Last Friday was The Body Eclectic ’20 Exhibition opening night at the Lawrence St Gallery. An all media juried exhibit featuring numerous talented local artists.

I went to support one of my favorite local artist, Jeanne Ruzzin, who had two amazing pieces on show Sit Like a Lady and Black Hat. By the end of the night, I ended the night learning about more local artists to put on my watch list.

The Best of Show Award went to Jan Brown of Novi for her absolute stunner Ivory Light. Jan Brown also had additional Canyon Souls piece and I absolutely loved the technique and composition. That one made my top 10.
Second Place Award went to Roger Meeker of Rochester Hills for his Bronze Lady sculpture.
Third Place Award went to Katarzyna Korytowska of Rochester Hills for Living with Nature – which is one of the most interesting oil technique I have ever seen. It was reminiscent of old, pre-historic times where people lived in tribes and everything was rough and wild, like the tribe on the King Kong island. Made my top 10.

Katarzyna Korytowska: Living with Nature, Best of Show

Several pieces got Honorable Mention Award:

Barbara Baker of West Bloomfield for Expecting featuring an expectant mother – it was so tender and intimate and done in water color and graphite. This one made my top 10.
Karen Bartlett from Waterford with her oil piece Defusion. This one was hand-down the piece that took my breath away. I don’t know what it is about this piece that I love so much, the strokes, the heavy paint, the diffused figure with an almost see through and little bit eerie quality – the painting and the technique is superb. Another top 10.

Karen Bartlett: Defusion, Honorable Mention Award

Dana Wolke Bowesox of Northville with The Dance Studio.

Candace Brancik of Milford with Nikki. I absolutely fell in love with this piece. Loved the composition, loved the warmth of the piece and that little blue sliver of coolness. Top 10 on my list.

Candace Brancik: Nikki, Honorable Mention Award

Lesley Kutinsky from Farmington Hills with Gaia – The Big Mother.

Lastly, there were many, many more pieces of art as well as ceramics that were absolutely worth seeing and below are few more top 10 pieces that made my list:

Jayne Brophy from Livonia with The Golden Earring – I loved the effect and the feeling it produced. It had that old masters quality with a energized, yet soft and pleasant feeling

Barbara Eko Murphy from Northville with Breaking Barriers – I absolutely love her work and there is always a show with one of her pieces that I fall in love with. This graphite/watercolor mix certainly had it for me. It was really modern but sentimental for me. I loved this one.

Jeanne Ruzzin from Oak Park with Sit Like a Lady – the brushstrokes, composition, and the overall effect was just drop-dead gorgeous. The piece was absolutely a celebration of feminine power and may I say, fashionable dress. The pose, the suit jacket, and then a light-cloud like dress with the red sash was a feast for the eyes.

Lawrence Sekulich of Livonia with Things Seen and Unseen had me do a double take. At first, I wasn’t able to make out the shape but then once I’ve seen the face of a bearded man, I could not unseen it. The colors are really regal, the colors would shimmer depending on where the light would hit it and I just loved the geometry and the playfulness of the piece.

Lawrence Sekulich: Things Seen and Unseen

Linda M. Logan had a super colorful and interesting piece Ms Polka Dot Lady. It had super graphical quality with all different patterns and color combinations. I could see this as an Andy Warhol type of print with different color combinations blown up in the waiting room of some cool ad agency. I really, really liked this one.

Candice Grieve’s pastel Virgo looked more like a hyper realistic poster and I was blown away with the quality of this piece. The folds of the dress and the sheet, silkiness of it all – it had to make my list.

Yes, I do realize that this is just little bit more than top 10 but what can I say. It was one great show!

The Body Eclectic ’20 - Lawrence St Gallery Exhibit