Esteemed artists’ work featured in Canton’s Village Theater

The Village Theater at Cherry Hill welcomes the featured works of widely-respected artists Tina Hotchkiss, Claudia Selene, and John Smolko in a collaborative exhibit incorporating portraits, animals and nature-inspired pieces, entitled “3Point Perspective,” in The Gallery at Cherry Hill now through February 26.

An opening art reception will be held on February 9, from 6-8 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Tina Hotchkiss’ work is full of energy: using watercolor, ink, gesso and colored pencil to create scenes from nature.  As an artist, she participates in juried and non-juried exhibitions and has won several awards for her pieces.

Her work has been published in Ann Kullberg’s Hidden Treasures IV and the book, Year of the Resistance. Hotchkiss earned her Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from Ohio State University and is a member of the Huron River Art Collective, National Watercolor Society, Colored Pencil Society of America (and the Detroit chapter), Brighton Art Guild, and the Chelsea Painters. Her love for mark-making and color is vividly shown in her work and she nurtures her passion by teaching numerous art classes for all ages.

As a painter, Claudia Selene is interested in bringing attention to the complex beauty of ordinary people, objects and spaces. Her work focuses on the physical beauty of surfaces meeting different types of light, as well as a kind of soul, or inner beauty that comes from the memories and feelings the image conjures in the viewer.

Within compositions of familiar things, Selene states, “being able to paint realistically is a fine opportunity to explore the impossible. It has also given me the tools to dig deeper into complex situations through visual metaphor.”

John Smolko has been a realist in one form or another since college. His fascination with the visual world has never been abated and he found himself overwhelmed with the variety of form and beauty ever present in the environment. Early in his career he took the organic point of view for realism and drew objects entirely from his surroundings and always of a personal nature. Later he experimented with symbolism and started to explore the wonders of color through colored pencils. 

This art exhibit at The Gallery at Cherry Hill is free and open to the public during gallery hours: Tuesday and Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Thursday and Friday from 4 to 8 p.m.; during all public performances; or by special appointment arranged via email to elli.fassois@cantonmi.gov.

The Village Theater at Cherry Hill, located at 50400 Cherry Hill Road in Canton, MI, 48187, is a regional center for the arts that offers the magic of live theatre, soul-stirring music, the thrill of dance, and the enjoyment of fine art exhibitions and events, in addition to providing a home for several cultural organizations and community groups. For more information about this latest exhibition, please call 734/394-5300 or visit www.cantonvillagetheater.org. 

Special thanks to Canton Township Performing Arts Coordinator Ben Frick for contributing this content.