Roam in Jerome

 

The Jerome Artists’ Cooperative Gallery opens for Art Walk October 2

As a small, historic mountain town, there are plenty of reasons for Jerome to include all shops, galleries, businesses, and restaurants in their traditional monthly art walk on the First Saturday of each month. With a kick-off of re-opening due to being closed by Covid, Jerome’s First Saturday event will reappear as, “Roam in Jerome” where everyone is invited, and everyone is included.

The Jerome Artists’ Cooperative Gallery joins in the fun by highlighting their current featured two-member-artists show, “The Color of Dreams,” with new work by Michele Cokl Naylor and Birgitta Lapides. “The Color of Dreams” itself is a celebration of color, mood, and atmosphere, where suddenly it feels good to be hopeful again. It feels good to dream.

Naylor, who is also known for her quirky line of greeting cards, specializes in mixed media abstracts for this show. She works with acrylic paints and also uses colored pencil, pastel sticks, charcoal, ink, paper, fabric, and photo transfer. She often prefers to create on small canvases. Many of her paintings are 6” x 10,” 8” x 8” and 4” x 12.” She likes the challenge involved in creating entire worlds in a limited space. It also makes her dreamlike work affordable and easy to place in home or office.   

“Strong colors draw the attention, but I also include plenty of details to hold a viewer’s interest. I add texture to give your eye something to dance around on,” says Naylor. “When someone hangs my art on their wall, I want them to be able to enjoy it on a daily basis, to always feel like the more they look at it, the more they will discover.”  

Lapides draws inspiration from the colors of the world. Born in Sweden, she’s lived in Belgium, the south of France, New York City, the green hills of Vermont, and finally Arizona. Each location has expanded her palette. She has studied art at esteemed institutions and worked as a full-time artist for decades creating highly sought-after hand-woven garments. For this show Lapides uses hand painted papers to create a richness and depth in her Arizona-inspired collage paintings. She also does ink paintings and a few watercolors. 

“I’m an intuitive painter. I don’t work from photos or sketches, this is just how I see and feel our beautiful Arizona landscape,” says Lapides. “I like to work small in this format and want the art to provoke a reaction in others just like it does in me. That’s what color can do. I have a need for strong colors as elemental as a need for food.” 

In addition to the array of eye-catching paintings lining the gallery walls, the show will include some splashy jewelry. Look for hand-painted earrings created by Lapides and framed abstract art pins by Naylor. 

Located on the ground level of the old Hotel Jerome at 502 Main Street, The Jerome Artists’ Cooperative Gallery will be open for “Roam in Jerome” on the first Saturday, October 2, from 5 pm – 8 pm with light refreshments provided. Face masks may be required. “The Color of Dreams” will run until October 26.  To learn more about the individual featured artists, visit www.michelecoklnaylor.com and www.birgittalapides.com. To learn more about the Co-op, call 928-639-4276 or visit www.jeromecoop.com.