©Linda Fillhardt

The Main Gallery opens its 2004 exhibition schedule on January 7th with a provocative group show titled "Visions of Memory". Members of The Main Gallery, working in a variety of media, have created art that highlights the widely varying relationship between memory and the creative experience.

Memory is a phenomenon full of pyschological and historical nuance, and has long provided a rich source for interpretation in the arts. For some artists, memory serves as the vehicle for making pieces that symbolically or literally recreate past experiences. For others it opens the door to
entirely reinventing the past and giving form to that vision through their artwork.

JoAnne Beasley recalls her passion for studying moths and butterflies as a young art student. She says that as her vision matured, her paintings "began to mix organic and geometric shapes and intense colors in patterns somewhat reminiscent of oriental rugs." In this exhibit Beasley displays
paintings from a recently-completed seven-part series that are complex technically as well as artitically, including two pieces that combine painting and photogaphy.

Karen Truesdell creates often whimsical ceramic figures who display the fruits of their own fictional memories. Surveying the in-progress work in her studio, Truesdell notes, "Here's a Bakerman getting ready for the oven. Under his hat he stores visions of cookies, or even better, real ones.
There's also a King of Hearts decorated with past conquests (and a collection of hearts under his crown), and a Harlequin with a troubled world on his mind."

The "Visions of Memory" exhibition opens, appropriately enough, during the quiet post-holiday winter season -- a period conducive to reconsideration and review, with memory servng as a creative conduit to fresh beginnings in a new year. "Visions of Memory" runs from January 7th through February 8th, with an artists' reception Sunday, January 11th from 4 to 7 PM. The Main Gallery is located in Redwood City at 1018 Main Street. Hours are 11 to 4 Wednesday to Friday and 10 to 3 Saturday and Sunday. 650-701-1018. www.themaingallery.org.