Now on Display
With more than 1,600 members and the mission "to present the public with the highest aesthetic standards in fine art," the Colored Pencil of Society of America has selected its finest 105 for its "Signature Showcase," an exhibition that includes winners from the society's competitive international exhibit. Displayed at the Cornell Museum, the works are exhibited in loose thematic groups so that you'll find fruits, veggies, and flowers in one room and animals, landscapes, and architecture in another. The styles are as varied as the colors: realism, photo-realism, impressionism, cubism, and abstraction among them. Some are predictable in their subject matter for instance, Peppers IV, a serial study by Arizona's Bill Cupit though expertly executed. Several, like Seattle-resident Laura Ospanik's Shadow Lights, study the play of light through transparent objects. Others are striking in their creativity: Lula Mae Blocton from Connecticut uses a bold, geometric pattern (presumably African) to dominate the foreground of Amistad Mende while an image of the historical slave ship repeats in the background. (Through June 3 at Cornell Museum at Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave., Delray Beach. Call 561-243-7922.)
You'll find an artistic Zen and natural reverence in "Isabel Bigelow: Paintings & Monoprints and Luis Castro: Sculpture." The wife-and-husband show demonstrates the balance necessary to make relationships work, whether personal or aesthetic, two-dimensional or three-. Like the Japanese shoji (translucent, decorative screens) that inspire her, Bigelow's art is as much about the media as it is about subjects, most of which are naturally inspired vines, trees, and landscapes. Brush strokes and wood grain provide texture and dimension that seep from otherwise flat forms, reducing the terrain to its most essential. Bigelow keeps even her palette simple. For instance, Field 28 captures like most of her work the undulations of its landscape in different shades of a single hue. Castro's sculpture, which the Venezuelan-born artist has designed to be touched, is similarly organic, in material and in form. The smooth stone, wood, and marble sculptures explore color, density, and textures of its materials. (Through April 29 at Mulry Fine Art, 3300 S. Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach. Call 561-228-1006.)