Center Gallery: Color Stories

Center Gallery opens its 2016 season May 27 with a month-long exhibition of hand-formed porcelain clay tableware by Darcy Bowden and textile constructions by Sarah Bearup-Neal. An artists’ reception is May 27, 6-8 p.m. at the gallery, 6023 S. Lake St., Glen Arbor.

Bowden’s plates, bowls and other table objects make the service of food an artful act. They’re simple, modern and embellished with familiar shapes in happy, lively colors. Bowden hand forms her objects using an anvil and paddle. A resident of Ypsilanti, Bowden taught art for 30 years, retiring from the Ann Arbor Public Schools in 2008.

Bearup-Neal’s banners and small fabric constructions strike a modern temperament. The Empire artist’s work references many familiar quiltmaking themes and techniques, then translates these time-honored characteristics into contemporary compositions that showcase stitchery, mark-making, hand-painted and hand-printed materials, graphic line and shape, storytelling and strong color play.

This exhibition runs through June 30. For more information, please call 231/334-3179.