Coyee Shipp Langston is exhibiting her colorful masks in partnership with FACES: The National Craniofacial Association to raise funds for their humanitarian restoration work by donating a portion of her mask sales during the month of July at In-Town Gallery. Her Asian-inspired luminous works incorporate collage and found objects. Come and see these unique pieces and meet the artist at the opening reception, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm on the First Friday, July 6, at the gallery.
“The eye of the artist sees differently. It breaks through the surface and sees into the inner nature of things,” is Langston’s perspective. “The freedom to experiment eliminates my inhibitions and therefore welcomes creativity! My abstracts are a place where my imagination can express itself.” Her artist’s statement further explains the process of how they slowly evolve, as painter and canvas get lost together in a creative place that allows time to stand still. “This is where I collect colors, textures, and objects to express feelings and memories.”
What she loves about abstracts is how each viewer sees something different, something that has meaning for them, which is very rewarding to the artist.
Langston’s love for the arts began at an early age when she used her mother’s oil paints. She majored in Fine Art at Cumberland College in Lebanon, TN, on an art scholarship, and studied Commercial and Fine Art at Chattanooga State Community College. She paints abstracts, landscapes and portraits in various mediums. Her work has been shown in more than 40 art exhibitions.
She is a past member of the Civic Arts League and Tennessee Watercolor Society, current member of the Association for Visual Arts (AVA), and is on the board for the Public Art Committee in Chattanooga, and the chair for the ArtsReach program, a partnership with Allied Arts and Friends of East Brainerd. Langston is the art instructor at East Ridge Elementary, and she and her husband own Art House Gallery & Langston Photography.
In-Town Gallery, founded in 1974, is one of the oldest cooperative galleries in the nation. It presents the original work of more than 30 regional studio artists. Located at 26A Frazier
Avenue, between the Market Street and Walnut Street bridges, it is adjacent to Coolidge Park on the trendy “Hip to Historical” North Shore of the Tennessee River. The gallery is open every day year-round: 11am to 6pm Monday-Saturday, 1-5pm Sunday, and until 8pm on most First Fridays. For more information, call 423-267-9214, or visit www.intowngallery.com or www.facebook.com.intowngallery.
