Hawks, deer, owls, bears and moose graced the walls of the East Lansing Public Art Gallery in the Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road, as patrons make their way from forest to mythological Greece at the First Sunday Gallery Walk.
Artist Ron St. Germain brings the woods to East Lansing in his first exhibition, "Persistence and Patience." St. Germain has spent days taking a single photograph, but persistence and patience extend beyond his work.
"The message of 'Persistence and Patience' is about the people that are in my life," St. Germain said. His son clung to him as he explained, "just because you become a parent, doesn't mean you have to give up your dreams. You just have to slow down a little."
St. Germain's vibrant pictures portray a genuine passion for nature. There is a photograph of an upside down hummingbird with its beak in a drinking fountain, and also one of a snow owl whose menacing yellow eyes directly meet your gaze. His favorite is one of a majestic hawk perched with white sunlight glimmering over its right wing.
For St. Germain, it was the challenge that drew him to wildlife photography. His career choice was also influenced by his mother, who rehabilitated animals when he was a child. St. Germain also has a passion for writing, and his next ambition is to write a book. "Persistence and Patience" runs until February 1.
Bold monochromatic backgrounds take the place of tree branch and waterfall scenery in the next exhibit.
The silvery-blue Three Graces seemed to dance through a bright orange canvas at the Lansing Art Gallery in Katherine Sullivan's "Body Electric" exhibition, which focuses on women's bodies. These women represent joy, charm and beauty and are among the captivating women in the collection.
Sullivan's paintings are exacerbated by the shocking contrast between their three-dimensional form and a flat background. She makes the figures pop by using bright synthetic oil backdrops that add a contemporary spin to classical Greek mythology-inspired figures.
She was 15 years old when she was inspired by the human form at the North Carolina School of Arts. Sullivan plays with the female gaze in her own paintings.
"The bodies face the viewer, but the heads don't. There's a contradiction with the head within the pose," Sullivan said.
The women's mysterious looks and overall feeling of the paintings were inspired by the Pompeii Villa of the Mysteries.
"Body Electric" is explosive, but the exhibit departs without even a trace of ash on Jan. 28.
Gallery Walk takes place the first Sunday of every month. Other galleries showing work during Gallery Walk include Creole Gallery, Mackerel Sky, and The Dancing Crane Gallery.
