The South Arkansas Arts Center will host former El Dorado resident and artist, Melinda Antoon Cormier, in the Lobby Gallery with her show “Shores and Gardens- Works by M. Antoon”. Her show will run from April 1 through April 29, with gallery viewing hours Monday- Friday, 9-5, and an artist’s reception Saturday, April 6, 6-7:30pm.
Melinda enjoys working in many media, and she says that wide variety of styles keeps her fresh and interested. Most recently she’s been using acrylic as a water media on canvas and paper, along with a big range of materials in her mixed media collages. Her two major series, “Fictitious Fish” and “Plant Dance”, are full of examples of Melinda’s exuberant style and vibrant color preferences. Sometimes you can feel her sense of humor peeking out in those fish with expressions, and in the dancing way the garden specimens seem to move. She believes that plants are as alive as we are, but just in a different tempo.
Cormier said about her art, “The act of looking, the process of understanding, and the satisfaction of making–these are the elements that always draw me into expressing life by art. Among the first images I can remember are those of light and shadow, and glorious color. My mother liked to tell the tale of little Melinda, walking along the sidewalk, suddenly flinging out her arms to shout, ‘Stop! Look at that shadow!’ I still am enchanted by all that I see in nature. There seems to be a reverence involved in the practice of representing that nature, transposed by one’s own eye and heart.
“My first love and training uses traditional handling of water media in representing still life as narrative. One of my renewed interests is a return to that more classical expression of storytelling, through capturing the magic and narrative of objects.
“Having varied interests in different media has kept me flexible in direction throughout my long years of creativity, and have given me a stronger resulting body of work.
“My art education began in El Dorado, when I studied with watercolorist Betty Norman, at EHS. My Bachelor of Arts, Painting degree was attained at Louisiana Tech, where I furthered my enjoyment of water media while working under Douglas Walton, along with attending workshops across the South by noted water media artists, like Edgar Whitney and Reese Kennedy. Pieces of my work are included in corporate and private collections across the country, and in Canada, Mexico, England and France. I’m looking forward to growing and learning in my practice, for many seasons to come.”
For more information, please call the SAAC office at 870-862-5474 or visit the website at www.saac-arts.org. SAAC is located at 110 East Fifth Street, El Dorado, Arkansas.