Past: Gary Lucy Exhibition

ARTS COUNCIL TO PRESENT GARY LUCY EXHIBITION

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO-- Friday, November 6, from 5 to 9 p.m., the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri will host a reception for internationally renowned artist Gary Lucy. Lucy will display a combination of original pieces and high-quality prints of his original artwork during the month of November.

After growing up in Caruthersville, Missouri and attending Southeast Missouri State Univerisity, Gary Lucy became a professional artist after a single year of teaching elementary art. In his artwork he has used his concern for the environment as a focus, shifting from his college work depicting the destruction of nature to the realistic beauty of nature before it is touched. “Art is a five syllable word - communication,” Lucy said. “I went from negative to positive.”

From the 1970s to 1980s, Lucy’s artwork reflected his immersion in the study of wildlife. He placed in the Federal Duck Stamp Competition, the National Wild Turkey Federation stamp design competition, and the Missouri Duck Stamp Competition. Additionally, he painted murals reflecting the nature of his home state. Two of his paintings, “Missouri Trilogy” and the “Songbirds of Missouri” were chosen for the cover of Southwestern Bell’s phonebooks, appearing on 17 million phonebooks throughout Missouri.

After the completion of the phonebook covers, Lucy discovered new inspiration in the history of the rivers. From this historically based body of work he has displayed at the old courthouse in downtown St. Louis, was featured on PBS-Jim Lehrer News Hour, and received the honor of displaying his work at the State Historical Society of Missouri alongside George Caleb Bingham and Thomas Hart Benton.

In Cape Girardeau, Gary Lucy is best known for his mural “Inland Waterways: The Highways of Our Heritage” at Southeast Missouri State University’s Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts completed in fall of 2007. Today, he continues to pursue his art in the River Rover, a 35-foot houseboat converted into a studio space.

The Visual Arts Cooperative will also debut new works in their gallery space at the Arts Council. Window exhibitors for the month of November will be Annie Schuchart and Margaret Schneider.

Join arts patrons and supporters in welcoming Gary Lucy, Friday, November 6. The Arts Council of Southeast Missouri is located at 32 North Main Street in Cape Girardeau, MO. Galleries are open Tuesday- Saturday, from 10am to 4pm.