What effect does talking have on the making of a painting?

For a lot of artists, talking to colleagues about their work can be…. well a lot of things. A conversation can have a profound effect on the direction of a painting.

"I think it's always a good idea to look at a painting for awhile before talking about it, but I'm curious about trying a different approach." - Chris Protas, gallery director.

Chris Protas has invited five artists to come five different days and make a painting in the Fire Barn Gallery while he works on his own painting next to them in the gallery. All of the artists have agreed to deliberately allow conversation to influence the progress of their work. The idea being that Chris will talk to them about their work while in progress and they in turn will talk to him about his work. "I'm hoping that each of the five days the different artists come to the gallery will be five different ways for me to see painting, it's really sort of a selfish show in that respect".

The show will be the result of this conversational process. The artists will speak at the opening about their experience and how it effected their work.

The public is welcome to come by and see the work in progress.

Show participants are: Adam Dahlstrom, Maggie Bandstra, Jon McDonald, Dan Parker, Chris Protas, and Randy Smith.

The show opens Thursday August 29, 6-9pm with complimentary hors d'oeuvres and wine, and a discussion with the artists at 7pm.