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The Outside In, Inside Out” paintings by Carolyn Meyer, on display at Desta Gallery from May 5 to June 16.

Desta Gallery, which Emebet Korn relocated from San Anselmo to downtown Mill Valley in late 2020, has unveiled details for a meet-and-greet event for its newest featured artist, Carolyn Meyer. The event is set for Saturday, May 8, 2-5pm at
100 Throckmorton Ave. 

To follow social distancing guidelines, Korn has created three-time slots: 2pm, 3pm and 4pm. Email them here to select your time slot. “We observe safety protocols, and masks will be required,” says Korn, who was born in Ethiopia, and draws the gallery’s moniker from the Amharic language’s word for joy.

The “Outside In, Inside Out” exhibit runs from May 5 to June 16. One year ago, when the pandemic became a reality, Meyer’s focus changed in a very real way. While on a trip to New York City, she caught COVID-19. A week after her return to Marin, she ended up in the hospital. Fortunately, she survived.

The reality of having a private studio overlooking San Francisco Bay was a relief for Meter. She used it more than ever before, resulting in a marked change to her work. What came out of this past year was a focus on the inside, the interior, otherwise called still life painting. The resulting compositions, her connection to nature brought her many hours of painting, and the results premiere with “Outside In, Inside Out.” This is the first time her work will be shown in Marin in two decades.

Meyer’s work is a mixture of nature and emotion expressed through shape, form, color, and design. Her paintings draw the viewer into an engaging dialogue between realism and abstraction. Flowers and objects appear in unique compositions that push the representation back and forth between what is and isn’t real, like the movement of light and shadow and the effect on color. The abstraction aims to combine color and form while leaving traces of history behind. This is seen in the layers of paint that show a timeline of the process.

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