All are invited to come enjoy the artwork of Joy Willow, currently on display at Columbia College. The works are staged in the Manzanita Building, Rotunda Gallery in the Administration building on campus. Summer hours for the show are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday and the show runs through Thursday, Aug. 11. The show is put on through Tuolumne County Arts.

Willow’s “abstract naturalist” style combines the love of organic line and texture with images inspired from nature. Working on canvas, panel and on print-making paper, she aims to create a feeling of spontaneity and space while implying an internal landscape.

Her panels afford a build-up of textures that suggest earth and rock forms.

Several techniques are evident in the work on canvas and panel, such as underpainting (which provides a subtle background), mono printing, collage, found objects, glazing, and the use of sponges, brushes, rags, brayers, and fingers. The canvas becomes a field of discovery in which totally unplanned surprises are revealed.

Born and raised in eastern Pennsylvania, Willow has been exploring the visual arts for over 30 years. She is also a trained musician and has taught voice and piano for over 40 years, maintaining an active studio in her home in Sonora. The quiet language of painting provides a wonderful balance and counterpoint to the verbal expression of song and poetry. Painting and poetry are really not very different for her, each voice whispering its invitation like woven lines of music. Her published collections of poetry are available locally and on Amazon.

Her work has been exhibited in galleries and private collections throughout northern California, including Sonoma and Marin counties, San Francisco, Sacramento, Cambria, Lake Tahoe and the Motherlode area where her work as been shown in Sonora’s former Ventana Gallery and Murphy’s Handmade Gallery; currently her work can be viewed at Aloft Gallery in downtown Sonora.

To see her work online, visit her website: www. joywillow.com.