Octavia Art Gallery is pleased to present a virtual exhibition of artworks by Betsy Eby, Chris Hayman and James Henderson.

Betsy Eby fuses the line between the musical and the visual composition. A classically trained pianist, she seeks in her work what Rothko described as “the place where music lives.” The layers and gestures of her paintings evoke musical spaces and rhythms while drawing on patterns found in nature. From her early childhood, musical and natural rhythms blended in Eby’s sensibility. Her work reveals that interconnected sensitivity: her delicate, organic compositions become synesthesias of sound and image.

Betsy Eby received her BA from the University of Oregon and splits her time between studios in Columbus, Georgia and Wheaton Island, Maine. Her work has been exhibited widely throughout the United States and is included in several collections including the Tacoma Art Museum, WA; the Columbus Museum, GA; the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA and United States Embassy in Dubai.

Chris Hayman creates paintings with vivid contrasting color and thick painterly textures. She is interested in how the painted forms are energized by the space around them. Inspired by the natural world, she believes in a process of constant investigation. Trained early on as a classical pianist, Hayman has been greatly influenced by music, which is constant in her studio. 
  
Chris Hayman was born in New York City. She received her BA in Art History at the University of Maryland and a second degree in Art Education at the University of Reno, Nevada where she started her investigation in painting. Hayman has had a continuous exhibition history, showing in galleries throughout the country, most notably in Washington, DC; Boston, MA; New Orleans, LA; Park City, UT; Dallas, TX; and Houston, TX, among others. Her work is included in the numerous private and corporate collections.

Based in New Orleans, James Henderson’s work explores the concept of memory and the idea of ‘home’ as an emotional space, rather than a physical one. Utilizing found imagery and text as a starting point, Henderson collages and layers his mixed media paintings to create a rich background onto which he often adds the silhouette of a figure, an icon of a house, or colorful drawings of children or shapes. The inclusion of imagery from vintage dress patterns, children's books, literature, and other items from the past become Henderson’s visual language through which to depict the notion of how one’s past experiences, emotions and personal archeology greatly shape one’s identity.

Henderson's work can be found in private collections in San Francisco, Boston, Dallas, New Orleans, New York, Miami, and London.