Poppy Field. Bren Clixby, artist
Artist Bren Clixby will have her work highlighted in the FW Gallery at Woolworth Walk in April. Clixby splits her time between the banks of Lake Erie and the mountains of Asheville, always immersed in the beauty of nature. A few years ago, she retired from a career in marketing and teaching art classes to focus full-time on her painting.
“I love retirement,” she says. “I have spent countless hours brushing paint on canvas, evolving my style and techniques to what they are today. My colors have become more brilliant and I like the way they add such attention to a room that may otherwise be a little simple.”
Clixby uses a palette knife and molding paste in a free-style artistic approach that makes viewers want to reach out and touch her work. The pieces she’s chosen for her FW Gallery show are large and bold in color. “My subject matter changes from time to time, but currently I am stuck on large poppy fields,” Clixby says. “They seem to generate a lot of interest and they are fun to do.”
The artist will also be bringing to the show a painted mannequin that sits in her studio window. “Hopefully she will be a source of conversation during the show,” Clixby says. “She has been dubbed ‘Scary Mary,’ but she isn’t scary at all.”
Woolworth Walk is located at 25 Haywood Street in downtown Asheville. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information, call 828.254.9234 or visit WoolworthWalk.com.
