'Express Yourself' works of art on display in Lakeland

As you walk through the RP Funding Center, chances are you’ll come across art created by local artists, thanks to a partnership with the Lakeland Arts Association.

LAKELAND, Fla. - As you walk through the RP Funding Center, chances are you’ll come across art created by local artists, thanks to a partnership with the Lakeland Arts Association.

"What I'm hoping is that they will get out of it is gaining more confidence to get their work out there publicly. Get it out there, let people see that there's a lot of different approaches to art," Lakeland Arts Association Show Director Vicky Lauffman said.

The Lakeland Arts Association started in 1958, helping artists through workshops, exhibitions and monthly meetings. They currently have around 160 members.

For the last decade, the association, formerly known as the Lakeland Art Guild, has held five exhibitions a year at the center. The latest one is called "Express Yourself".

"I love expression, whether it's body movement, body language, facial expression," painter William Araujo.

Araujo painted a good friend of his, capturing a rare moment of playfulness coming from his normally calm comrade.

"I thought it was really, really, funny," he said. "I thought it would be a compelling thing to do, to just capture him in a very different light."

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As you walk through the RP Funding Center, chances are you’ll come across art created by local artists, thanks to a partnership with the Lakeland Arts Association.

Portrait artist Mary Worsley loves to capture expressions, especially when it comes to family. She loves watching her grandkids grow older and drawing them using graphite, charcoal and color pencils.

Meanwhile, her daughter-in-law Tifane Worsley created pieces using a subtractive rather than an additive technique. She starts with a scratch board, a clay board with Indian ink over it, then meticulously removes parts using small, concise strokes. For her work of a small insect on a flower at the exhibition, she estimates that it took over 5,000 strokes.

"I love the moment when they realize that everything has to be individually removed, and the time that goes into it," she said.

Painters Wayne Chunat and John Salamone love the relaxing nature of creating their pieces. Salamone has been painting for 40 years and provided a piece featuring flowing water and colorful trees.

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Chunat is a wildlife artist who practices plein art, meaning painting on location in open air, surrounded by nature and the elements.

"When you're in the environment, you feel the air, you feel the temperature, you feel the wind, you hear the sounds, you become immersed in the process, and that's what makes it so great for me," Chunat said.

Each artist at the exhibition desires feedback, whether it’s from judges, fellow artists or random visitors to the center.

"I want to paint to be expressive and to see how people react to my expressions and get expression back," Araujo said. "It's that interchange between myself as an artist and a viewer that I kind of need and crave, so situations like this give you that opportunity."

"Express Yourself" will be on display until mid-January.

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