OCEAN CITY — There are some exciting things happening at the new Ocean City Center for the Arts during the month of April.
Located at 502 94th Street and home of the nonprofit, Art League of Ocean City, the center kicked off the month with the Corporate Sponsor Art Show held April 5.Several local artists took home ribbons for their artwork. Gail Zinar won Best of Show for her pastel painting, “Winters Dream”. First prize went to Junis B. Adkins for her acrylic painting, “Signs of Spring”. Tara Funk Grimm won second prize for “Spring Garden”. Third prize went to Dale Sheldon for “Shore Birds Nature Series I”. Honorable mentions went to Karen Hutchinson, Jeanne Meuller, Marian Bickerstaff, Faith Lord and Kathy Gibson. The show runs through the end of the month along with the photography show that is in the upstairs galleria with impressive photographs by the Ocean Pines Camera Club.
There are many classes/events to participate in at the Center for the Arts. Coming up April 20-21 there will be a class, “Mosaics-The Ultimate in Recycling” with Susan Stockman as the instructor. Learn the basics of creating mosaics and go on to create mosaics in a multitude of ways. Students will take tile, glass, shells, stones, broken shards, ceramics, non-porous items and other "cast-ways" to create a mosaic which can be displayed inside or out. All tools and materials will be provided, but please bring any personal pieces you may want to incorporate. Tuition is $54 (Art League member discount available) and a material fee of $40.
Stop by in April and have a beautiful portrait drawn by artist in residence, Lola Panco, who will be exhibiting and drawing portraits, both from sitting and from photos. She uses Russian Dry Brush technique and uses black oil paint on watercolor paper. She was born and raised in Minsk and in 2012 concluded her studies at the prestigious Belarusian State Academy of Arts. Since coming to Ocean City, she has had an idea for a new project. With the support of the Art League of Ocean City, she now has the chance to bring it to life.
Her project is called, “Faces of Ocean City”, where she will be creating a library of portraits of local people who are originally from Ocean City or who currently live and work in town.
“Faces of Ocean City is going to be a great exhibition where I will display all of my works and it will be exciting for the people of Ocean City to see their faces transformed into works of art,” said Panco.
Those interested in a portrait by Panco should make it a point of visiting the Ocean City Center for the Arts in April. It only takes her 20-25 minutes to draw a portrait and being new to the area her prices are competitive.
Joining the ongoing artists’ displays by Erik Hertz, with his handmade pottery and original watercolor, and paintings by Dorothy Harrison Braun will be Faith Lord with her fine art paintings. Lord has been creating art throughout her life. She has experimented with creative garments, painted textiles, pottery, jewelry, and had a business that combined upholstery and original painting on furniture. She has been accepted in many juried shows and won numerous awards. She was invited to be the feature artist in several galleries and was chosen as the artist for the cover and promotional materials for the 2008 Rehoboth Film Festival.
During the month of April, there will also be the ongoing pottery classes for adults and children. For more information on these classes or to sign up for other classes/events visit the Art League website www.artleagueofoceancity.org or call 410-524-9433. The Ocean City Center for the Arts is open daily with gallery hours 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.