Do You Speak "Figures"?

The May 19th opening of Translations' new show, Figuratively Speaking brought together a fantastic group of artists working in media from sculpture and painting to mosaic and charcoal drawing.

The only real criteria for the work, as the show's title might suggest, is that it be based on figures - needless to say, the range of pieces the show contains is quite broad, allowing the featured artists to stand out for their individual styles.

The opening was a very pleasant combination of beautiful work and good company - there was also a lot of delicious food there, which certainly contributed to the collective good mood (as snacks always do).

People came and went happily throughout the evening, drinking mint juleps and trying to shove other people out of the way of their view of the artwork.

Several of the show's featured artists attended the opening as well, giving people the chance to speak with them about their work.

(Artist Brian Curran discussing his work - or his education or his car or his childhood - anyway he was discussing something).

The "figure" pieces varied wildly, from abstract to concrete, black and white to color. The wide array of styles - Brian Curran's beautifully rendered charcoal portraits hanging next to Lance Green's colorful, fluid, slightly abstracted paintings and Sandhi Schimmel Gold's mixed media mosaics - somehow all seemed to fit together, their differences enhancing the best qualities of each artist's work.

(And an abundance of mint juleps never hurts a sense of cohesion either).