My Happy Place: a Joyful Art Exhibition

Ralph Thomas, Hello Neighbor, oil and acrylic on canvas.

If you were to close your eyes and allow your mind to go to a peaceful, centered place, what would you see? Artists explore this very idea in the juried exhibition, My Happy Place. The exhibition, on view May 5-28, features familiar places of serenity such as painterly landscapes and nature photography but also renders more abstracted concepts like book reading, playing an instrument, or pulling a childhood memory into view.

The exhibition was juried by Mac Houfac, an avid gardner, who has served on the board of Norfolk Botanical Gardens and as president of the Virginia Beach Garden Club. Mac selected the award winners for the show.

Top left: Sally Cade, A Spot by the Lake. Top right: Tonya Hopson, Sunday Afternoon. Bottom left: Trudy Jones, A Very Secret Garden. Bottom right: Stacey Allin, my Mother's Violets.

Alison Sykes-Fryer, My Cello, mixed-media collage, Special Recognition.

Linda Greek, Late Afternoon, oil on canvas, 3rd Place.

Terry Cox-Joseph, The Beauty of Petal and Pages, acrylic on canvas, 2nd Place.

Ralph Thomas, 65th Anniversary Through the Eyes of a Butterfly, oil on canvas, 1st Place.

My Happy Place is on view May 5 - 28 and concludes with an Artist Talk on Sunday, May 28, from 3:00-4:00 pm.