Kick Off to Art Exhibition Brings Excellent Talent
The Blakehurst Residents’ Association has an Art Gallery committee that fills our 2nd-floor commons hallway with beautiful paintings and artifacts on a quarterly schedule throughout the year. The Art Gallery Committee is one of more than 40 activity, education, and resident leadership committees at Blakehurst.
Gail Ostergaard, Co-Chair of the Art Gallery Committee, pictured on the left in the photo, says, “This quarter, we wanted to celebrate the foods and wines of the world in this exhibition. Residents and staff who painted or owned artwork brought their work to this exhibit. It’s variety exciting to see the variety of work.” There were approximately 50 entries in this quarter’s exhibition, including two staff entries.
Karen Fernandez, a Blakehurst Housekeeper, started painting three weeks before the exhibition and decided to enter one of her still lifes. In the photo, Karen is standing 2nd to right, next to her painting. Karen says “This picture shows a moment in time. Sometimes when we’re tired, a glass of wine, cheese, and some grapes is all we need to relax.”
Residents were very excited to have not one, but two staff enter paintings, and they were amazed that Karen just started painting for the first time in her life, a few weeks ago. The other staff entry was a stunning photograph taken by the Blakehurst Director of Environmental Service, Julian Robinson.
The Art Gallery is a great way for residents and staff to come together to share their talents and enrich each other’s lives, and it is one of the favorite events at the community. A wine and cheese reception, open to all residents, kicks off the quarterly exhibition where artists can talk about their works, and people who submitted art that they own can share where they got the piece and what it means to them.
Catherine Mahan, Co-Chair of the Art Gallery committee, and pictured on the right says “There’s a great deal of talent at Blakehurst that we wanted to showcase.”