Arnita Force will be the featured artist at Graffiti Gallery’s annual spring show.
The exhibit opening will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. today. The exhibition runs from noon to 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Saturday, May 6, at 210 Seneca Street, Oil City. Admission is free to the opening and the exhibition.
Force is an established awarded professional artist who works in different mediums. She is most admired for her realistic portrait paintings, spiritual themes, and sculptures and reliefs. Her work is recognizable with its atmosphere of ancient civilizations and influence of American modern masters.
Force taught at the Pratt Institute and Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York. She was the graphics manager for one of the largest national companies, Ameritech Publishing Company/AT&T, where she managed almost 100 employees. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art design and art education from the Pratt Institute and another degree for advertising and public relations from the University of Detroit.
“I want people to accept my humble expressions and find some beauty in them. I want them to take a thought, a feeling, an emotion, something significant away with them,” Force said about displaying her work at this show.
She explained that she was “sharing parts of me through my creativity.” Force described this ability to share as a blessing. At the New Life Family Worship Center in Franklin she participates in crafts, face painting, and singing in the choir which fulfills another side of her creativity by engaging with local community.
Strong family encouragement from an early age shaped Force’s desire to hone her artistic skills. By age 3 she was drawing her surroundings. One of her earliest memories was of watching her older sister paint the Lord’s Supper on a church wall. Other family members carve, illustrate and make ceramics.
“My wish is for my work to transcend stereotypes and make observations from my point of view while showing love and compassion for the human condition,” Force explained.
Oil City became home to this artist through the Arts Revitalization program under the Oil City Arts Council.
Force watched Oil City on the History Channel and fell in love with the architecture. She bought a house and moved here from Michigan in 2008 along with her husband and son.
“Oil City is rich in history and the artists here are making new history,” she said. Force works locally in her studio in the National Transit Building.
The spring show is curated by Swan Daashuur who is also a professional artist relocated through the same program. She was instrumental in the birth of Graffiti Gallery which is the only non profit, non-retail exhibition space in the area.
Now in its seventh year, the gallery is open to both emerging and professional artists to submit to any open call show. More information is available at www.graffitigalleryoc.org or by calling 670-
5303.
