Visuals August 11-17, 2022: Local watercolors and an urban arts collaborative.

ALICIA MEHEEN

Alicia Meheen was just featured by the Carmel Art Association (carmelart.org) with her exhibit Fresh Paint. The Carmel-based painter works in both watercolor and oil. She began watercolor painting en plein air with Dorner Schueler in 1963, and has painted with artists Frank Myers, George Post and Richard Yip. Her style emerged through regular, on-location painting and evaluation. Born in Illinois, Meheen’s family relocated to Carmel where she graduated from high school. She studied art at UC Santa Barbara. In 1976, the family relocated to Iran, where she painted local scenes and taught watercolor painting at the Iran-American Society. Since 1977, Meheen has been back in Carmel. “Most of my art is painted on location,” she wrote in an artist statement. “I enjoy being outdoors… I am happy to feel a part of the tradition of plein air painting and hope that my viewers share my pleasure.” The watercolor above is titled “Woods Lake” and comes from her newest collection. [AP]

IRMA ROSALES

Urban Arts Collaborative (21 Soledad St., Suite C, Salinas, urbanartsco.org) presents Roots, East Salinas & the Universe, an exhibit of mostly black and white photography. The artists included are: Carlos Castro (from Honduras), Irma Rosales (Latinx), Beatriz Jimenez, Nancy Gutierrez (both from Michoacan, Mexico) and JC Gonzalez from Salinas. “The artists in this exhibition bring together a sense of importance of building communities with the equipped resources to thrive,” Gonzalez writes about the exhibit, “a higher self, a queer sensibility on issues of self-identity to decolonize perspectives and views around us.” The exhibit runs until Sept. 16. [AP]