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Arts & Entertainment

Art in Nature: Birmingham Artist Opens One-Woman Show in Ferndale

Leaves, trees, grasses, acorns, birds and other elements of the great outdoors turn up in Laura Whitesides Host's current exhibit.

To Laura Whitesides Host, a leaf is a work of art, especially if it came from an oak or sassafras tree.

“I’m intrigued with the patterns that are in leaves. The veins often look like rivers,” said Host, whose one-woman show is opening at the Lawrence Street Gallery in Ferndale this Friday.

Many of her 35 paintings on display and for sale depict imagery from nature, from leaves and grass to trees and birds.

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“Part of art is trying to figure what you are going to do next to make a particular painting work,” said Host, with a laugh. “You have to figure it out as you go.”

Host, who lives in Birmingham, has been an art instructor at the for several years.   

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The works in her current show range in size from a 5-by-5-inch piece to a 3-by-4-foot painting.

Drawn in from the start

As patrons take in Host’s creations, they will take a journey of sorts down the artist’s life path.

A graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in fine arts, Host has always been curious about imagery and nature.

“My mother would let me draw on our walls when I was a kid growing up,” said Host of her childhood memories in west Michigan’s Grand Haven.

Years later, Host and her husband purchased a cottage near her childhood home. Tucked among trees galore, the cedar, Swiss chalet-style retreat provides the perfect spot for the artist to contemplate the shapes and hues of nature’s splendor.  

“It was so green there this past weekend,” she said, sounding as if she were mentally pouring and squeezing the makings for a variety of green leaf shades onto her palette. “Amazing greens, with the sun shining through … it just makes my mouth water.”

Her green period may be coming up, but back to Woodward Avenue and the Lawrence Street Gallery’s current show.

Several steps to success

“Art shouldn’t be easy,” she said, thinking of the works in this collection. Each piece showcases multiple layers of imagery, as well as color blends with acrylic and watercolor paints. A great deal of scratching, pressing, dipping and coating also takes place.

“If you do the same thing all the time, you’re not learning anything. That’s why I do all sorts of different things and have really gotten involved with nature’s patterns and their repetition. It’s like a little world.”  

In “Grass Dancing,” a monotype, Host used actual grasses from a surf shack prop at a past party. “I cut a bunch of them off and laid them in water-soluble ink and then put them through an etching press (it can take flat-ish items and things not sharp) five or six times,” she said. “I like to layer a lot.” Host kept many areas of the paper white. “I like the transparency of the process.”

While the grasses are a variety of cool green shades, surrounding colors are nothing short of hot. “The way these types of grasses bend in the wind, they remind me of fire flames, so that’s why the fiery colors,” she notes of the reds, yellows and oranges that set off the grass tones. 

Another painting, “Sassafras,” looks as if it's 3-D, as if the leaves are still sitting, curled up a bit, on the canvas. To create a riot of colors, her palette for this one included an array of lime, citrus, scarlet, purple, magenta and orange.

“Sassafras was my favorite tree growing up,” said Host. “It has three different kinds of leaves, which is so cool.” She laid the leaves, along with ferns, other leaves and acorn tops, in wet watercolor paints and placed them on the paper to let them dry before pulling them up and highlighting with more paint.   

“Oak Trio,” a monotype, was also created using leaves from around her cottage. “I used the leaf as a printing block so I can see the veins.” Creating a monotype involves first putting paint on a piece of Plexiglas. “The background is then painted around a pressed image, like I’ll use graders or scratch through the paint, which gives the piece action.” She then inks the leaves and lays them on top of the background. 

Creation's evolution

“The process of monotype is always evolving,” she said. “I adore that. You start with something and then can move things on or off your plate. The first print may not be the best one so you go down the line and create a series (she has a series of four oak leaf paintings in the show).” 

Fellow BBAC art teacher (and often a student himself) Pete Snodgrass notes that Host’s style is unique and, like a great trip, it’s as much about the journey as the destination.

“Laura is a great instructor that can inspire creativity from her students,” said Snodgrass. “She provides an atmosphere of adventure and a desire to try new and different techniques." 

With all the creative “playing” and experimenting, Host is never far from her solid foundation of having a keen eye for composition, light, warm and hot tone usage. “That’s always stuck in my head,” she said.

“Laura has great ability with composition, color and texture that produces art that is entertaining,” Snodgrass said, “as well as work that allows each viewer to create their own ideas and imaginations."

As for the entire process, Host compares art to her life. “It’s intriguing to me; I keep investigating it.”

Laura Whitesides Host’s exhibit opens Friday at the Lawrence Street Gallery, 22620 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, with a reception from 6-9 p.m. The show runs throughout the month of June.

About the Lawrence Street Gallery: It has had three homes in two cities and a variety of parents and housekeepers over the years, and yet the Lawrence Street Gallery in Ferndal

To Laura Whitesides Host, a leaf is a work of art, especially if it came from an oak or sassafras tree.

“I’m intrigued with the patterns that are in leaves. The veins often look like rivers,” said Host, whose one-woman show is opening at the Lawrence Street Gallery in Ferndale this Friday.

Many of her 35 paintings on display and for sale depict imagery from nature, from leaves and grass to trees and birds.

“Part of art is trying to figure what you are going to do next to make a particular painting work,” said Host, with a laugh. “You have to figure it out as you go.”

Host, who lives in Birmingham, has been an art instructor at the for several years.   

The works in her current show range in size from a 5-by-5-inch piece to a 3-by-4-foot painting.

Drawn in from the start

As patrons take in Host’s creations, they will take a journey of sorts down the artist’s life path.

A graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in fine arts, Host has always been curious about imagery and nature.

“My mother would let me draw on our walls when I was a kid growing up,” said Host of her childhood memories in west Michigan’s Grand Haven.

Years later, Host and her husband purchased a cottage near her childhood home. Tucked among trees galore, the cedar, Swiss chalet-style retreat provides the perfect spot for the artist to contemplate the shapes and hues of nature’s splendor.  

“It was so green there this past weekend,” she said, sounding as if she were mentally pouring and squeezing the makings for a variety of green leaf shades onto her palette. “Amazing greens, with the sun shining through … it just makes my mouth water.”

Her green period may be coming up, but back to Woodward Avenue and the Lawrence Street Gallery’s current show.

Several steps to success

“Art shouldn’t be easy,” she said, thinking of the works in this collection. Each piece showcases multiple layers of imagery, as well as color blends with acrylic and watercolor paints. A great deal of scratching, pressing, dipping and coating also takes place.

“If you do the same thing all the time, you’re not learning anything. That’s why I do all sorts of different things and have really gotten involved with nature’s patterns and their repetition. It’s like a little world.”  

In “Grass Dancing,” a monotype, Host used actual grasses from a surf shack prop at a past party. “I cut a bunch of them off and laid them in water-soluble ink and then put them through an etching press (it can take flat-ish items and things not sharp) five or six times,” she said. “I like to layer a lot.” Host kept many areas of the paper white. “I like the transparency of the process.”

While the grasses are a variety of cool green shades, surrounding colors are nothing short of hot. “The way these types of grasses bend in the wind, they remind me of fire flames, so that’s why the fiery colors,” she notes of the reds, yellows and oranges that set off the grass tones. 

Another painting, “Sassafras,” looks as if it's 3-D, as if the leaves are still sitting, curled up a bit, on the canvas. To create a riot of colors, her palette for this one included an array of lime, citrus, scarlet, purple, magenta and orange.

“Sassafras was my favorite tree growing up,” said Host. “It has three different kinds of leaves, which is so cool.” She laid the leaves, along with ferns, other leaves and acorn tops, in wet watercolor paints and placed them on the paper to let them dry before pulling them up and highlighting with more paint.   

“Oak Trio,” a monotype, was also created using leaves from around her cottage. “I used the leaf as a printing block so I can see the veins.” Creating a monotype involves first putting paint on a piece of Plexiglas. “The background is then painted around a pressed image, like I’ll use graders or scratch through the paint, which gives the piece action.” She then inks the leaves and lays them on top of the background. 

Creation's evolution

“The process of monotype is always evolving,” she said. “I adore that. You start with something and then can move things on or off your plate. The first print may not be the best one so you go down the line and create a series (she has a series of four oak leaf paintings in the show).” 

Fellow BBAC art teacher (and often a student himself) Pete Snodgrass notes that Host’s style is unique and, like a great trip, it’s as much about the journey as the destination.

“Laura is a great instructor that can inspire creativity from her students,” said Snodgrass. “She provides an atmosphere of adventure and a desire to try new and different techniques." 

With all the creative “playing” and experimenting, Host is never far from her solid foundation of having a keen eye for composition, light, warm and hot tone usage. “That’s always stuck in my head,” she said.

“Laura has great ability with composition, color and texture that produces art that is entertaining,” Snodgrass said, “as well as work that allows each viewer to create their own ideas and imaginations."

As for the entire process, Host compares art to her life. “It’s intriguing to me; I keep investigating it.”

Laura Whitesides Host’s exhibit opens Friday at the Lawrence Street Gallery, 22620 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, with a reception from 6-9 p.m. The show runs throughout the month of June.

About the Lawrence Street Gallery: It has had three homes in two cities and a variety of parents and housekeepers over the years, and yet the Lawrence Street Gallery in Ferndale still is going strong after 20-some years as a co-op art gallery, which today is as vibrant as the colors that accent its current lush paintings.

Co-op member and artist Laura Whitesides Host and her artist friend, Susanne Camp, also of Birmingham, are the only two remaining members from the original group of 12 that launched the art-filled space more than two decades ago.

“We manage the gallery with the artist in mind and create opportunities for area artists to exhibit their work in a gallery setting,” said Host. Even nonmembers can display their creations, if the artists’ works meet the standards of the present-day members. In all, there have been approximately 100 members since the beginning. Art mediums range from functional pottery, ceramics and sculpture to oil, watercolor and acrylic paintings.

e still is going strong after 20-some years as a co-op art gallery, which today is as vibrant as the colors that accent its current lush paintings.

Co-op member and artist Laura Whitesides Host and her artist friend, Susanne Camp, also of Birmingham, are the only two remaining members from the original group of 12 that launched the art-filled space more than two decades ago.

“We manage the gallery with the artist in mind and create opportunities for area artists to exhibit their work in a gallery setting,” said Host. Even nonmembers can display their creations, if the artists’ works meet the standards of the present-day members. In all, there have been approximately 100 members since the beginning. Art mediums range from functional pottery, ceramics and sculpture to oil, watercolor and acrylic paintings.

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