Chattanooga artist Ellyn Bivin will be honored at an opening reception on Friday from 6-8 p.m. at Michael's Fine Arts and Framing in Dalton. Ms. Bivin's new show, "Pet Projects," will be exhibited at the gallery throughout the month of November.
A North Chattanooga native, Ms. Bivin graduated from City High School and studied under well-known artist George Cress and sculptor Jim Collins at UTC before receiving a bachelor of fine arts degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.
She has had numerous exhibits, both locally and nationally, and has also conducted private classes and workshops and taught art education in various local schools.
Her new show, "Pet Projects," focuses on the special relationship of pet owners and their dogs. "I think you can learn a lot about a person from their choice of pets," said Ms. Bivin. "Dogs have a unique ability to reflect and respond to their owners' attention, and they function as a direct visual manifestation of their owners' basic personalities. Raleigh, for example, is an outgoing, other-directed Basset blend who has obviously never met a stranger or heard an angry word. He is pure confidence, energy and affection, with just a twinge of neurotic worry in his eyes--much like his owner, my sister Leslie."
Ms. Bivin says she can't remember a time in her life when she wasn't drawing. She credits her father, local engineer and developer G.B. Pierce, with nurturing her personal and professional interest in art. "My dad, an artist in his own right, would entertain me for hours by sketching pictures," she says. "Naturally, my interest in art and my skills improved with these frequent lessons, and I was encouraged at every opportunity to express myself through art."
Besides "Pet Projects," Ms. Bivin is currently exploring the mixed media technique of collage and the way in which it communicates memories visually. "The application of layers of figures and textures along with my traditional imagery helps to develop my composition's theme of the interaction of the past and the present," she notes.
Michael's Fine Arts and Framing is located at 1325 Dug Gap Road in Dalton. For more information, contact the gallery at 706 278-8840.