The Oil City Arts Council’s Graffiti Gallery in Oil City is moving to a new location, and its inaugural exhibit in the new space will feature a series of nature-themed artworks by local artist CJ Hurley of Century Arts Design and Fine Art Studio.
“The Lyrical Landscape” exhibit at the new gallery at 228 Seneca St. will showcase several of Hurley’s most recent paintings.
Also included will be an art history lecture on “The Romantic Legacy,” painting demonstrations, an Artist’s Attic painting class at the Artists’ Attic in the National Transit Building, and a short documentary screening on Hurley.
The lecture and painting demonstrations are funded by a Northwest Pennsylvania Arts Recovery Grant from Erie Arts and Culture, although the Artist’s Attic class will include a fee.
Hurley described “The Lyrical Landscape” as his “ultimate vision of nature” and a world “where people are guests of a majestic and sacred place — not despoilers, exploiters and profiteers.”
He said the work takes a fresh look at his lifelong influences, including the art of Japan, Post-Impressionists, Art Nouveau and the teachings of Arthur Wesley Dow, one of “the topmost influential art instructors in the history of America,” Hurley said.
The educational lecture, scheduled at 11 a.m. Sept. 16, focuses on the origins and legacy of Romanticism because Hurley said he sees it as “the most important [period] in art history,” which “really shifted our view of nature and where we fit in the world.”
The painting demonstrations in the gallery, with times yet to be determined, will give attendees the opportunity to see Hurley at work, see some of his materials and samples of the handmade paper he paints on, and talk to him and ask him questions about his work.
On Oct. 6 at 6 p.m., a 2011 documentary short about Hurley and his art, “From Dystopia to Utopia: The Artistic Visions of CJ Hurley,” will be shown in the gallery.
New Graffiti Gallery
Oil City Arts Council president Evelyn Wheeler said the Arts Council began renting the new Graffiti Gallery space on Aug. 1.
The new gallery in what was the old Butler’s Candies has more space for hanging professional work, an HVAC system and a kitchen, as well as ADA access from the street and an ADA restroom, which the old Graffiti Gallery in the lower level of the Transit Building Annex did not have.
“There’s more hangable space for work, and for sculpture as well,” Wheeler said. “I think it’s well-rounded and suited for what we want the gallery to become.”
The new gallery is already booked through the end of the year, with a plein air exhibit from a group of eight artists booked immediately after The Lyrical Landscape exhibit ends, she said. She added that in December, a vendor event is planned for the space during Christmas Past.
“The person we rent from actually wants to support the arts,” Wheeler said, adding that the top floor of the building is set up as an AirBNB that hosts “a lot of people from out-of-town.”
She isn’t sure what will happen to the old Graffiti Gallery, but said the Transit Building will continue to house Transit Art Gallery and Gifts.
“The idea is to move the arts throughout the city…moving down the street so we can get people enjoying the arts all the way up and down the street,” Wheeler said.
