Lost and Found

The exhibit features three artists: Geraldine LiaBraaten, Raymond Elbert Pearson and Janae Kelly. LiaBraaten is an active and successful photographer, Kelly is a successful and creative painter, and Pearson was an illustrator, painter and animator.  The exhibit opens Friday, December 6 from 4-6 pm and will be available for viewing through January 5

The creative works in this exhibit are from three related individuals. Geraldine LiaBraaten and Janae Kelly are, respectively, birth mother and daughter who found one another 19 years ago. Since then they have enjoyed a relationship like no other with a shared creative spirit and talent. The third artist, Ray Pearson, is the biological father of Janae Kelly. Pearson has since passed and been lost in some respects. Nevertheless, he left a legacy of artwork.

According to Kelly, “My art is centered around the human figure. I intentionally draw the figure without much detail of the models face or exclude the face entirely. Something about the anonymity of the poses I draw is alluring to me. I use mainly acrylics and India ink on canvas and/or watercolor paper. I use color straight out of the tube, no blending of or creation of different color or hues. Using color as it comes, not changing it or altering it in all its vibrancy makes my Synesthesia ignite! Each idea manifests in its own individual style and story. I use a lot of found objects and unconventional tools to create the textured strokes and marks on the canvas, then draw the figure on top. Discovering where the image will show up by pushing and pulling the figure in the space, using opposing or complimentary colors next to one another to bring more depth to the image is an exciting and hypnotizing process for me.”

LiaBraaten is very direct. “Color is my life. If I lived on the island of the colorblind, I would fade away to gray. My house is a riot of color: turquoise kitchen, red couch, fuchsia duvet, yellow pillows; you get the drift. And don’t get me started on my wardrobe: there’s a reason my nickname is ‘Flamboya’.” This exhibit marks LiaBraaten’s golden anniversary as a photographer. “I’ve done it all: newspaper assignments, stock photography, traveling art fairs, weddings and portraiture, gallery exhibits, gallery owner. Lots of travel, lots of cameras and film. Small/medium/large format, many lenses, slide printers, Polaroid and 35mm and sheet film, and then digital cameras and, yes, my cell phone.” When asked about her ideas, where her inspirations come from, LiaBraaten replies,” Everywhere! It’s the world and the oft-skewed way that I perceive the world that gives me the ideas for my photos. There are many origins for the images in this exhibit: poetry, architecture, cars, reflections, all can make me grab my camera. Understand that things are not always what they seem. Most will find themselves taking a moment to wonder, to ponder, and to have that “aha!” moment when recognition strikes.

Since Ray Pearson died at the age of 54, Kelly and LiaBraaten have chosen to speak for him. “He was an artist, animator, illustrator, painter & Korean War Vet whose artistic output spans the decades from the 1950s to 1980s. He was one of the first Black animators for Walt Disney Studios in the mid-‘50s (alongside Floyd Norman and Lionel Forniss). Most of his work was created with oil paint, indelible ink pens, ink pens and charcoal pencil, and much of his portraiture displays very sensual line work, created using the common ball point pen. Ray liked to draw and paint the everyday person or scene using vibrant colors and definitive lines that invite the viewer to see his work in a voyeuristic way. His work showcases the everyday goings on that he encountered during his travels, hanging with friends and fellow artists or visiting local night clubs.” Most of Pearson’s work to be shown in “Lost & Found” has never been viewed by the public.