By Colleen Cullison
Pine Rest Leep Art Gallery
A new exhibit titled, “How I See Things,” by local artist Dennis O’Mara, opens at the Leep Art Gallery on July 2 at the Postma Center on the Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services campus in Grand Rapids.
O’Mara, a retired art teacher, creates art from a variety of mediums. Each medium is selected to fit how he sees the piece representing his idea in the best way says the artist. He does oil and pastel paintings, sculptures, relief prints, saltwater etchings and wood door etchings. Two of the pieces in the show were previously at Art Prize.
“I create art from events and places that inspire me,” says O’Mara. “Some of my work tells a story and other work lets the viewer fill in the story. The doors in this show were created because of what I saw when visiting an older patient when she had a bout of depression. The steel etchings were a result of watching people bring their children and their parents to see the doors when they were on exhibit at Art Prize. The other pieces are a result of places I have visited.”
O’Mara grew up on a West Michigan farm. He attended Olivet College where he studied sculpture and print making. He also received his masters from Olivet with a focus on print making. He was an art teacher at Hastings High School for 30 years, and taught an art appreciation class at Kellogg Community College. He returned to creating art in a more serious fashion in 2000.
He is a member of the Great Lakes Pastel Society and Grand Valley Artists.
The Pine Rest Leep Art Gallery exhibit will be on display at the Postma Center located at 300 68th Street, SE, Grand Rapids, Mich., from July 2 to October 1, 2019. The Leep Art Gallery is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. and is free and open to the public. For more information, please call 616.222.4530 or go to www.pinerest.org/leep-art-gallery .
