OPENING RECEPTION, THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 5:30 - 7 PM

17th Annual National Exhibition of the American Society of Marine Artists (ASMA) - featuring artwork of members of ASMA

​The American Society of Marine Artists' (ASMA) 17th National Exhibition, representing the finest collection of today’s original contemporary marine art, opens on April 13, 2017 at the Quinlan Visual Arts Center in Gainesville, Georgia.  
 
Almost 120 paintings, sculptures, prints and scrimshaw by the Society’s members and Fellows will be on display at the Quinlan through June 3 before moving on to several museum venues around the country. This exhibition began at the Muscarelle Museum in Williamsburg, VA in September 2016. The show traveled to the Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, MD (December 5, 2016 - April 1, 2017).  After the Quinlan, the exhibition will continue to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, Winona, MN (June 24, 2017 - September 23, 2017) and the Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, CT (October 14, 2017 - January 26, 2018).
 
“It is an honor to share the diversity this organization represents.  There are artists from all walks of life; each with a distinctive, special story to share.  Through the mysteries of art, we are joined” says President and Fellow Kim Shaklee.
 
“With every National Exhibition comes a dedicated, collaborative effort from the Society’s Fellows who judiciously select the ‘best of the best’ for our prestigious traveling collection of works.  It is with great pride and enthusiasm that we welcome the public to delve into the mystique of the various mediums in hopes of igniting a spark for the intricacies and nuances lying within the art included in the 17th ASMA National.” she added.
 
The full-color 140-page catalog will be available on the Society’s website, at the host museums, on Amazon.com or by calling the Society.
 
The ASMA was founded in 1978 and today has over 500 members across the country. ASMA’s mission is to recognize, encourage and promote marine art and maritime history; to encourage cooperation and free interchange among artists, art teachers, art students, collectors, publishers and others with interests related to marine art; to provide a registry for artists, and to hold exhibitions. CLICK HERE to access ASMA's website. 

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The Bron Yr Aur Project 
​Jim Stallings

For many years, the home to most of Jim’s paintings has been Grits Cafe in Forsyth, Georgia.  On March 19, 2012 Grits Café was destroyed by fire and  Jim lost nearly 35 paintings.  Grits Cafe re-built and opened again in February, 2013. Once again it is home to several of Jim's paintings.
Jim has been represented by The Dan Goad Gallery on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, Hollis Gallery in Chattanooga, Tennessee and the Stofko-Dixon Line in Bolingbroke, Georgia.  He has exhibited at The
Stofko-Dixon Line, The Gallery at Theatre Macon, The Macon Arts Alliance Gallery, The Georgia National Fair, and Quinlan Visual Arts Center in Gainesville, Georgia.

Jim's paintings are in corporate and private collections in the United States, England, Wales and Canada including MOMA Machynlleth (formerly MOMA Wales.) Jim's work for "The Bron Yr Aur Project" was exhibited at MOMA Wales, April-June, 2015.
Jim's paintings are currently available at Grits Cafe in Forsyth, Georgia, Glan Yr Afon in Pennal, Wales, Oriel Flodau in Aberystwyth, Wales, and PEN Piner, his studio in Macon, Georgia. 

​CLICK HERE for Jim's website. 

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A Retrospective
Fran Geiger

Fran Geiger’s bold, expressive abstract paintings are inspired by nature in all of its diversity and beauty, and scenes from her extensive travels. She shares the life-changing moment when she knew she wanted to be a painter: Hitchhiking through Europe in her mid-twenties, she wandered into a Paris art museum (now part of Musee d’Orsay), and saw the Impressionists for the first time. “The works simply blew me away,” she says.
Years later, after raising a family in her native Canada, she decided to pursue her lifelong goal to be a painter.  She enrolled in college as an art major, and continued her art education when the family moved to Atlanta. Her first love was photography, and she explored the medium’s wide range of possibilities in her darkroom. That experimentation and love of abstract imagery led her to painting and collage, often using her photographs as a starting point.
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Fran works from her studio in Atlanta, and her paintings hang in private and corporate collections in the United States and Canada.

​CLICK HERE for Fran's website. 

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From Mountains to Sea
Ocmulgee Painters Society 

​We are a Macon-Perry based group of seventeen artists who meet on a monthly basis for critique, encouragement, education and fellowship. Some of us are in galleries, some teach art, some are beginners, but we all share in the creative process.
 
We host private workshops with nationally known artists and also travel extensively in the U.S. and Europe to study and paint en plein air.
 
Our goal is to make the best art we can and to never stop growing as artists.  We are now planning new shows and venues for more community outreach.
 
We have so much fun when we are out painting together.  We fight off insects, deal with rain and wind and the ever changing light.  We love the challenge of being outdoors in spite of the elements. It is a bonding experience that we wouldn’t trade.

CLICK HERE to access our website.

​Group Members featured in this exhibition:
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Glenda Coleman
Carol Costello 
Mary Wayne Ellison
Carol Griffin
Dr. Warren Griffin
Joseph Ott
Maureen Persons
Bren Powell
Debbie Schuchmann
Daly Smith
Joy Stanley