The Lionheart Gallery Celebrates Acclaimed New Orleans Artists

BEDFORD HILLS, N.Y. - April 14, 2015 - PRLog -- Susan Grissom, director of the Lionheart Gallery at 27 Westchester Road in Pound Ridge, New York, is hosting a new exhibition in May and June that celebrates the art of two critically acclaimed New Orleans artists who lost everything after Hurricane Katrina before finding a touchstone of inspiration in their beloved city. Opening on May 2 through June, the exhibition will showcase the haunting photography of Sandra Russell Clark, and the colorful abstract paintings of her husband, Evert Witte.  The exhibition opens with a Meet the Artists reception from 5 pm to 8 pm on Saturday, May 2.

Susan Grissom met Sandra through a mutual friend in New Orleans and was immediately taken with her images, saying, “Sandra’s work has a dreamy ethereal quality to it that makes it feel magical yet mysterious. You can see that she has a real infinity for Southern architecture and its distinct beauty. She captures the very essence of Southern culture in her photographs and just looking at them makes me nostalgic for the south.”  “Evert too has an interesting abstract style. I was particularly drawn to the unique linear markings that make his paintings so exceptional. I am thrilled to show both their work together in our spring exhibition.”

Published in leading magazines, including Vogue, Elle and the American Artist, Sandra Russell Clark is best known for her black and white images of New Orleans cemeteries and southern landscapes. Evert Witte, known internationally for medium to large-scale paintings and drawings, is an abstract painter whose works are architecturally structured and balanced with vertical and horizontal brushwork to suggest a deeper story. The Lionheart exhibition will be the first time Sandra Clark and Evert Witte are exhibiting their works together.

An award-winning photographer, Clark has garnered critical acclaim for her themed-based series of works. They include Elysium: A Gathering of Souls, a black and white chronicle of the 200-year cultural and religious history New Orleans’ above-ground cemeteries, and her mythical Mississippi Gulf Coast landscapes that starred in her In Search of Eden series, many of which will be on exhibition at the Lionheart Gallery through June.

Netherlands native, artist Evert Witte has exhibited his work in museums and galleries in Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Tennessee and Alabama, as well as in the Netherlands and Spain.  His paintings hang in museums, private and corporate collections in the U.S. and the Netherlands. His awards include an artist residency in Santa Fe, New Mexico, a fellowship for travel and research and the visiting artist recognition at the American Academy in Rome.

The exhibition is open to the public from May 2 through June, Wednesday through Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm; Sundays from noon to 5 pm and by chance.

For more information and to see the work of Sandra Russell Clark and Evert Witte online, visit www.thelionheartgallery.com. For directions and inquiries, call the gallery at( 914) 764-8689.