Land Escapes Debuts at SPACE

is excited to announce the opening of Land Escapes, featuring the work of Los Angeles artists Abira Ali and Kathleen Coyle.

Originally conceived by Joan Weinzettle, the show presents a visual dialog between longtime friends Ali and Coyle.

Land Escapes opens on Saturday, March 24 with an Artists' Reception from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

About the artists: 

A long-time artist, illustrator, educator, and founder of the Wisdom Arts Laboratory in Pasadena, Ali infuses her work with an obvious passion for her natural and man-made surroundings.

Her paintings on canvas and wood celebrate her neighborhood—in which local and exotic fauna often make an appearance—exploring our relationships with our non-human allies and the world at large.

"Animals offer us a primal kind of truth," says Ali, "a way to look past the superficial."

Coyle focused on painting in college, and has explored a variety of media over the years, but has been working primarily in fiber, preferring knitting and crocheting as her medium.

She says that her "love of textiles is fueled by a hypnotic attraction to looking at and making handmade patterns. "

In this body of work Coyle uses her masterful needlework skills to embellish painted canvases with wings, rain and teardrops, or create entire compositions of crocheted and knitted yarn, which she then attaches to a blank canvas.

For more, see the attached press release. Plus examples of the artists' work.