This series of four exhibitions highlights the artwork of four diverse artists who have each spent several decades on their own personal journeys.

Tim O'Kane: Retrospective Five Decades / A Devotion to Realism

Drawing came naturally to Tim O’Kane at an early age. It gave him his deepest connection to the world, an expression between the outer and inner life, heightened visual awareness and the patience to become a serious observer. Drawing was his artistic foundation, providing the skill need for his life-long project of making representational art.

“Everything begins with drawing. It’s the core of the thought process for me. It’s how the idea forms and develops. All compositions for my paintings are worked out explicitly on paper. One of the great fortunes of working for five decades as a representational artist is that, as I look back over my paintings and drawings. I’m afforded a rarified record of where I’ve been, how I’ve lived, who I’ve known, what I tried to do and where I’ve succeeded- at times beyond my own expectations.”

Akiko Tanaka: EVOLUTIONS Clay Sculpture 

Akiko Tanaka is an award winning ceramic artist who divides her time between Tokyo, Japan and Hampton, Virginia. Akiko’s work is a combination of traditional Japanese hand-building and modern influences. She was influenced by such artists as Lee Bontecou, but it was the experience of the art by Peter Voulkos which dispatched her on a life-long quest to break with tradition.

THIS IS CALLED HAPPINESS: Paintings by Kacey Sydnor Carneal

Kacey is largely self-taught and paints colorful and patterned filled works, often with a significant message or depicting personal episodes from her life. She has painted 7 days a week, 8 hours a day for the past 32 years.

MY SKETCHY LIFE: Works by Walt Taylor

After a long career in advertising and graphic design, the artist can now focus on his lifelong interest in drawing what he feels compelled to draw, which now gravitates to people. He is a master of many media, but especially with pencil, pen, brush stylus or ipad. A tribute to his versatility is that his work in different mediums will appear in at least three different exhibitions at CHTAC this year.

“I draw what I feel compelled to draw. I respond to art viscerally. It has always given me great pleasure to assemble a variety of line-y marks into recognizable images.” - Walt Taylor

Join us for creative Arts Happenings centered around The Lives of Artists Exhibition!

Gallery Talk with the Artists

Sunday, May 20th at 2:30pm

Meet the artists featured in The Lives of Artists Exhibition, and learn more about the artworks on display. 

Poetry Inspired by Art

Sunday, June 10th at 2:30pm

Poets are invited to write poems inspired by the artworks in the exhibition and participate in a poetry reading here in our galleries. The poems are displayed adjacent to the artworks, with the permission of the artist and are also available in notebooks for perusal by our visitors.

The exhibition will be on display until June 17th at The Charles H. Taylor Arts Center.