New Free Exhibit Uses Asian Art Technique to Explore Eastern U.S. Nature Themes
A new free art exhibit features “little living things” in garden and marsh landscapes depicted through a traditional Asian watercolor technique. The exhibit, “Threshold Grace: A Sumi-e Journey,” by local artist Mike Lane is on view now through June 4 at the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts Art Gallery.
“In the Asian world of art, it is not unusual for studios to be given a signature appellation — my Virginia Beach studio goes by this name. ‘Threshold’ puts the spotlight on dynamic transition spaces where things are continuously morphing,” Lane said. “This is, in the micro, an appreciation of particular design structures in nature — the aging claw of a fiddler crab, the elegant motility of shrimp and the ripples in the eddies of a brook. But it is also an exploration of systems, their elegant layering and their interdependent nature.”
The Sandler Center and Sandler Center Foundation will host a free, public opening reception for this exhibition 6-8 p.m. on Monday, April 15. There is no requirement to RSVP for this event, but, if you have any questions, please email artsinfo@vbgov.com .
Artwork in this exhibition can be viewed when the Sandler Center box office is open as well as during Sandler Center events. Learn more about the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts Art Gallery , including opportunities to exhibit in the space.
Lane, an award-winning artist, is a native of the Virginia Coast and the Outer Banks but lived and worked in Asia for much of the past 30 years. He learned Asian culture while working as an English teacher, non-profit community development and international business consultant, and coffeehouse manager. From 2008 through 2014, he studied with accomplished artists in southern China.
Throughout his artistic career, Lane said he has enjoyed investing in the local arts community. He founded and directed the Halizo Arts Festival in Norfolk, 2002-2004. He teaches Asian art classes at the Norfolk Visual Arts Center in Titustown and is curator of the Chapel Gallery at Virginia Beach Community Chapel. He is also a board member of the local Blue Heron Sumi-e Society and actively shows at local galleries, shops and festivals.