Fresh tomatoes in January?

   This sight awaits visitors to the ArtsCenter in Betty Zelman's pastel painting "Harvest." The painting is part of a show featuring 28 works of art by residents of Carolina Meadows and Carol Woods, which will be up through Jan. 6.

   It's the first time in the ArtsCenter's history that residents of these retirement communities are exhibiting their work in a joint art show, said Colin Bissett, the center's executive director.

   "The standard of these artists is extremely high," he said. "This is a great opportunity for us to partner with these fine organizations and artists. It really makes our mission come to life when one realizes a community partnership like this one."

   Zelman likes the opportunity for her work to be seen by others.

   "I enjoy it when people enjoy the work that I do," she said. "I don't think it's that good, but it brings me great satisfaction."

   Zelman, 91, began painting pastels six years ago when she moved to Carol Woods. The former speech therapist took a course on pastel painting at the ArtsCenter.

   Her work has been displayed in other exhibits by the area Pastel Society. This is the first time, however, that her work can be viewed where her craft began.

   "It's kind of special," she said. "It's certainly unexpected. I tell you there are many good artists at Carol Woods, and their work is there, too."

   And so is the work of Carolina Meadows residents, like Mary Ellen Evans. Her watercolor "Morning Moon at Fearrington" pictures a yellow, wooden cottage with a blue roof. A white picket fence corrals a colorful yard full of yellow, orange and magenta flowers under a fingernail moon.

   Evans has been painting pastels for about 15 years. The 79-year-old took courses at the Delaware Senior Center and the Academy for Lifelong Learning. Recently, she's been studying with another well-known local painter.

   Since she moved to Carolina Meadows three years ago, she has displayed some of her work in the retirement community's halls and on occasion at exhibits at the senior center in Pittsboro.

   Evans frequents the ArtsCenter's exhibitions regularly as an admirer. Now she's one of the featured artists.

   "I was very pleased to have mine selected," she said. "I think that's an excellent selection with a great diversity, and I was very pleased to be included."

   Landscapes in the show range from desert to mountains and from a snow-covered farm to Evans' cottage at Fearrington Village.

   Peter Welanetz's "Saguaro Sunset" pictures the silhouettes of the giant saguaro cacti against a range of purple mountains dwarfed by the sky, which is streaked with yellow and feathered with pink and blue brushstrokes.

   Everything looks golden and white in Mary Jane Linker's watercolor "Winter Snow," in which ridges of furrows rise above freshly fallen snow at a farm. The snow is unblemished by footprints, and the farm sits on a road that winds to distant mountains.

   A crescent moon appears in Irene Reichert's acrylic "Xanadu," which bustles with primary colors, rich textures and patterns as tall, skinny, fanciful structures rise against a sky just as jazzy with many small, pink and white brushstrokes on top of three hues of blue.

   Two artists convey the feeling of wind.

   The bare branches of trees, all leaning to the left with green foliage swept to the right, shows the force of wind in Toby Adams' oil painting "Wind in the Treetops."

   In Bob Taylor's watercolor "Fishing On the Chicago River," the back of the fisherman's hooded sweat jacket puffs out as he braces himself against a strong wind blowing off the cold-looking, gray water.

   And Zelman's tomatoes, mounded in a brass pot, glow crimson - some with green around the top and all fully ripe, although no two look alike.

   Evans said she is pleased with the joint exhibit between the two retirement communities.

   "I think that's excellent that they've brought them together like this," she said. "They have a beautiful hall, and I think it is a very enjoyable exhibit."

   Zelman agreed.

   "This is sort of a promotion for what retirees can do," she said.

   Contact:
   Michelle Westrom
   Marketing Director
   (919) 370 - 7160