In the Gallery: May 2009

The Month of May Brings Dynamic Duo to the Gallery

During the month of May, the walls of the Library's Gallery will be bursting with new and joyful watercolors, pastel and acrylic intuitions from the brush and palette knife of Lafayette Indiana's well known artist Jim Mailloux. In the Gallery's Display Cases, accompanying this exquisite wall art, you will find the most dazzling Personal Expressions fresh from the ever-blooming imagination of Frankfort's multi-talented artist Nancy Fullerton. What delight this exhibit will bring to your life, if you let it! As a young high school student, Jim Mailloux back-grounded himself in many forms of art, but didn't paint for 30 years! Imagine a talent like his being dormant for that long! Twelve years ago, Jim's talent burst forth with new passion when he began painting in watercolor. Recently he began working with pastels and in acrylics with a palette knife. During an art class taught by Denise Goldschmidt, Jim learned to see and feel colors and details in nature with a whole new eye. He began seeing subtle reflected colors in shadows – not just dull shades of gray as he did previously. Jim learned that painting a brown paper bag can be one of the best exercises in the acute observation of texture, color and line. Jim is exploring the use of color to express his own feelings about a subject even if that color is not what he saw at first glance. He relishes feeling free to use these exaggerated or made-up color combinations to express his natural instincts. To avoid getting in a rut, Jim often experiments with new materials and techniques. In this way he hopes to keep his work fresh and to have more options to create the desired effect. His background inspiration comes from working with flowers, nature, and living a rural lifestyle. Painting in watercolor using yupo paper, a synthetic slick paper, forces Jim to forget the details thereby creating a more interesting loose watery effect in his work. Painted in clear bright colors, his large florals have a Georgia O'Keeffe feel, while his acrylics feel more impressionistic, especially those of Turkey Run State Park and area waterways. If you are interested in taking a watercolor class from Jim in Lafayette, please call 765-477-7741 or 765-404-5057. What an experience that would be -- learning from the best!

Nancy Fullerton is one of the most eclectic and talented artists I have ever met. She isn't afraid to try anything. It always turns out well even if not like her first vision. She is filled with joy and that joy permeates her work. Growing up in the midst of a multi-talented family has played an extremely important role in Nancy's creative life. Her maternal grandmother taught her to knit at age seven. Catching on quickly and loving the process, Nancy is still enjoys knitting and is always looking for that new idea she can experiment with. Her paternal grandmother was a successful artist in her own right. Since Nancy was the first grandchild, she posed for many portraits while listening to her grandmother's constant discussions about art and color. Her mother was a fantastic seamstress. When Nancy became good enough to sew for her, she felt like "She had finally arrived"! In 1950, Nancy graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Industrial Personnel. In 1952 she married Bill Fullerton and together they raised two very handsome sons, Bush and Brad. Even though Bill didn't always quite understand her passion for the arts, he was still very supportive. When Nancy turned sixty, she took her first class at the Sievers School of Fiber Arts on Washington Island, Wisconsin. That was her introduction to Wearable Art. She hasn't missed a summer class at Sievers in the past twenty-two years. While there, Nancy took classes in Beadwork from Diane Fitzgerald, Lois and Diane Ericson taught her about Wearable Art and the Philosophy of a Happy Life. She follows these teachers and others around the country always learning and meeting wonderfully creative students doing the same thing as she. Now we understand more fully how Nancy has found the courage to listen to her own drummer and follow her very own personal star.

The sun might be out, or maybe it isn't, but the light in the gallery never dims. It patiently waits to share the light and savor the color of beauty.