Local artists now have an excellent opportunity to make their work known in Murfreesboro, thanks to Salara Laser Center, a medical aesthetic service and spa service facility that is currently displaying the work of area artists.
Located at 710 Memorial Blvd., Salara’s manager, Naveh Eldar, along with owners Dr. David Sellers and Amy Hatcher, said they decided to support local artists by hanging their work where center clients can see it. Both Eldar and Sellers are very attracted to art, especially original art.
“I just love art, period,” said Eldar, who noted that Sellers has a house full of original art.
Thus, they said, the pair decided they wanted to go out and buy art to decorate their facility.
“It was going to be a fun project for us to go buy art, and we were talking about what we should get, what kind,” Eldar said. “And I actually came up with the idea of, why don’t we just rotate local artists through here? It’ll be fun and it’ll support them . . . and (the owners) thought it was a really good idea.”
The idea became a reality when artists Connie Hutto and Cristina Joy contacted Eldar after coming across his posting on craigslist.com. Now, their work is now on exhibit at Salara.
Hutto said she wasn’t really looking for anything in particular on the online site at the time she found the art-related post. She considers herself a bit of a craigslist junkie, however, and said she likes to browse open jobs and other items posted. One day while browsing, she just kind of stumbled across the posting.
On the other hand, Joy said that she looks anywhere she can to get her artwork out there.
“Exposure is the most important thing when you’re an artist,” she said.
Hutto, who calls Ashland City home, said she didn’t grow up creating art, but has always leaned toward the creative side and is a musician. She wouldn’t have called herself an artist until about three years ago, she noted.
“I guess I needed another creative outlet, so on a whim one day I painted my first painting. It wasn’t half bad, so I painted another one,” recalled Hutto, who’s been painting ever since.
She does much more than just paint, however. She said that she enjoys doing “project pieces” more than painting.
“Every piece is like a new experiment,” she said.
One of the pieces she has displayed at Salara is a painting with a mosaic-like frame around it. She not only painted the painting, but made the frame as well. Also, she said she just finished another interesting project for her own home after she found she needed a divider for her one-room cabin. As a result, she said she decided to make what she calls her “window wall,” a project piece that-along with other samples of her artwork-may be viewed at tastethesea.wordpress.com.
Joy said that her mom always tells people that she’s been drawing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. And growing up, the now 29-year-old artist said she watched her dad paint landscapes in oil.
To view Joy’s artwork online, access her MySpace page at myspace.com/bella0505.
Salara Laser Center’s staff said they will continue to display and rotate local art for the community to enjoy. All pieces on display are available for purchase, with all money collected going directly to the artists.
Additionally, Eldar said he is actively seeking more local artists whose work he can show off. Artists interested in having their work shown at Salara are asked to e-mail Eldar at naveh@salaralaser.com.
