Quarantime, an exhibition of multi-media works by Colleen Pendry, opens Friday, June 3 at Arts Council of the Valley’s Smith House Galleries.
A kickoff reception is slated during First Fridays of the Valley, from 5-7 p.m. Sponsored by Association & Property Management Services, LLC, the reception will feature live music by the JMU Jazz Combo.
Guests may also view Robert Bersson’s spray paintings of tools in The Upstairs Gallery.
Pendry’s exhibition — which includes sculpture, painting, digital drawing, giclee print, and mixed media works — runs through June 24. The galleries are open Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and on Second Saturday (June 11) and during Best.Weekend.Ever.(June 18) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Quarantime will also be available online at valleyarts.org/current-exhibition. S
mith House Galleries is supported in part by Arts Council of the Valley (ACV) 2022 Cultivating the Arts Platinum Sponsors Kathy Moran Wealth Group, Matchbox Realty, and Riner Rentals.
An artist, educator, and entrepreneur, Pendry earned a master of fine ats in studio art and painting from James Madison University. She also holds an undergraduate degree in studio art from Mary Baldwin College, with a minor in art history.
Pendry began her studies at Blue Ridge Community College, where she has since served in several administrative capacities and teaches as an adjunct professor of art. She operates a studio in Lexington and one in Princeton, W.Va.
“Artists are solitary souls and it seems our fate to work in isolation,” Pendry said. “Having been forcibly sheltered from the turbulence of a near catastrophic pandemic, it would seem a perfect time to tap into our headspace, to contemplate and realize this new normal in a tangible way.”
Quarantime represents “an unplanned deviation into this new norm, devoid of social interaction,” she explained.
“My self-driven conversations with media, technique and process have been complex as each new piece has evolved. Clashes of color mingling with organic shapes, situated on rigid canvas, wood and steel panels mimic the uncertainty of real life and our resistance to outlying structures of containment.
“Much like the metamorphosis of pandemic itself,” Pendry said, “this work is not a final resolution, but is an unexpected binge that embraces extremes in a prolific move forward.”
Pendry, who lives in Lexington, has exhibited at various locations in western Virginia, as well as Maryland, Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, and California, and has won a number of awards for her artwork.
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