The month of July at Rail Walk Studios & Gallery is somewhat female oriented. As the area prepares for the third “Chickweed — a Celebration of Indestructible Women,” Marietta Foster Smith is exhibiting her one-person art show “Chica! Chica! Chica!” (Girl! Girl! Girl!) through July 26. The exhibit covers four decades of Smith’s art in a wide variety of styles and features depictions of women and girls.
Rail Walk Studios & Gallery is located at 409-413 N. Lee St., in the Railwalk Arts District.
“As soon as I realized that my exhibit would be on display during the Chickweed Festival, I knew I wanted to do something to honor the event,” Smith said in a news release. “It is such a great way to raise funds for the shelter and call attention to the issue of domestic violence.
“I will be donating a percentage of my sales during Chickweed to the cause. It struck me as I was making my selections of art for the show that I do have quite a bit of art featuring women and children.
“The other thing that caught my attention was the wide variety of styles I have enjoyed creating over the years. There was a time when I thought I should select one style and one medium and stick to it. Instructors sometimes advised me that the public (potential patrons) expected a consistency. As the years went by and I continued to experiment with various genres thinking that maybe the ‘right one’ would stick, I came to accept that trying out many ways of expressing my creativity simply is my style or rather my styles.
“This exhibit embraces my acceptance of that. I really do enjoy multiple ways of self-expression.”
Chica! Chica! Chica! Includes work from as early as 1976 and as recently as this month. Styles range from illustration to painting from life and include oil painting, watercolor, sculpture, clay, pen and ink, and some stained glass work done with Smith’s husband, Mark Smith.
A reception will be held 6-8 p.m. Thursday at Rail Walk Studios & Gallery in conjunction with “Vernissage a la Paige” reception for art by Paige Thrasher next door at the Spoken Space Theater.
The two receptions are kick-off events for the Chickweed weekend. Both receptions are free and open to the public.
Rail Walk is open to the public 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursdays–Saturdays. It will be open until 8 p.m. on Saturday during the Chickweed event. For more information about the exhibit or the gallery, call Smith at 704-431-8964 or visit www.railwalkgallery.com