Check out our January show featuring the works of Sharon Simpson, Raya Salman Heibein and Greg Ward.
Ms. Simpson’s collection Impressionist Nudes and Mr, Ward’s collection Abstracts will be on display along with Ms. Heibein’s work, at the Old Town Scottsdale gallery at 7019 E. Main St.
Sharon Simpson
Ms. Simpson returns to her roots in fine art and specializes in oil painting and printmaking. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions and her work is both locally and abroad.
As an educator, Ms. Simpson has a printmaking studio in Illovo, Johannesburg, South Africa through which numerous local artists have emerged and grown, according to a press release.
She is the co-founder of FAP --- the South African Fine Art Print Fair. FAP is a national exhibition dedicated to print. The inaugural exhibition was in Johannesburg in October 2015. Being biennial, the third Fair was in 2019.
Ms. Simpson says she creates her own prints using an hydraulic printing press.
“My favourite printmaking techniques include monotypes, collagraphs, linocuts and etchings,” she said in a prepared statement. “I enjoy the unpredictability of monotypes and aim to create a sea of vibrant inks which flow into one another and settle before printing. The end result is often incredulity when sometimes the final outcome has unexpected surprises.”
She is one of three South African artists presenting their individual collections in a collaborative exhibition entitled Illusion/Allusion.
Ms. Simpson has used this exhibition as a springboard to showcase her most recent body of work called Evocation, the act of bringing or recalling a feeling, memory or image to the conscious mind.
“In Evocation, I revisit the human form, exploring the human body’s relationship with its surroundings and space,” she said.
“The intermingling of lustrous inks and oils provides the perfect platform to express the ebb and flow of human relationships.”
With a sense of voyeurism, Ms. Simpson’s work features figures submerged in the depth of canvas and paper and re-emerge. They sometimes appear to be dissolving in liquid or shrouded behind mark-making, patterns and glyphs.
She says her works are presented as oil paintings and print.
“I believe there is an alchemy between print and oil paintings,” she said. “I work on several paintings at any one time. The prints ignite the canvasses, the canvasses feed off each other. Inspiration for one painting might be found in another --- a thread of narrative emerges.”
Raya Salman Heibein
Ms. Heibein was born in Lebanon, studied in France at the Sorbonne University and lived in England before coming to the U.S. with my family in 1991.
She has exhibited her oil paintings in various Paris, Beirut and London galleries, where she’s also participated in the International Contemporary Art fair. In the U.S. she has participated in several exhibitions in, Florida, Virginia, Washington D.C. and Maryland.
Ms. Heibein claims to reflect a Mediterranean influence by using vibrant colors in work. she characterizes her style by bright, clean colors, a lot of blending and a personal Gouache technique she developed for oils. She also says she works with acrylics, mostly for abstract paintings.
Ms. Heibein also recently published a children’s book called :Joey the Leopard/Have You Seen My Sports?”
“I love to find beauty in nature, animal, inanimate objects and transpose it onto my canvas. Sharing my positive attitude, passion and vibrant colors with others is very rewarding for me because they say my paintings make them happy,” she said in a prepared statement.
“My aim is to brighten up your day every time you look at my paintings or read my book”
Greg Ward
Mr. Ward says he loves to paint works outside of the box, incorporating cubism into his work.
“I refuse to be labeled or put in a box,” he said in a prepared statement. “I am Greg. I am who I am, hence the twist on the name Why Knot. We are all a little bit quirky, just some of us try to conform to society’s beliefs and some of us buck against the system.
“A new beginning is when you let the fear and the negative thoughts and stories go, don’t let anything hold you back, create space to allow the positive thought of creativity to flow and connect back with your true self. Within everyone is an artist trying to escape.”
see article in Scottsdaleindependent
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