Exhibit runs through June 17.
Gallery hours: Thursdays-Saturdays 2pm-5pm.
Outsider Art Trail Tour: June 17, 12pm-7pm.
Closing Reception: June 17, 4pm-7pm.
Featuring the unique and creative works of Jim Shores (Rome, Georgia) and Dereck Van Wickel (Marietta, Georgia), and works from private collections featuring Myrtice West, "Calhoun" Paul Jastram, Cayman Kane, Donnie Davis, James Barron, Scott Thomas, Russell Cook, Robinella, "T. Watson" Tom Touchstone, and "Chub" Chris Hubbard, Erin Dixon, & Kelly Nicole Garner, May 6- June 17. This exhibit will also be a stop on the OUTSIDER ART TRAIL TOUR, put together by the Paradise Garden Foundation, Saturday June 17 (the final day of the exhibit). In support of this annual event that celebrates folk art & art environments in the far northwest Georgia region, we will have free art making projects, and the gallery bar will be open serving beer & wine, 12pm-7pm, along with LIVE MUSIC 4pm-6pm. (The gallery will be closed for private events Friday May 12 & Saturday May 27.)
JIM SHORES Jim Shores is a self-taught artist living in Rome, Georgia, who creates sculpture, assemblage and environmental art from found objects. Working full-time as an artist since 1997, Jim has exhibited with current and past folk art festivals & shows such as Finster Fest, Kentuck Festival as a Guest Artist, House of Blues (Orlando, FL), Folk Art Festival, Slotin Folk Fest (Atlanta, GA) and Outsiders Outside Art Fair (Harbert Michigan). His work is in the permanent folk art collections of the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA), Polk Museum (Lakeland, FL), House of Blues (Orlando, FL) and can be found in corporate and private collections around the country. Inspiration for his art comes from the objects he finds themselves and is partial to working with rusty metal. In addition to his individual works, he also expresses himself through his ART-yard, where he receives visitors by appointment.
DERECK VAN WICKEL Dereck Van Wickel (b.1964, NYC, NY) moved to Georgia in time for high school. A Governor's Honors recipient in Art, he attended Savannah College of Art & Design and later graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in painting. In the mid 1990s he began working on a series of large paintings on paper depicting Sherman's March. The completed series was later exhibited in two Georgia museums. A few years later Dereck developed a fascination with firefighting, eventually living and working in two Atlanta fire houses while producing several large images. Moving to Chicago in 2002 Dereck continued showing work in off beat locations like downtown bars and coffee houses, finding success selling small paintings of tornadoes to an audience that normally didn't buy original art. Stints in Arkansas, Charlotte and Los Angeles followed. An avid history reader, Dereck's current work incorporates themes of early societies, Adam and Eve, and people living in isolated spots. Returning to North Georgia five years ago he is inspired by the local landscape and by the the paintings of his young children whose ideas he regularly steals and presents as his own.