Four artists are featured in Ferndale
The Ferndale Arts Gallery, at 535 Main St. in Ferndale, has been featuring the work of several different artists.
The featured artists are Karen Merry, a pen and ink and watercolor artist; Roger Vernon, woodturner; Leann Lidz, mandala artist; and Dan Tubbs, photographer.
Merry began pursuing her love of art at the age of 50. She took adult education classes in watercolor and taught herself the skills of pen and ink. She began entering art shows, and over the years, has received many awards for her paintings. Her motto is that you are never too old to explore your artistic passions.
Of her artwork Merry says, “When I begin a painting, I first experience a sense of apprehension. As I paint, it is like solving a mystery. When the painting is completed, I feel pure joy and exhilaration. Then I immediately start searching for the next subject.”
Merry is also a member of the Redwood Art Association.
Vernon creates in wood a variety of artistic shapes, including candlesticks, vases and bowls. He uses a number of different woods in his creations.
In his words, “Most people look at a tree and have no idea of the beauty within. For me, turning wood is awe inspiring in itself as each piece of wood reveals that beauty. Bringing its inner beauty to the surface with each piece I create is my gift back to nature.”
As a younger man, Vernon was an internationally known fine jewelry designer, and still has returning clients. He is also a musician and singer-songwriter.
Lidz has been creating mandalas for 50 years with materials such as watercolors, colored pencils and collage. A year ago she learned a technique of dots painted with acrylics and found it perfectly suited to the creation of mandalas. Her work now concentrates on this acrylic dot format, a style that is reminiscent of mosaics.
In the past, Lidz has been part of solo and group shows in Southern California and Sonoma County and has won many awards. She showed work at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Rental Gallery, created over 30 designs for Ethnographics greeting cards and painted a 500-squarefoot mural on the side of a gymnasium in Ventura with members of the community. She was co-administrator of Kids’ Art, a creative arts program for youth-at-risk in Ventura County, an art teacher at Camp Winnarainbow and chair of the gallery committee at the Occidental Center for the Arts.
Tubbs, has always had a love of photography and shot his first photograph when he was 9 years old. He enjoys capturing surprising events in nature such as a mother swallow teaching her youngsters how to catch insects or finding a green frog nestled in a yellow rose.
The prospect of finding such unusual scenes keeps him spending seemingly endless hours in nature with his camera. He has also photographed many historic buildings in Ferndale where he lives, as well as special events that take place in this town. He spent 16 years as a volunteer photographer for the Ferndale Repertory Theatre. He also spent time as a volunteer making photographs and doing graphic design for the Ferndale Museum. After shooting with regular film for over 50 years, he embraced the digital age of photography two decades ago.
The Ferndale Arts Gallery is open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 707-786-7051 or go to www.Ferndalearts.com.