Delray Beach resident Maggie Cacace looks at the paintings by Val Grant at Val Grant Studio in Delray Beach. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Lucy Lazarony
Do you love visual art? Take a walk around downtown Delray Beach.
Five dynamic new art galleries have opened their doors since November.
Walk into Lois Brezinski Artworks, 533 E. Atlantic Ave., near the Colony Hotel, and experience a beach lover’s paradise.
Paintings, prints, greeting cards, jewelry boxes, coasters, mouse pads, hand-painted glassware and rugs and mailboxes featuring sea grapes, coconuts, palm trees, inviting beaches and breathtaking underwater scenes line the gallery.
The settings of these tropical scenes are of Delray Beach, where Brezinski has lived since 1998, and of Grand Cayman, where she lived for eight years before moving to Delray.
It was in Grand Cayman that Brezinski, a textile artist, first felt inspired to pick up a paintbrush.
“I had never really painted before until I moved to the Caribbean,” Brezinski says. “The colors, the tropical light, the color of the water, the foliage — it totally blew me away as an artist.”
At Inge Behrens’ CIB Art Galley, 181 NE Second Ave., in Pineapple Grove, the emphasis is on flowers, Behrens’ favorite subject to paint.
“Flowers are beautiful and I like to put people in a happy mood with my art,” says Behrens, who was born in Germany and lived in San Francisco before moving to Boca Raton in March 2011.
Her oil paintings are vivid, dazzling close-ups of an array of flowers ranging from joyful tulips to tropical birds of paradise to vibrant red poppies in the Tuscan countryside.
“I only like to paint what I really enjoy,” Behrens says. “And I’m still very much drawn to flowers.”
A summer trip to Cambodia and the temples of Angkor Wat inspired Behrens to paint a series of large, smiling Buddhas.
“It’s the feeling you get there. It’s so calm,” Brehens says.
The Buddhas that Brehens paints have feminine qualities.
“They have a feminine expression that’s true,” Brehens says. “It’s kind of a softness.”
Not far from CIB Art Gallery, you will find the new home of the Addison Gallery at the corner of Second Avenue and Second Street in Pineapple Grove, where the Beached Boat used to be.
According to owner Patricia Bowe, the gallery spotlights contemporary artworks by regional, national and international artists. Local artists featured include painters John Schuyler, Chris Kennedy, Madeline Denaro and Tatyana and Vadim Klevenskiy.
The gallery, which was established in 1993, moved from its Boca Raton location to Pineapple Grove in February and held its grand opening celebration on Jan. 25.
Right next door is Val Grant Studio, showcasing the artwork of artist and photographer Val Grant. Grant recently moved to Delray Beach from Kennebunkport, Maine.
Her photography includes what she calls “wavestracts,” images of foam reflecting the ocean’s sensual, translucent qualities that she photographs on beaches in the Turks and Caicos Islands and on Delray Beach.
With her “rockstracts” photos, Grant enlarges vibrant images of Maine coastal rocks until they look very much like abstract paintings.
She says her watercolor and oil paintings reflect personal experiences or impressions from dialogues with others. Next to each painting is a small, typewritten explanation of the inspiration behind the painting.
The latest addition to Artists’ Alley is the Amy Reshefsky Gallery, which is featured within the Linda White Gallery at 354 NE Fourth St., Studio C.
Reshefsky’s abstract acrylic paintings and colorful, mixed-media works with glass are full of whimsy and humor.
Her subjects — funky overstuffed chairs, abstract flowers and colorful characters with heart-shaped faces — all come from her imagination.
“When it comes to creating something, I have no idea how it’s going to turn out. Every piece is a discovery,” Reshefsky says. “I just love the colors and seeing what’s going to
happen.”
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