Drawings by local artist Glenn Mayer will be exhibited in the gallery at the Humphrey Memorial Park and Museum during the month of May. The exhibit, entitled Sticks and Stones, features pen and ink landscape drawings and portraits.
Glenn, who lives in Evergreen with his wife and two daughters, resumed drawing a couple of years ago after a long hiatus. He works as a software engineer for Bank of America, and finds that drawing provides a necessary and welcome respite from staring at a computer screen all day. This is his first exhibit locally.
The artist’s landscapes depict scenes familiar to anyone who hikes around Evergreen – the alluring rock outcroppings and dramatic views of trees and grasses with a mountain backdrop. “I try to capture the motion in nature,” said Glenn, describing his landscapes drawings.
When asked about the theme of the exhibit, he said “Two of the things I’ve been drawing lately are portraits and scenes from nature. When Angela [Angela Rayne is the executive director of the Humphrey Museum] invited me to put together an exhibit, I decided to focus on portraits of interesting people I had read about in the news, rather than the more typical celebrities. As I started searching for people to draw, I discovered some amazing stories.” He decided to concentrate on people who have overcome extreme adversity and dedicated their lives to others. The subjects of his intimately detailed portraits include a Pakistani girl who started her own school at age 13, a survivor of the Cambodian death camps who now speaks out for human rights, a woman who rescues children orphaned by war in Africa, and others.
The title of the show followed naturally from this combination of overcoming personal adversity and the natural world.
The Humphrey Museum will host an opening reception on Friday, May 2, from 4:00 to 6:00pm, featuring locally-made wine and cheese. The exhibit runs for the month of May at the museum, which is located at 620 Soda Creek Road in Evergreen.
