What’s new in the galleries for 2017

First Friday at the Macon Arts Alliance Gallery featured “The Modern Classic Collection,” a selection of paintings by Atlanta artist Charles Cashwell, who is now represented in Middle Georgia by the gallery.

With a degree in art from the Ringling School of Art and Design, Cashwell started his painting career as an illustrator for publishing houses, a path that led him to portraiture, a genre in which he was an immediate success. Although he has not accepted any recent commissions for portraits, a sampling of them was on loan from the owners for the exhibition at Macon Arts, which runs through the last Friday of January.

Several years ago, when the economy was on life support and people were not spending discretionary money on luxury items like portraits, Cashwell expanded his portfolio to include still lifes, which are always in demand in the interior design and decorating market. The paintings of fruit, flowers and other objects associated with the garden are executed in broad strokes, in a manner much like a palette knife, with skillful portrayal of light and perspective. In “Jug with Apples,” the skin of the red and gold apples glistens in its juxtaposition to the texture of the pottery jug.

Cashwell’s more recent paintings are impressionistic and ethereal marsh and wood scenes painted on loosely woven Irish linen, which augments the depth of the paintings with its nubby, textural finish. These paintings should be used in large spaces in order to appreciate the subtle, but dynamic imagery.

Although he displayed only one of his sculptures on First Friday, Brandon McCullar’s horned animal figure centered in the gallery is one of his best interpretations from his forge, Southern Fried Metal, in Perry. McCullar is familiar to Macon Arts gallery visitors for his exhibits of jewelry and other metal art objects.

He studied art at Montevallo, the University of Alabama, Complutense University in Madrid and concentrated on blacksmithing at the John Campbell Folk School. His work is displayed in the Telfair Museum in Savannah and has been shown in his home state of Alabama, in Atlanta and in Paris, among other places.

AMPERSAND GUILD IS LIVING UP TO ITS NAME

Becca and Gabriel Balmes continue to add events and classes to their roster of activities at the Ampersand Guild Hall on Fifth Street, where musicians, painters and a diverse group of artists have found a place to share and exhibit their work. On First Friday, Beth Smith, a painting and drawing instructor from Warner Robins, brought her students’ work to the hall to show off their progress in pencil, pen, paint and manipulated photography in the exhibition, “For the Love of Art.”

“Shown the Way,” by David Carnes, is a giclee print of a spiral staircase, as seen from above. The giclee process is a printing method that allows photographs or prints to be copied on archival paper or on canvas, giving the finished product a sharper image. Carnes’ print looks more like a professional’s than a beginner’s work.

Tyler Wealot, another of Smith’s students, works in pen and ink. His “B. Anchored” is a detailed drawing of a couple of boats dropping anchor in a cove and deftly expresses the tension of the task to avoid other boats and the ire of their captains. The posture of the sailors, knees bent as they maneuver the heavy oars, the ripples in the water and the positions of the two boats are familiar to those who may once have found an anchorage in a tight, protected cove.

Smith encourages her students to explore new techniques and new frontiers with their art. Linda Christie’s dog, titled “Prada,” has all the attitude of that evocative name, and oozes disdain for the ordinary. All of the students are relatively new to the painting world; however, Smith’s exhibit of their work is a vote of confidence for the amateurs. The student art will hang in the guild hall through Jan. 28.

Keep your eyes on the pianos popping up all over downtown Macon. Becca Balmes is one of the artists decorating a piano that will be on the streets and available for tickling the keys when the urge strikes.

ADDED FLAVOR AT TRAVIS JEAN

Cooking enthusiasts saddened by the closing of Robinson Home, therefore losing the opportunity to take classes from master chef Teddi Wohlford, have something to celebrate. Jean Bragg, owner of Travis Jean Gallery, is retrofitting and equipping her adjoining event space to accommodate Wohlford and Kevin McCauley and their classes and gourmet dinners.

Wohlford and McCauley have been featured guest chefs for Travis Jean Gallery’s once a month Sunday night dinners. Expect those dinners to be even more popular with two stellar gourmands on board.

This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 3:05 PM with the headline "What’s new in the galleries for 2017."