Work by four DFW Artists

Main Gallery, April 4 – May 29, 2011

Curated by Lee Bowman

Soon Warren – Vibrant watercolors and oils by celebrated artist, workshop teacher and author from Fort Worth.

Bonny Leibowitz – Experimental encaustic paintings and abstract oils by artist and owner of The Bonny Studio in Richardson, Texas.

Enrique Fernandez Cervantes – Mystical photography by artist and visual art curator of the Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas.

Mazie Pannell – Unique and colorful fantasy portraits by young-at-heart octogenarian painter from Fort Worth.

Soon Y. Warren

Soon Y. Warren is a full time artist and popular workshop teacher from Fort Worth, Texas who brings to this exhibit a series of sensitively rendered images in both watercolor and oil. Her paintings have won numerous awards in regional and national juried competitions. In 2006 she won first place in North Light Book Cover competition and in 2009 her painting was featured on the cover of Watercolor Artist magazine. She also was a finalist in Southwest Art magazine competition and her painting was featured in the November 2009 issue.

She holds signature membership with the National Watercolor Society (NWS), American Watercolor Society (AWS), Southern Watercolor Artist (SW), Texas Watercolor Society, Purple Sage Brush (TWS), Alabama Watercolor Society (WSA), and The Fort Worth Society of Watercolor Artists (SWA).

Soon published a watercolor painting technique book Vibrant Flowers in Watercolor with North Light Books in 2006, and her second book and Painting Vibrant Watercolor: Discover the Magic of Light, Color and Contrast was published in 2009.

Bonny Leibowitz

Bonny Leibowitz, originally from Philadelphia, PA is an influential artist and teacher who owns and operates The Bonny Studio teaching center and The Encaustic Center in Richardson, Texas. For this exhibit Bonny has contributed a combination of oils on canvas, experimental paintings in encaustic wax and water media on Yupo.

As an artist who seeks to instill metaphorical content in her creations, she says:
“My work concerns itself with moments in our lives that effect change and create new realities. A myriad of choices emerge as our busy lives create in us layers of textures, patterns, tones and forms and reveal to us a sense of cause and effect.

These essential qualities expressed visually in my work speak to the consequence of relationships, wounds, healing and growth, both interpersonal and universal. I am currently working in combination with a variety of wax, digital painting, photography, abaca fiber, seeds, ink and oil.

I find these mediums give an intriguing combination of both control and loss of control. Going with them allows for internal exploration, development and expression.”

Enrique Fernández Cervantes

Enrique Fernández Cervantes contributes a series of intriguingly mystical fine art photographs for this exhibit. Enrique is an active visual artist, exhibition curator and graphic designer who lives in Dallas, Texas. His paintings and fine art photographs have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums and he has served as frequent juror for regional visual art competitions.

Since 1999, Enrique has held the position of Visual Arts Coordinator and Curator of Exhibitions at the Bath House Cultural Center. The Bath House, an influential arts facility of the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, is dedicated to fostering the development and quality of multi-cultural arts within the city of Dallas. Since October 2009, Enrique has also acted as Adjunct Curator for the Latino Cultural Center of Dallas. He is a graduate of Dallas Baptist University with a degree in art.

Mazie Pannell

Mazie Pannell contributes a series of fantasy portraits on canvas to this exhibit. She is a long-time resident of Fort Worth, Texas who began a serious concentration on art late in life after raising three children. Her first formal instruction in painting was through the Fort Worth Art Center where she studied with several teaching faculty.

Her artistic involvements broadened in 1991when she became interested in doll making and developed her skill into a small business, selling her creations through a shop at the Crescent Hotel in Dallas. When the shop closed in 2004, she and her husband Bill traveled and sold dolls through international doll shows throughout the United States. She won several awards, and her dolls have been shipped to many parts of the world.

Mazie, now eighty-two years of age, has returned to painting as her first love and since 2008 has been studying with several teaching professionals in Fort Worth. Although she is characteristically modest about her art, we were drawn to her wonderfully expressive work at a recent exhibition of her paintings at the Fort Worth Community Art Center.