Local artists show off their whimsy at Visual Arts Center

The exhibition “It Figures: New Work by Bob Sites, Virginia Van Horn and Bill Wagner” will open at Tidewater Community College’s Visual Arts Center on Sept. 15.

The opening reception will be Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. with an informal gallery talk preceding the event at 6:30 p.m.

Events are free and open to the public. The exhibition continues through Oct. 31.

“It Figures” features new work by Hampton Roads artists Sites, Van Horn and Wagner. Using a rich and compelling diversity of media, subject matter and style, this trio of renowned artists focuses on various patterns in their human, animal and natural forms. Intricate drawings, perfectly proportioned animals and colorful figurative paintings will be on display in the show.

Sites will present paintings with vivid color and exquisite details using traditional glazed stucco on canvas. In his new series of male nudes, the former Norfolk State University painting professor combines his animal, clown and circus imagery with these straightforward, contemporary portraits that are neither scandalous nor coy.

In her large-scale sculptural work, Governor’s School for the Arts instructor Van Horn depicts the intersection between the human and natural worlds. Using animal imagery as alter egos, Van Horn shares her fascination with wild creatures who have adapted to the human invasion of their natural habitats and who live their lives parallel to our own. She continues to explore this phenomenon while considering who’s invading whom.

Self-proclaimed doodler Wagner works with a variety of media and subjects to create his detail-oriented, abstract compositions. The retired Old Dominion University art professor fills his pages with wonderfully strange human and animal portraits, fragmented body parts, typographic messages and other dissimilar objects that are both imaginative and surreal.

Galleries are free and open to the public.

For information, call Shelley Brooks at 757-822-1878.