The Gathering Place Art Galleries

Artwork by Marlisa Dunn

Pneuma: Tapping the Spirit

Marlisa Dunn Artist Statement and Bio

My work harnesses the frenetic energy I feel all around, capturing the pulse of life in each fleeting moment. I paint with a sense of urgency, each mark an expression of hope, or even desperation to derive as much pleasure as possible from my natural surroundings. Representing an inherent longing for more, my paintings reveal a compulsion to preserve what will be missed or forgotten. The landscapes in this show are based on healing hikes I have taken throughout Northeast Ohio. I want to express the magic of the forest and to offer a sense of the sun glistening through the canopy, the sound of insects, birds, and trickling stream, and the smell of the damp earth below. All of my still life works are painted from life, with the beautiful flowers positioned in front of my easel. This allows me to smell their scent and infuse my work with their subtle color shifts of their soft petals. My work is generally a prayer of gratitude for the beauty and healing that nature provides. —Marlisa Dunn

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Dunn’s paintings have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in museums, galleries, and art centers in the USA, including the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art in Wisconsin, the Richard Ross Art Museum in Delaware, Ohio; the Springfield Museum of Art in Springfield, Ohio; the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts in Mill Valley, California; the Mena Gallery in Mena, Arkansas; and the Berkeley Arts Council in Martinsburg, West Virginia; and the Tera Varna Contemporary Art Gallery in Los Angeles. In addition, her paintings were featured in an exhibition sponsored by the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) Temporary Art Program. Dunn recently received the Merit Prize Award in the 7th Color International Juried Art Competition sponsored by the Tera Varna Contemporary Art Gallery in Los Angeles.

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Contact Marlisa: marlisadunn.com | Instagram @marlisadunn_

Please join us for an art reception at TGP East on Saturday, October 12th from 10am-12pm.

Artwork by Jenny Simons

Eclectic Visions

Jenny Simons Artist Statement and Bio

I am an emerging Westlake artist. After a forty year career as a therapist for children and families and raising a family, I have concentrated on a long time passion of developing artistic skills in watercolor, oils and collage. My work shows my fascination with the non-verbal; from facial expressions to gestures and movement of figures in space, the sun’s shadows, night skies and nature. The unpretentious faces of children capture my compassion for them and the untold stories they show without words being spoken. I thank The Gathering Place for showing this body of images and hope one or two capture your appreciation.

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Jenny lives in Westlake, Ohio. She began seriously developing her lifetime artistic interest in watercolor, collage and oils in 2012. Her art has been recognized at Westshore Arts Council Community Fine Arts shows for the past three years with first and second prizes. She was accepted in The Ohio Watercolor Society juried show in 2023, and she has participated in numerous student shows at Beck Center in Lakewood. In 2019 she was also in a juried show in Baton Rouge, La. Her work reflects a focus and appreciation of nature, natural light, and use of color using Realism, Expressionism, Impressionism and Abstract. Her art highlights images from the varied locations she has lived across the United States. (Brunswick, Maine, Whidbey Island, coastal Virginia, Hills of Tennessee, Chicago, Philadelphia and Memphis; as well as the Navajo Nation at Chinle, AZ ,2011-2015)

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Contact Jenny: virginiasimons.com | virginiasimons44@gmail.com | 440-935-2953

Please join us for an art reception at TGP West on Thursday, November 14th from 5:00-6:30pm.

Show dedication in memory of: Laura Green, PhD, 2012, Jan Reash, MSW, Artist 2024, Douglas Taylor, MA 2022

The following is a poem by Douglas - The Artist’s Brush

The Artist’s Brush, like the artist’s hand

Is but an extension of His plan

Who made the beauties of this earth

And everything therein of worth

And every scene we know in part

Is transfigured as a work of art

The artist’s eye sees more than mine

Of all that’s beautiful and fine

And as her hand the brush inspires

Another work of art transpires

And the brush’s free and true invention

May be exactly God’s intention.

By Douglas Taylor, 2014 - First Place, Ruth Richmond Award, Mississippi Poetry Society 2014