Constance Denchie said she had just seen the work of artist Linda Davis at the Wyoming Valley Art League’s Circle Center for the Arts in downtown Wilkesvare, about a 45-minute drive from her home in Scranton.
As she told Davis at the opening reception on Friday night, the exhibit was well worth seeing.
“I’m an artist, so I feel like I’ve found a comrade,” Dench said. “But what I do is you take it up a notch. Line up what most people walk by and make it so beautiful.”
In fact, Davis is always looking for material that others might not notice. Old bouquets of dried flowers, fish skeletons, dried ducks along the road, corn husks and broad bean pods from her own garden in New. jersey.
An exhibition of her work called ‘Decacia’ finds and celebrates beauty in these fragile and decaying objects that others may simply discard or ignore.
“What I love about Linda’s work is her sense of time, her collection and her experimentation,” said gallery director Allison Maslow.
Another aspect to admire is the compelling storytelling found in Davis’ work.
For example, images of centuries-old text appear in collages that Davis created to resemble old maps. Davis found these old texts, written in Latin and German scripts, in his portfolio from his first auction, which he attended with his father when he was 13, and bought them for $10. was.
She grows persimmons and quince (fruits from old nursery rhymes) with all sorts of flowers, and her images of dried flowers, like corn husks and baroque cherubs, let her imagination run wild. I might layer pictures of everything that inspires me. .
“This kind of artwork has a quality of surprise and coincidence that I really like,” she said, standing in front of a series of composite photographs.
“The colors are absolutely stunning,” gallery visitor Kate Alderman of Dallas praised the work.
“Absolutely stunning!” Fortyfort gallery visitor Marie Parks said while admiring some of Davis’ other work, it features peeling wallpaper the artist found in the Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area. Said. Embody.
“I have always loved old buildings,” says Davis.
The exhibition runs until September 29th at the Circle Center for the Arts behind S. Franklin St. in Wilkes-Barre.
