Hillsborough Gallery of Arts opens new 'Color Comes Alive' exhibition

On Tuesday, the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts is opening its new exhibit, "Colors Come Alive", comprised of new works by local artists Marcy Lansman, Pat Merriman and Pringle Teetor. 

Founded in September 2006, the Hillsborough gallery has made its mark on the community by providing local artists an outlet to showcase their work. Today it has 21 members, and every member gets at least one feature annually.  

While a broad category, the theme asks artists to use color in unique and interesting ways. 

The opening reception, which will be on Friday, aims to foster community both between the artists and community members interested in colorful art. 

Chris Graebner, the co-founder of the gallery, said the space has expanded a lot over the course of the years. 

“It's a really growing experience for artists, I think, to be in community with other artists,” she said. “And so when you're working with 20 other artists who have different mediums and different ways of approaching art, it's a very wonderful experience and a lot of growth.”

Lansman and Merriman are painters and will exhibit mainly acrylic artworks. Teetor is a glassblower and will showcase blown glass works. 

On the front patio of the gallery, there will also be live music from the blues and swing band “The Pied Vipers.” For adult attendees, wine and cheese will be served at the reception night, and for kids the gallery will provide a scavenger hunt. 

“Some things are really hard, maybe small or harder to find, so that lots of different age groups can enjoy looking through the gallery,” Graebner said about the scavenger hunt. “It also helps to keep kids enjoying the gallery while their parents are shopping.” 

Works for the event will be scattered throughout the gallery to engage visitors and encourage them to move throughout the space, Merriman said. Additionally, she said, the gallery tries to host exhibits with different artists who work with different mediums to try to keep things interesting. 

Lansman has been a Chapel Hill resident since 1982. She started painting at the age of 61 without any prior experience. 

Lansman, 83, has found her preferred technique of palette knife painting — a method of applying paint to a canvas with a flat tool to add texture. 

“I start out with patches of very bright colors,” she said. “That's the first layer, that's the underpainting. And then I do the painting on top of that first layer using a palette knife.”

She has a collection of 11 works for Friday’s exhibit using this technique. All paintings in the collection are landscapes of North Carolina flora and fauna, inspired by the local scenery she encounters. 

Lansman said that she enjoys the community’s response to her artwork. 

“It's gratifying that people look at my art, and it's gratifying, particularly at the reception, to see people going up to it, and I can go up to them and answer questions and hopefully they tell me they like it,” she said. 

Merriman is also a co-founder of the gallery. Like Lansman, Merriman started painting later in her life.

“I think everybody needs to find something that's not necessarily their career,” Merriman said. “I found art.”

Merriman will be featuring mainly acrylic paintings, though she used different techniques for this exhibit, including using a toothbrush to create snow. 

One of her featured paintings in the exhibit is of a house in Nags Head, which she painted in an art class. The teacher, she said, did not want any sharp edges in the piece, so she worked to make parts of the landscape blend together to have a softer effect. 

Pringle Teetor utilizes the Italian glassblowing technique of caneworking. She aims to make her pieces colorful and affordable. 

“Shop locally. It's good for the community,” Teetor said. “We've been here for 18 years now, and all the artists in our gallery are local.”

The opening reception will run from 6 to 9 p.m. The gallery will exhibit "Colors Come Alive" from Sept. 24 - Oct. 20.