NCI ARTworks in Peru to host Naturescape featuring 3 local artists

NCI ARTworks to host an opening reception for the month-long Naturescape exhibition of art by Karen Tucker, Mary Jean Dzurisin and Carol Bingham from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 11, at the NCI ARTworks Gallery at the Westclox building in Peru.

Tucker’s paintings are realistic and colorful depictions of flowers, still life, portraits, landscapes and architectural pieces. Tucker has exhibited throughout Illinois and has received many local awards at The Next Picture Show and the Phidian Art Show in Dixon and at Woodlawn Arts Academy in Sterling.

She is working in a realistic style in water soluble oil but has previous experience in watercolor, pastel, clay, fiber and linocut printmaking.

Dzurisin is a native of Streator and a graduate of the University of Illinois. She was a graphic designer for many years, most recently at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Peoria. Nowadays, nature is the primary subject of her work in watercolor, acrylic, stipple pen and ink, pencil and colored pencil. Many of her landscapes, florals and wildlife pieces come from photos she takes while hiking local and national parks.

Dzurisin has exhibited throughout Illinois, and her stipple art was published in “The Artist” magazine. She was also featured in “Starved Rock Country” magazine, and recently her pieces have been displayed at the Streatorland Historical Society, the Reddick Library in Ottawa, the Streator Public Library and at Refurbished Treasures in Streator.

Bingham grew up in the Ottawa-Streator area, where she spent much of her childhood playing near rivers and streams. Her early childhood experiences are the basis of her paintings, which include prairies, fields, rivers and roadways as well as neighbors and friends.

Her paintings reflect her impressions and feelings about the places she has been to. Her work depicts land that can be soft and subtle or lush and full. The prairiescapes she paints are forever changing, with light playing over the valleys and hills, storms brewing on the horizon, or simply flowers springing up from ditches and waterways. Using traditional oil techniques, she applies opaque, then transparent layers of color to her work. The paint adds texture and body to the surface of the painting. Glazing transparent color adds brilliance and luminosity to her work.

Bingham received her BFA summa cum laude Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, in 1999, and has exhibited throughout Illinois, winning numerous awards in Illinois Regionals.