The exhibit, a three-person show, runs through December 16th at the William Grant Still Cultural Art Center (2520 West View Street, Los Angeles, CA 90016). The gallery is open every day, even Sunday, 12:00 to 5:00.
Young said in an email, "I hope many more people will come to see the exhibit. On Tuesday, Donna Angers, another artist from the show, and I were on the radio interview, KPFK 90.7 FM at 2:00 PM live, with the hosts Bobbee Zeno and Donna Walker. It was very interesting. We talked about the show and ourselves as artists for 10 minutes. It will be archived for 2 1/2 months at their website, KPFK.com."
She added, "the exhibit was significant for the three of us because we are late bloomers as painters. I think art has always been an important part of our lives, even when in a dormant stage, till we came out in public. I believe in the hidden force that shapes who we are."
For more information, call (323) 734-1165 or go to the website: https://webmail.elac.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.troubledisland.com/wgsartcenter/ .
Below is Young's "Artist's Statement" for the exhibit. In it she shares her favorite subjects to paint and her ingenious approach to entertain and delight the viewer.
"Artist's Statement"
by Young Summers
For my paintings I often find inspirations in nature (animals, trees, rocks, clouds and people). Human figures are my favorite subjects of all.
As a kid, I loved to draw people all the time, any place where there was a blank space. (Once I drew on a white wall in my relatives' new house to their chagrin.) In school, I would fill my notebooks with drawings of people (usually imaginary female figures, but sometimes teachers' faces). Occasionally, I got into trouble as a result. That youthful, unbridled urge to make pictures has taken a backseat over the years as adult responsibilities in life took over. Now and then, I reminisce about that time as the most creative period in my life.
Then, many moments along a circuitous path led me back to enjoying myself as a painter. One such moment occurred about three years ago when my son was well into his college life. I discovered a friend, with an extremely busy life, was painting. I was surprised and impressed by the fact that she managed to find time to paint at all! There was also my 80-year-old mother, who had taken up watercolor painting at 70, prodding me to get into painting. But finally, it was my own words that urged me forward - the mantra I’d repeated to my son while raising him, "Live up to your potential! Don't waste your talent!" Fortunately, my husband (another artist “on leave”) was there to understand my need to create art.
I am now happily applying myself to that goal - exercising my imagination to draw and paint my favorite things in life: human figures, things in nature, and anything that may trigger my senses toward a creative end.
I like to conjure up images of people, animals or some other creatures from such motionless things as trees, rocks or clouds, and infuse them with liveliness as if they are animate. I try to achieve that effect by using fluid curvy lines and focusing on their unique characteristics as in figure drawing.
Also I enjoy transforming creatures to be part of something else by embedding or hiding them in pictures, to further engage and entertain viewers. Hopefully, I want my paintings to have humor along with feelings of puzzlement or surprise.
One could say my paintings exhibit a sort of shamanistic spirit in a surrealistic manner.
Thank you,
Young
For my paintings I often find inspirations in nature (animals, trees, rocks, clouds and people). Human figures are my favorite subjects of all.
As a kid, I loved to draw people all the time, any place where there was a blank space. (Once I drew on a white wall in my relatives' new house to their chagrin.) In school, I would fill my notebooks with drawings of people (usually imaginary female figures, but sometimes teachers' faces). Occasionally, I got into trouble as a result. That youthful, unbridled urge to make pictures has taken a backseat over the years as adult responsibilities in life took over. Now and then, I reminisce about that time as the most creative period in my life.
Then, many moments along a circuitous path led me back to enjoying myself as a painter. One such moment occurred about three years ago when my son was well into his college life. I discovered a friend, with an extremely busy life, was painting. I was surprised and impressed by the fact that she managed to find time to paint at all! There was also my 80-year-old mother, who had taken up watercolor painting at 70, prodding me to get into painting. But finally, it was my own words that urged me forward - the mantra I’d repeated to my son while raising him, "Live up to your potential! Don't waste your talent!" Fortunately, my husband (another artist “on leave”) was there to understand my need to create art.
I am now happily applying myself to that goal - exercising my imagination to draw and paint my favorite things in life: human figures, things in nature, and anything that may trigger my senses toward a creative end.
I like to conjure up images of people, animals or some other creatures from such motionless things as trees, rocks or clouds, and infuse them with liveliness as if they are animate. I try to achieve that effect by using fluid curvy lines and focusing on their unique characteristics as in figure drawing.
Also I enjoy transforming creatures to be part of something else by embedding or hiding them in pictures, to further engage and entertain viewers. Hopefully, I want my paintings to have humor along with feelings of puzzlement or surprise.
One could say my paintings exhibit a sort of shamanistic spirit in a surrealistic manner.
Thank you,
Young
