Midland Art Council show accepting entries

MIDLAND ― The Midland Arts Council has begun accepting works for its 18th Summer Gallery, a juried show and competition featuring the best recent works from area artists. The exhibition, in the atrium of the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center, is open to two-dimensional works by visual artists 17 years and older.

Individuals may submit three works, framed and ready to hang. Entries are due June 15, between noon and 2 p.m., and may be unloaded from the front traffic circle at the Lincoln Park center. Assistance will be available.

The exhibition will be free and open to the public. Hours are 6-8 p.m. July 3; 1-7 p.m. July 4; and 6-8 p.m. July 5-7.

Artists are to pick up their works from 4 to 7 p.m. July 8.

A public opening night reception with the announcement of awards takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. July 2.

Works must not exceed 36 inches in width or height, and must weigh less than 50 pounds. Artists may enter a maximum of three pieces. Fees are $10 per piece, or $25 for three. The Midland Arts Council assists artists in selling their works and does not take a commission.

Featured artist this year is Gary Henzler Allen, whose oil painting of his puggle (pug/beagle mix) dog named Maeve won best of show in last year’s Summer Gallery. The Brighton Township native earned a bachelor's degree in studio art in 2004 from West Liberty University.

“My focus was painting and printmaking, and those are two media I still work in,” he said. “I work mostly in oils, and have worked in watercolor. What I’m working mostly in now are mixed media and hand-cut paper. It’s a lot of fun and something I naturally got into in 2015; then in the COVID lockdown that was all I did.”

Allen does commissions for clients and friends, and posts in social media. He has staged several solo shows of his work, among them one titled “Plague Art” at Kindness Solidarity Design in Homestead, a tattoo parlor.

For the Midland Summer Gallery, “My plan is to show oil paintings, watercolors, mixed media, a sampling,” adding most of his subjects currently are animals.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Midland art show accepting entries