Artist Conrad Lustig stands by his work (to the right of him) on the third floor of Wyandotte’s River’s Edge Gallery Jan. 24 during the fourth annual Beach P-Art-Y, a winter respite tradition.
Wyandotte River’s Edge Gallery Director Jeremy Hansen poses with artist Barbara Melnik Carson’s sculpture of him Jan. 24 during the fourth annual Beach P-Art-Y, a winter respite tradition.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
WYANDOTTE – While the weather outside was freezing, it was warm and congenial inside River’s Edge Gallery Jan. 24 during its fourth annual Beach P-Art-Y winter respite and art exhibit.
Owner Patt Slack said despite the cold temperatures, the tradition carries on.
She said they were serving beach food like hot dogs and potato chips, and Gallery Director Jeremy Hansen brought a beachfront vibe to the party.
“We have that upstairs, so you can actually sit at the ocean,” Slack said, referring to the second level, where a beach chair was set in a sand box, with wave sounds on headphones and an ocean beach video playing on a nearby wall.
Hansen, who curated the show, said the Beach P-Art-Y theme during January is less of an art theme and more of a “Christmas in July” type fun escape.
“It’s not really a literal idea,” he said. “It’s more of a coming together and celebrating going to the beach.”
Hansen said a beach theme helps combat the winter blues. He said he also borrowed from a Downriver artists’ group called the “Downriviera Beach Club.”
“I want to do an art show, but sometimes working with artists is like herding cats, so I just kind of went with ‘beach club,’” he said. “I just want to start the year with a little positive energy in it.”
Sculptor Shawn Stachel’s wooden carvings are on display Jan. 24 during Wyandotte’s River’s Edge Gallery’s fourth annual Beach P-Art-Y, a winter respite tradition.
Artist Conrad Lustig, whose studio and work is displayed on the third floor of the gallery, said his paintings on display work together visually, some of which include vivid splashes of cadmium red that he recently acquired.
“It felt so intense, and I wanted to create something as intense with that,” he said.
Lustig also has a painting of two hands, which he said has significance to him because many of his memories involve hands.
“I can remember my father’s hands: He was missing most of a fingernail on one hand, and he was an electrician and did some other industrial work, so he had really rough hands,” he said. “My mom has always had thin, delicate hands, but she’s always had arthritis, even when she was young.
“I think hands are a really interesting way of exploring a person’s history and understanding what they do.”
Sculptor Shawn Stachel, whose wooden carvings of fish, a mallard and a miniature totem pole are on display on the ground floor of the gallery, said he paints and sculpt in different media.
He said a gallery beach party helps get one’s mind off the cold.
Stachel said he has been sculpting fish from wood since he was 10 years old.
“I like how they are symmetrical and stuff like that,” he said.
For more information about River’s Edge Gallery, go to ArtAtTheEdge.com.
River’s Edge Gallery owner Patt Slack awaits guests Jan. 24 at the fourth annual Beach P-Art-Y, a Wyandotte winter respite tradition.
Above and below, colorful, eclectic art work fills the third floor of the Wyandotte’s River’s Edge Gallery Jan. 24 during its fourth annual Beach P-Art-Y, a winter respite tradition.
Above and below, sculptor Shawn Stachel’s wooden carvings are on display Jan. 24 during Wyandotte’s River’s Edge Gallery’s fourth annual Beach P-Art-Y, a winter respite tradition.
