Author: Jeff Cherry

A special visiting artist event!
We are featuring the art of Jeanne Norton Hammett. She creates incredible Serigraphs that reflect the natural beauty of our region. Serigraph, Screen print, Silkscreen; all those terms refer to the same process. Silk screening has been around for a long time. The medium’s roots lie deep in ancient history, originating in China and Japan as a technique for applying stencils to fabrics and screens. Europeans created wonderful wallpapers with this stenciling process. Toulouse Lautrec was famous for producing posters advertising events that featured dancers doing the “can can”. During the 1930’s a number of American artists began making artworks in screen print and by the end of the decade the term “serigraph” from the Greek serikos, silk, and “graphos”, writing, was coined by a noted art historian, to distinguish artists’ screen prints from commercial uses of screen printing. The gallery exhibit opens December 2nd and runs through the end of January, Thursday through Sunday each week.

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Allure Art Center’s March fine art exhibit, “Celebrating Waterfowl Art” brings together award winning Virginia artists and their works that reflect the beauty of our waterfowl and the regions wildlife. The exhibit will showcase the mediums of sculpture, carving, painting and photography. Our featured artist will be Bill Casto of Williamsburg, VA. Bill is an Interpretive Wood Sculptor concentrating primarily on wildfowl. He uses driftwood and found weathered wood from the Chesapeake Bay and Tidewater region rivers to carve interpretive or stylized pieces of art. He attempts to capture the essence of the wildfowl rather that a realistic duplication of the subject, to create a totally original and one of a kind work. Bill has been carving wildfowl sculptures for over 20 years competing at the top level for the past ten years at the prestigious “Ward World Wildfowl Carving Championships”. He has been named Ward World Champion once and has received award recognition 6 times.
John Obolewicz is another award winning artist that will be featured. Specializing in watercolors, his paintings have been successfully auctioned through Ducks Unlimited and has been a sponsor artist in Virginia for Ducks Unlimited. He has received the honor of the Virginia State Duck Stamp 3 times.
The show will also include paintings by Cindy Harrison and Maria Reardon, carvings by Arthur Wolz, and photographs by Jeff Cherry.
The exhibit opens Saturday March 20th at Allure Art Center and will run weekends from March 20th through April 18th.

Plein Air Unleashed returns for our sixth year and we have expanded the event again with more and new artists, we expect 30 artists from across the state. The painting exhibit features artists from across the Mid-Atlantic area working in oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastels and more. The artists will be working out at locations throughout selected spots in the region April 28th, 29th and April 30th, May 1st several of the artists will be on site at Allure Art Center doing demos, conducting workshops and answering questions. There will be a preview opening reception on April 30th with the works created during the event. RSVP today for the preview reception,
Live demonstrations, talk with artists and buy local art.
Gallery Exhibit of the works created during the week runs through May 30th.
May 1st Maria Reardon will conduct a Plein Air Painting workshop.

Allure Art Center is pleased to add two new glass artists to our exhibits. Still Waters Glass studio produces a wide range of fused glass works while Sanctuary Glass creates sea themed glass blown pendants. The fused glass works range from home decor, sun catchers, stylish dishes and more. The glass blown pendants make the perfect necklace to go with any beach or river fun outfit.

Allure Art Center is pleased to present the award winning driftwood sculptures of Larry Ringgold. His sculptures are unique, mystical, fun and intricate. Larry’s work has been shown across the East Coast at fine art festivals where his works have received many awards and acclaim. The works range in size and subject matter from life sized horses to small herons and turtles.

Allure Art Center is excited to exhibit several works from Mathews, VA based sculptor Matthew Leavell. Matthew is a sculptor known for his large scale three dimensional metal work, often characterized by vibrant coloration and a whimsical nature. He describes his work as follows: “My work is often created using recycled, salvaged, and upcycled raw materials which bring their own unique history and character to a sculpture. I see an abandoned or discarded piece of rusted steel as a literal representation of a broken life, an abandoned dream, or a damaged relationship. Salvaging such materials and through inspiration, creativity, and persistence creating an entirely new and beautiful work of art, is not only a personally fulfilling process, but one that stands as an analogy of the nature of life in general. I strive to create art which is vibrant, eclectic, and whimsical, and to create enduring reminders to myself and others of those elements in our shared human existence which are beautiful, joyful, and life-giving.”

Matthew has exhibited original artwork at over 100 venues in 14 US states, and his sculptures are displayed in municipal parks, public and private gardens, and in private collections nationwide. Allure Art Center now has 3 of his works on exhibit through July.

Pastels are an artist material with a long history. Sometimes referred to as “dry painting,” the medium offers an incredible range of color with the ability to blend colors in the same way that you would paint pigment. Edgar Degas famously used them to depict his dancers, and Gauguin, Monet, Renoir, and Cassatt followed suit. Today, they remain some of the most popular examples of artists that used pastels.
Allure Art Center is bringing some of the premier pastel artists from across the Mid-Atlantic to exhibit their works in a month long gallery exhibit “The Art of Pastel” featuring artists in the Mid-Atlantic Pastel Society.
Come see this beautiful art form up close starting June 5th and continues through July 5th.

Allure Art Center and Jeff Cherry have been contracted to develop and manage an arts enrichment program for the award winning luxury resort The Tides Inn located in Irvington, Va. The program brings together some of the top Virginia artists to teach custom resort art classes in a variety of mediums for the resort guests. This program gives their guests hands on experience in drawing, photography, painting, pastels and more.

Starting October 11th the weekends at Allure Art Center will once again be taken over by the creepy, scary, spooky and frightening spirits of Halloween. The grounds transform into a haunted scene while the gallery gets a little spooky. Friday nights from 7-9pm the building comes alive with the former spirits trying to get out of the windows. Of course we will have award winning art on exhibit and ghoulish treats. Some come out and bring the family, if you aren’t scared.