My husband and daughter admiring Fred Easker originals (photo via my Samsung 6)

Friday Night

in the Midwest, you'll see hour-long waits at restaurants, lines at movie theaters, but almost never an SRO, standing-room only, crowd at an art gallery. Last Friday night, however...

This art gallery packed 'em in,

not just because the wine was free, and the finger-foods. The artwork is splendid, colorful, fun, and inspiring.

The staff, Suzie and Lauren, are friendly and personable. And....

The artists themselves show up in person!

As autumn approaches, we focus on the beautiful and vibrant colors that transition across our landscape. "Spectrum" brings together the potent and rich colored artworks of Iowa artists, Gordon Kellenberger and Stephen Metcalf. While the works are separate in their content, they stand side by side with similar hues and tones.

During the reception, Gordon Kellenberger will be giving a live pastel demonstration.

(photo mine)

Gordon’s work focuses on the earth and architecture of the upper Midwest- offering an endless variety of changing light and color. Talking about his work, Gordon says, “I tend to simplify my subjects and infuse them with bright and fresh colors. The resulting intensity and richness convey my delight in painting and my desire to express ‘something good about rural life’." Stephen’s color field oil paintings define the use of line and space in a wavelength-like format. Meditative smooth planes of gradation accompany sharp bands of beautiful chaos. Stephen describes his process stating, “My techniques, which are my own, were not learned or invented in order to paint, but were discovered through the act of painting”.

See more photos and information at Gilded Pear Gallery

Art Galleries are fun to visit

even if most of us can't afford the $24,000+ price tag some of these oil painting command. Some works sell for hundreds of dollars. If you can't buy, that shouldn't stop you from looking. Word of mouth, Facebook "likes" and shares, and other ways allow us to show our appreciation and help support local artists.
![Art Gallery Gilded Pear.jpg]

Yeah, that's me, holding my Samsung 6; photo taken by daughter on her own Samsung

If you can't leave the house, you can support several Steemit projects devoted to the arts. Just a few I discovered over the weekend:

Curation Collective Discord community for curators is upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.

---

@art-venture

is a project to support young artists of traditional Art on Steemit.

Use the hashtag #art-venture, and you might see this message:

Read more here: Art-Venture