The middle of June is bringing an exciting array of artists' work to the walls of some of Tulsa's favorite galleries.

Hometown artist Wendeline Matson displays her work in a show titled, New Works, which opens Thursday, June 17 at M.A. Doran Gallery on Brookside. The show includes 20 large-scale acrylic paintings and continues the charming style of painting she has developed throughout the past 12 years.

Matson classifies her work as "Still Life," but it is far from traditional paintings of flowers, bowls and fruit. Her paintings are filled with identifiable objects painted in a way that is expressionistic and innovatively colorful.

Matson responds well to interesting shapes, and the objects created in her paintings reflect this inclination. From party hats and chandeliers to cows and baby chicks, her work is filled with a charming vocabulary of objects that create delightfully whimsical paintings. Matson does not let herself become overly involved in the specifics or details that would typically characterize her chosen subject matter. Instead, she relies on the beauty of shape and color to create her compositions and describe her objects.

Even more important to Matson than shape is the world of possibilities available through color. "Color is much more my strength over drawing," Matson said of her work. "I think in colors all day long. If I see a color I like in the morning, I will be able to remember it and recreate it in a painting later that day." This unique talent is expertly utilized in her work as the colors bring her "still life" objects to life and causes them to dance across the canvas leaving the viewer visually satisfied and wanting more.

The variety of subject matter that wanders through her compositions is extremely diverse, but they are all inspired by her childhood. "Everything that makes you smile is from your childhood," Matson said. "It's so pure."

Matson's work causes the viewer to look at daily objects not necessarily the way a child would see them but instead with the sense of magic and creativity that was only possible during childhood. Through her paintings, we are allowed to enter a world of intentional distortion that provides us with a reinstated appreciation for everyday objects that possess an innate beauty we have long failed to recognize.

An opening reception will be held from 5-8pm on Thursday, June 17 at M.A. Doran Gallery. More information is available at madorangallery.com.

Double Dose

Artists Claudia Patrick and Kevin Box are teaming up at Lovett's Gallery for an event entitled "Meet the Artist" Saturday, June 19 from 10am-6pm. For this opening, the artists will each be exhibiting a selection of new work and be present to discuss their work with visitors.

Claudia Patrick is, as she calls herself, a "Tulsa transplant." After spending much of her life in Boston, she relocated to Tulsa and brought her photography talents with her.

Claudia's portfolio includes panoramic landscapes, intimate looks at wildlife and macro images of flowers. Her most recent body of work to be featured at Lovett's Gallery is a series of "Urbanscapes" inspired by the beauty of reflection that downtown's elegant buildings create against each other.

The initial inspiration for this series began in January when Patrick shot photos of Price Tower in Bartlesville late at night. The lack of light emitted from the tower and the surrounding town of Bartlesville left the moon as the building's only source of illumination. The effects she received were beautiful and led her to photograph Tulsa's own downtown late at night as well. Patrick learned to play off of the buildings' close juxtaposition to create tightly cropped compositions that explore the reflective nature of the buildings' many different surfaces.

Like the architecture in Boston, Patrick appreciates the combination of old and new architecture within a close space and uses it to enhance the dialogue created within her images.

For the event at Lovett's Gallery, Patrick will be showing five of these new pieces printed to 13x19 inches. Patrick has a history of printing enlarged versions of her photographs and interested clients will have the opportunity to order prints of her work as large as five feet.

Sculptor Keven Box grew up in Bartlesville but has since lived across the country in New York City, Savannah and Austin before making his permanent home in Santa Fe, N.M. He brings new work from two different series to Lovett's Gallery. The first series entitled, Nesting, reflects on settling into a house with his wife in New Mexico. The sculptures are made using character stones, or stones found in the landscape possessing unique shapes or characteristics. Positioned nesting on the character stones are steel origami cranes, one of Box's signature creations. These sculptures can be as large as six feet tall and seven feet wide.

The other series of Box's work represented at Lovett's will be from a collection entitled, Be-leafs. These life-size leaf sculptures are caste in bronze and celebrate the delicate individuality of a leaf through a contemporary eye.

Paper has long been a consistent source of inspiration for Box.

"Paper has documented our dreams, stories, history and goals, but it is a very fragile and delicate thing," Box said. "My goal has been to immortalize paper through sculpture." This ambition has led him to use the shape of a paper crane in much of his work by reinterpreting it with steel. According to Japanese legend, one who makes a thousand paper cranes will receive one wish. "My humble ambition," Box said, "is to make 2,012 steel origami cranes by the year 2012." Doing so might enable him to save the world. Just in case we need it.

More information about the artists can be found at patrickimagery.com and outsidetheboxstudio.com. Additional information about Lovett's Gallery is available at lovettsgallery.com.