself primarily a self-taught artist. She helped organize and open the local gallery The Ouachita River Art Guild, which is now celebrating 20 years and has become the oldest and largest art co-op in Louisiana. Brenda has many commissions of homes, portraits of people and pets, southern landscapes and still lifes hanging in private and corporate collections in the U.S.A., Europe and The United Kingdom.

Brenda McDaniel, August Artist-of-the-Month

Running Out of Time - Pumkins

Carolyn Fox, July 2010 Artist-of-the-Month

The featured artist for July at Ouachita River Art Gallery is Carolyn Fox of
Monroe, Louisiana. Carolyn has always loved to draw, even as a child. After raising her family, she began to take painting lessons (funded by a birthday present from her mother). Now one of her greatest joys comes from being an art instructor at the West Monroe Senior Center.
Carolyn’s show, Kids Just Want to Have Fun!, was inspired by memories of playing as a child and by watching children in play over the years. These paintings were done in several different media. Some were done for parents, grandparents and neighbors or friends. Others are family pieces and depict her own grandchildren. Viewing this collection of "water babies" will certainly bring back memories of one's own childhood or of raising children. The artist says, “The God-given beauty in nature and my love of life are ever present in my work. I strive to create paintings that summon emotions of nostalgia.” I think she has succeeded in this mission.

T.A. Roberts, Artist-of-the-Month June 2010

The featured artist for June 2010 at Ouachita River Art Gallery is T. A. Roberts of Grayson, Louisiana. T. A. was raised in the small sawmill town of Clarks, Louisiana. He learned from the local residents to be industrious and ingenious, making needed household items when possible. Lumber was plentiful and inexpensive, and everyone had woodworking tools and basic carpenter skills. As his furniture making skills improved and better equipment became available, his interest expanded to include woodturning on the lathe.

Retired from his own oil business, T.A. holds a Masters in History, reached the rank of Captain in the U. S. Army, and has studied with well known woodworkers. He attended woodturning classes at Arrowmont in Gatlinberg, Tennessee and went to Provo, Utah this spring for further woodturning studies.

T.A. says, “In woodturning your only limiting factor is your imagination and the size of your woodturning blank. I generally begin with an idea of what the finished result will be, but sometimes it changes during the turning process. God has created a multitude of beautiful woods. Every piece is different, making working with it a challenge. I strive to enhance the intrinsic beauty of the wood in a form which is pleasing to the eye.”

The Ouachita River Art Gallery, 308 Trenton Street, West Monroe invites you to come see T.A. Roberts’ show during the month of June 2010. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Gallery member’s work can also be seen at ORAG’s extension gallery located in the lobby of Ouachita Independent Bank/Bankers Mortgage Plaza at 18th and Louisville in Monroe. Call 322-2380 for more information.

Phoebe Allen, May Artist-of-the-Month

Hydrangeas

(acrylic on rice paper)

24" x 28" $600.00

The Ouachita River Art Gallery features Phoebe Allen Mathys, retired La. Tech School of Art and Architecture Professor Emeritus, in May. This show, Essence Scapes, is a series of land and environment scapes and memories of things seen and places traveled, taken from Phoebe’s sketchbooks. Painting primarily in water media, Phoebe’s love of color and playful nature is obvious to anyone viewing her work. She says, “To create means to cause to come into existence. It is hard work. Every time I sit down to paint I try to do something in image or essence I’ve never seen or done before. I hope to know my subject well enough so that my mind, eyes and hand are working together.”

Phoebe is a native of north Louisiana and earned her B.A. and M.A. in Art Education with additional hours in Fine Arts. She taught 33 years at Louisiana Tech in the School of Art and the School of Architecture in areas of basic two-dimensional design, color theory and advanced media and presentation techniques. She has exhibited in over a hundred juried and invitational exhibitions as well as many local, regional and national art exhibitions. Phoebe has received many honors for both her teaching skills and her fine art work and has been published in several volumes and articles.

Phoebe Allen, May Artist-of-the-Month

...and Sundried Tomorrow

(acrylic on canvas)

24" x 24" $500.00

Rita Mann - ORAG Artist of the Month/April 2010

Rita Mann, a native of West Monroe, LA, is the Ouachita River Art Gallery’s featured artist for the month of April. Rita specializes in watercolor, however, in the last few years, through taking workshops that ORAG offers to everyone, Rita expanded her skills to include acrylic and pastel mediums. Her featured exhibit, Adventures in Pastels, will showcase pieces from her new pastel collection.

Rita has always had an interest in art, which started early in life as her parents took the family on drives in the country to see the flowering native Louisiana flora. Influenced by this varied color, Rita was inspired to begin painting. Encouraged by her brother, she enrolled in a summer watercolor course at the local university. She has taken numerous workshops from some of America’s most talented, nationally acclaimed artists. A member of the Ouachita River Art Gallery for the last 17 years, Rita is also a signature member of the Mississippi Watercolor Society, a member of the Louisiana Watercolor Society and the Hoover Watercolor Society in Shreveport, LA.

Although Rita is well traveled, her colorful artwork reflects her passion for North Louisiana and all its beauty. She has developed her own personal style, which is colorful, but delicate. She likes to share her love of nature with everyone and says, “I love to try to capture on a piece of paper the beauty God has created.” This exhibit is one worth seeing.

The Ouachita River Art Gallery, 308 Trenton Street, West Monroe invites you to come see Rita’s show during the month of April. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Gallery member’s work can also be seen at ORAG’s extension gallery located in the lobby of Ouachita Independent Bank/Bankers Mortgage Plaza at 18th and Louisville in Monroe. Call 322-2380 for more information.

Rita Mann - Artist of the Month/April 2010

Member News!

At the 53rd annual spring exhibition of the Hoover Watercolor Society in Shreveport, Louisiana, Mary E. Jones won a Fredrix Company Merchandise Award (honorable mention), Anne R. Eberle won a Fredrix Company Merchandise Award (honorable mention), and Joyce Beauvais won the Dr. H.B. Wright Memorial Award (5th place). Donna McGee was juried into the show as well. The juror was Laurin McCracken of Fort Worth, Texas.

hanging art at OIB

Every time ORAG hangs a new show in the gallery (every two months), they also hang a show at Ouachita Independent Bank (OIB). The public can view artwork at OIB during regular banking hours. Pictured here are ORAG members (top left) Anne Eberle, (top right) Emily Brodnax, (bottom left) Mary Elizabeth Jones, and (bottom right) Jane Dixon.

"White Camellia with Blue" by Carol Smith

Ouachita River Art Gallery features the
works of CAROL CULPEPPER SMITH in March

In March the Ouachita River Art Gallery features the stunning oil florals of Carol Culpepper Smith. “Back by popular demand!” That is how featured artist Carol Culpepper Smith describes her exhibit. Returning to her previously acclaimed style of detailed oil florals on colored paper, she seeks to draw her viewers in by asking, “What color is white?” In this collection of paintings she illustrates all the many colors that can be found in light and shadows in something most people see as just white.

Carol, who started painting many years ago as an outlet from family responsibilities, has explored figure painting and landscape, but finds her greatest success in her finely detailed florals. Over the years, she has studied with a number of different instructors and won numerous awards. She sees art as “. . . an ever changing experience, one influenced by emotional response to a visual image. As a representational oil painter, I attempt to strike a chord with my viewer that connects him with the image.”

Carol has been an active member of Ouachita River Art Gallery since its inception in 1990, serving in every level of leadership. Currently she chairs the exhibit in the OIB/Bankers Mortgage Plaza in Monroe. Carol says, “It is so gratifying to see this organization grow in artistic quality and diversity over the last twenty years. It is especially exciting that we now have two galleries our patrons can choose from---one on each side of the river which gave us our name.”

The Ouachita River Art Gallery, 308 Trenton Street, West Monroe invites you to come see Carol’s show during the month of March. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Carol’s work can also be seen at ORAG’s extension gallery located in the lobby of Ouachita Independent Bank/Bankers Mortgage Plaza at 18th and Louisville in Monroe. Call 322-2380 for more information.

"The Air-Conditioned Civic" by Emily Brodnax

In February, The Ouachita River Art Gallery features the black and white fine arts photography show The Mystique Of New Orleans by local photographer (and “semi-retired” pharmacist) Emily B. Brodnax. This artist has centered her show around treasures, usual and unusual, seen and rarely seen, found in New Orleans on two recent trips there. Emily continues to create her images using the increasingly lost art of gelatin silver prints in a “wet” darkroom on archival paper. She expresses a sincere love for the entire photo taking/printmaking process and says that photography is an art and not to be dismissed by those who fail to recognize the magic created in the darkroom.

Emily says, “As humans, we sometimes look without seeing, and take the familiar for granted. I invite anyone who loves Louisiana’s largest city to come view these prints and try to place them, in their minds, before reading the title cards and descriptions.”

Emily began to pursue her interest in photography in the 1980’s and immediately began to win local and national competitions. Her prints have been accepted worldwide with many “Best of Show” or “Gold Medal” awards earned and prints published in the PSA Journal. Six of her prints have been winners in The Louisiana Office of Tourism’s Travel Photo Contest, winning the Grand Prize in 1996. Her award winning prints have been published in Louisiana Life Magazine.

The Ouachita River Art Gallery, 308 Trenton Street, West Monroe, Louisiana invites you to see Emily’s show during the month of February. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Emily’s work can also be seen at ORAG’s extension gallery located in the Ouachita Independent Bank lobby on 18th and Louisville in Monroe, Louisiana. Call 322-2380 for more information.

"Cheniere Sunrise" by Jim McDaniel

Jim McDaniel of Monroe, Louisiana, is the Ouachita River Art Gallery's January Artist-of-the-Month. Years ago, Jim's wife Brenda encouraged him to pick up a brush and paint. He did, and he surprised himself with not only how much he enjoyed it but also how good his first painting was. Jim's been painting ever since. He has taken painting lessons from the late Carol Kennedy and workshops with Margaret Ellerman and Cory Carlson. Jim works primarily in oil and acrylic on canvas. Most of his work is from photographs taken while he and his wife traveled the U.S., Europe, and South America. His favorite subjects are cars and Louisiana scenes. Jim retired after thirty years in the automotive business. He says "I continue to paint in order to stay busy and productive."