A new art exhibition at Geauga Park District’s The West Woods Nature Center invites attendees to experience the vivid colors and nature of Planet Earth.
A new art exhibition at Geauga Park District’s The West Woods Nature Center invites attendees to experience the vivid colors and nature of Planet Earth.
Artists Deb Berkebile and Brittany Paynter express their visions through textiles, pottery, paint and watercolor works of art.
The show opened with a Meet the Artists event March 1. Artwork will be on display until April 27 and then a smaller collection will be on exhibit until mid-summer, said GPD Special Events Coordinator Holly Sauder.
“’This Vivid Planet’ (exhibit) encompasses everything I focus on when making art,” Paynter said. “Inspiration for my work comes largely from observing the natural world. I look high, low, near and far, to see how colors play together, and each painting comes forth. I love to paint animals, flowers, rocks, water — honestly, everything from nature. Earth is diverse, beautiful and certainly vivid, and since Deb and I both create art that follows that theme, big and small, we decided it needed to include the whole planet.”
Sauder invited the artists to exhibit together because their pieces are exquisite and complementary to each other, she said.
“The collection is truly a vivid collection of colors, medium and images that visitors will enjoy discovering,” Sauder said.
Berkebile, of Conneaut, said her inspiration to become an artist hit when she was 50 years old and went back to school for the third time.
“I went back and took GIS (Geographical Information Systems) classes and in a remote sensing class, I found this book called ‘Earth as Art’ and fell in love with the images,” she said. “So, as I was researching for my class, these images were so vibrant and vivid, that I could not just pass them up. I wanted to start my art quilts immediately, but had homework to do.”
After completing school, she started creating images in fabric in 2014.
She has 33 pieces of art, most for sale, in the exhibit featuring a combination of art quilts, encaustic paintings and framed eco-printed fabric.
“I am really excited for this show since Brittany and I are showing our art together,” she said. “We’ve even created a piece that shows Brittany’s painted version and I have done mine in fabric for a great collaboration.”
That piece is of the creek level entrance to GPD’s Welton’s Gorge in Burton.
“When following an otherwise normal creek through the woods, it suddenly opens up into towering cliffs of sandstone and shale,” Paynter said. “The creek snakes through the mini gorge and just around the bend in the painting is even more impressive rock. Hence the title, ‘More To It.’”
Paynter, of Chardon, grew up in Chester Township.
“Geauga County has always held a special place in my heart and even though I’ve traveled the world, it always calls me home,” she said. “My art career officially has its roots in the classroom at West Geauga (High School), under the tutelage of the late Irene Sukle.”
Sukle introduced Paynter to many artistic mediums and techniques she still uses today.
“I have carried what she taught me into my professional career and I have always continued to paint, draw and make pottery,” she said. “I have enjoyed numerous opportunities to share my work with the local art scene, worked at a handful of local galleries and served on the board of the Geauga Arts Council.”
Nowadays, Paynter teaches classes at Big Creek Clay in Chardon.
“At each step of my career, I connect with fellow artists turned friends and I believe it is our relationships that have steered my success,” she said.
She has around 45 pieces of art in the “This Vivid Planet” exhibit, ranging from small ceramic trinket dishes, watercolors and beach glass suncatchers to oil paintings large and small.
Her art takes the form of multiple mediums depending on the subject matter and timeline she is following for each piece, she said.
“Almost every piece in this show is for sale, with a select few on loan from private collectors,” Paynter said. “This is my second opportunity to showcase my work at The West Woods and I am very thrilled to be sharing the space with my friend Deb Berkebile this time around. We had just been discussing a collaboration about six months ago when we were approached for this opportunity. It was fate.”
Paynter would like viewers to feel inspired to create when they see her work.
“I believe we all have an inherent creative ability and there are so many ways to express that,” she said. “I encourage everyone to try an art class or just play around at home. If one medium doesn’t feel right, give another one a go.
“This show has something for everyone. There may be a small painting or piece of pottery that speaks to you, but you won’t know unless you come and see,” she added. “The West Woods is a fantastic place full of foliage, fauna and rock formations, so if you come for a hike, be sure to pop in and take a look around.”
The nature center is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 9465 Kinsman Road (state Route 87).
