Gallery Gals make debut at Town Square

It was 2010 when six friendly Mat-Valley females formed a small painting group called the Gallery Gals. The purpose was to indulge their painting skills and enjoy camaraderie in a studio setting.

There efforts will culminate with the gals’ first group show at Town Square Gallery in Wasilla April 14, with a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. The public is invited to come and experience the Gallery Gals, a name that represents the “combined experience and eclectic mix” within the group, says group leader Peggy Tessema Compton. All have shown their work in galleries and other venues throughout the state, and some are known nationally.

Joining Compton are Vera Barrett, Pat Bliss, Patty Halley, Sharen Harris and Judith Sharpe-Levy. The artists converge once a week and indulge in their art, escaping the day-to-day world. Their creativity churns its way onto canvasses and paper in hopes of individual triumphs shared at the group level. Newest member Bliss drives from Chugiak to join the rest of the Valley gals, who live in Wasilla and Palmer.

Do they have the same philosophy? Well, yes, but their backgrounds vary.

Vera Barrett

Barrett lived on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska before making the Valley her home in 1999.

“The beauty of the southeast rainforest with the giant cedars and myriad of animals enthralled (me), as well as (the way) the beautiful sunsets, sunrises, mountains, landscapes and animals of Southcentral do today,” she said.

Barrett explains that she “began painting under the tutelage of Bill Cross, one of the originators of the Alaska painted gold pans.”

After developing her own style, she hopes it reflects her “passion for nature and all that surrounds us from our Creator.”

She works in acrylic and shows at the national level.

Pat Bliss

Bliss has lived in Chugiak for 11 years, and prior to that spent eight years on the island of Wrangell, where she “got reconnected with her passion for painting,” Bliss said.

Landscapes and animals are her forte. She claims Don Kolstad and Cross as mentors, and indulges in artists workshops whenever possible. She is a member of the Alaska Watercolor Society and the Valley Fine Arts Association, where she serves on the board.

Bliss’s artwork “Eagle River Valley” (an original watercolor) took first place at the 2011 Alaska State Fair, where it also received the Alaska Watercolor Society Award.

Bliss is represented in a Talkeetna gallery in the summer.

Patty Halley

Halley (rhymes with Valley) was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pa., but has made Alaska “home for the past 20 years, an incredibly special place for an artist to grow and paint,” Halley said.

Grouping up with artists is familiar to Halley, who is a member of several art organizations, serving on the board of the Valley Fine Arts Association for eight years.

“I love encouraging and being encouraged by fellow artists,” Halley said. “I think love for the arts starts in earnest in high school and could last for a lifetime.”

She reflects on “mentoring by (her) high school art teacher, Sister Anne Martin.”

Halley won best of show in the first Eric Deeter Juried Show in 2011 with an abstract oil painting.

“I specialize in pastel and oil painting,” she said. “My goal is to excite the eye and evoke a sense of creation’s mystery and splendor. I find it all around me, in everything from a landscape to the eyes of a pet.”

About her latest commissions, she said that over the past year, “I have started a pet portrait business. It gives me joy trying to capture the personality of our little (and sometimes big!) friends, mostly in pastels.”

Peggy Tessema Compton

Compton, a mural painter with national recognition, teaches art classes for the community. She is a 20-year Valley resident. Oil is her media. She has illustrated seven books and was selected to design a coin for the Alaska Coin Club.

“I believe that to create is a gift from the creator,” Compton said about her personal philosophy. “I also believe that each of us has a gift that we must share with others.”

Sharen Harris

Harris calls Alaska home after only five short years in the Valley. A favorite deed is supporting charities by donating her art. She has national recognition and is represented by galleries in both Maine and Arizona.

She said her philosophy is, “My work reflects my life and the essence of my spirit. I see things others don’t see. I love to paint these things so the viewer can experience the same emotion I did and enrich their life by experiencing my world through my medium, oil paint.”

Judith Sharpe-Levy

Sharpe-Levy lived in Detroit, Mich., where she said she “was lucky enough to go to a special high school with a top-notch art and music program.”

Upon graduation she “ventured to New York City and the Art Students League.”

Returning to Michigan at a later time, she worked in the field of graphic arts and design for several years for after-market automobile companies. Her background includes art education in Winston-Salem, N.C., owning a gallery and frame shop in Texas and teaching beginning and intermediate drawing at Mat-Su College. Sharpe-Levy was instrumental in the foundation of the Valley Fine Arts Association, where she served as president during its first year.

When speaking of her artwork, Sharpe-Levy said, “My work at this point is representing many of the places and people I have been exposed to. I worked mainly in watercolor and some oil until recently (where) I find myself in acrylics and pastels.”

Though she has superb drawing skills, Sharpe-Levy is not afraid to deviate into the abstract and colorful.

Suzanne Bach is Fine Arts Coordinator at Mat-Su College and can be contacted at creative@alaska.com.