October 26, 2018 | Carol Taylor-Kearney

The first artwork that hits your eye, right from the very front door, is Fran Gallun’s “Golden Artifacts”.  Partly because of its position—it is on the wall down the middle hallway of the

 gallery spaces, partly because of the size, but mostly because of its glow.  Warm and golden colors hold shapes like vessels, plants, and boxes—some blurred to the

 ground, others that stand out.  This is a floating world where some objects line up as on a surface and some dissipate into the field of color.  The arrangement seems to form a dance both around and back and forth—kind of like lived experience and the past or wakefulness and dream. There is a playfulness with materials but these materials, and there are many, are traditional art materials used beautifully.  In a piece like “In Harmony” or “Pink Leaves”, I could easily accept that collage was used even though it wasn’t, especially when compared to “Illuminated Still Life” or even “Fallen Fruit” where collage was used.  If looking for a title to Gallun’s exhibition here, you need go no further than “Language

of Shapes” which seems to give us her unending vocabulary.  Strangely, I don’t know why, but standing in the hall looking from “Golden Artifacts” to “Language of Shapes”, I think of Paul Klee.  But I will let Gallun speak for herself when it comes to art inspiration.  She does this with her “A Visit with Bonnard”.  Truly a showpiece.