Review

"Crabapple", Ceramic Tiles.

Amy Meya

7-9 p.m.
(Artist's Reception)

Phoenix Gallery
919 Massachusetts St.
Lawrence, KS
785.843.0080

Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday
Runs through: Oct. 31.

Artist's site: http://ceramicartistamymeya.blogspot.com
Gallery site: http://www.phoenixgallery.biz

Speaking of tiles ... most people usually don't.

Ceramic tiles tend to be utilitarian items. We think about them when it's time to clean the shower or mop the floor. Then it's "Off the to-do list, out of mind."

Amy Meya's tiles won't be ignored or dismissed like that.

I first encountered her work at Art Westport last year and was drawn in by the depth and richness of her single-color tiles, especially those in blue and green. The new pieces, featured at  Phoenix Gallery this month, are even more striking -- and you can check them out from 7-9 p.m. tonight during Lawrence's monthly Art Crawl.

(If you can't get to Lawrence, you can check out other new work by Meya this week -- closer to home -- when she delivers new pieces to Stuff in Brookside.)

Whether standing alone or linked in groups (as in Crabapple, pictured above), Meya's nature-inspired tiles are reminiscent of sculptures, of paintings, of textile wall hangings -- not in the sense of being derivative, but in the sense of being art as well as craft.

Meya's month-long stint as Phoenix Gallery's featured artist also includes a display of her Christmas ornaments. A common theme (and the subject of a number of her new tiles) is birds, inspired by the avian visitors to a sunflower garden she and her sons planted last year.

Not only was it thrilling entertainment for all of us, Meya says,  but I hope it will be a lasting memory for my boys that will instill an appreciation of nature.

Meya's work has the same potential to instill appreciation -- of her chosen art form and of the beauty she creates within it.