Nancy Donnelly and Jill Finsen Exhibit @ City Gallery

after reading fellow blogs of http://www.frozentropics.com and http://hstreetgreatstreet.blogspot.com, I was inspired to take full advantage of all that H Street has to offer and check out my first exhibit and the relatively newly opened City Gallery.

It was opening night for these two artists, so it was a relaxed vibe filled with hipsters and older buds of the two artists. The space is small but warm with nice hardwood floors and white walls to not deter your eye from the artwork itself. I particullary enjoy smaller art galleries such as these because it is more intimate without feeling like you are in everyone’s personal bubbles. The two artists were very warm, as Jill, just started striking up conversation with me.

Jill Finsen is the oil painter who uses a lot of texture in her artwork. A lot of her pictures are landscapes but as I could tell, she rarely used brushes. Rather, she used the palet itself to form a lot of her paintings. I really enjoyed especially with the bright colors, strong lines and great use of complementary colors. My particular favorite, however, was the only one that wasn’t a landscape. In fact, it was the abstract piece that she did. I am a sucker for abstract art, so it really caught my eye.

Nancy Donnelly is glass blower who then oil paints her glasswork. Her main pieces were hanging from the ceilings of the exhibit. They were all multi colored cranes and I really enjoyed them. She also had a table of multi-colored glass balls which were also very nice. My favorite piece was her statue piece that also had bronze running around it. Very different, very interesting and very cool. It was definitely a departure from her “pretty” stuff, which was pleasantly enjoyable.

Overall, I enjoyed my first City Gallery Exhibit. If you want something nice to do, while waiting for a table at Sticky Rice or Dr. Granville Moore’s, I would definitely recommend the 4 block trek to City Gallery. Its small and a perfect way to the past the time. The exhibit was nice but no upcoming Picasso’s, Warhol’s or Monet’s. When both artists took a departure from the “safe”, they were very successful. I just recommend they start making that departure more often.

Exhibit: B-

City Gallery: B+