June 30 – Ferndale Library Reception for Artist Loralee Grace

Ferndale, MI – The Ferndale Library’s Art & Exhibitions Committee will host a Reception for local visual artist Loralee Grace on June 30 from 6 pm – 8 pm, celebrating her current show, “Futurelands,” currently on display in the library’s program room.

Misha McGlown, the Irwin House Gallery Director, will moderate an artist talk and Q&A with Grace at 6:45 pm; live music will be provided by local musician Chad Stocker (of the High Strung). The library will also serve light refreshments throughout the evening. Pieces on display are for sale, and Grace will also have prints only available during the Reception on June 30.

Grace is a multifaceted artist, skilled in painting, as well as art direction, production design, and wardrobe. She received an Honors BFA in Fine Art Painting from Kendall College of Arts and Design in 2010 and would spend four full years after that living outside of the states, traveling to 27 countries on five continents. During her travels, Grace was inspired by the beautiful landscapes of Iceland, India, Nepal, Jordan, and more. Her eye was also drawn to local weavings, and she became compelled to reference the intricate, often spiritual elegance of the venerable patterns created by the Indigenous people in these lands.

Much of Grace’s work (oil painting and some watercolor with gouache) captures these awe-inspiring natural landscapes of locations that she has traveled to over the years. Her work renders breathtakingly realistic lighting, terrain, and cloud formation, from the Himalayas to the West Fjords, but each piece is transposed with a highly detailed overlay of a unique Indigenous pattern belonging to the cultures of that land. Much wisdom was to be gained learning about these cultures and their symbolic textile patterns!

Grace is a passionate painter whose aesthetic work celebrates our rich environmental and cultural diversity, while conceptually addressing the deadly realities and societal impacts of climate change and pollution; some of her pieces at the Ferndale Library depict subjects wearing futuristic breathing apparatuses that may become necessary to survive an increasingly contaminated world. She believes we must turn to the knowledge of First Nations people to address our environmental crises.

To learn more about Grace’s work and travels, you can join us on June 30 for our reception and artist talk.

Follow the Ferndale Library Arts Committee on Facebook @FADLart | Follow Grace via Instagram @loralee_grace_paintings  

For more things to do, visit the Oakland County Times Event Page! 

To submit event info email editor@oc115.com .

Thank you to Jim Shaffer & Associates Realtors for sponsoring this section!