Exhibition OPENS: July 1 - September 25

Opening Receptions: July 28, 5-7pm AND July 29, 2:30-4:30pm

Artist Statement: Color is a powerful tool that can be used to evoke emotions, create a sense of atmosphere, and tell stories. Artists have been using color for centuries to create beautiful and meaningful works of art.

I'm very interested in the ways our eyes process color and light. I learned that “rods and cones” are specialized cells in the retina at the back of the eye. When light hits the retina, it is absorbed by these specialized cells. Rods, located in the periphery, are good for detecting light in low-light conditions, but they do not perceive color. Cones - concentrated in the center of the retina - are responsible for color vision and high-acuity vision. There are three types of cones, each sensitive to a different wavelength of light: red, green, and blue. The brain combines the signals from these types of cones to create a wide range of colors. This is a part of the reason two people can look at the same painting and describe the colors differently.

In this exhibition, I hope I’ve created a space in which people can explore their own relationship with color. I intentionally used a wide range of colors as I painted. I hope that viewers will also experience the atmosphere and the story told in each. I want viewers to feel free to interact with the paintings and to find their own meaning in the colors.

Phyllis Sharpe Artist Bio

Phyllis Sharpe is an award-winning artist whose work reflects the beauty of the natural world. Growing up on a Guilford County farm, she was always drawn to the out-of-doors. Her fondest memories are of open spaces of pastureland and fields, along with the flowers of her mother’s and grandmother’s gardens. Hopes and dreams were born under the blue-grey dome of the sky above. Her love of water came later through life's journeys with her beloved husband Frank; whether at home on the lake or vacationing at the beach, that energy captivated and inspired her imagination. Frank's death in 2001 became a catalyst for Phyllis’s creative expression on canvas. It was only then, at the age of 59, that she picked up an artist’s brush for the first time. In the years since she began painting, her work has consistently drawn from those early themes and love of nature.