Bethlehem, Pa., November 10, 2015— Payne Gallery at Moravian College will exhibit the works of Bucks County painter Mavis Smith who specializes in the ancient craft of egg tempera, which is suited for creating intricate detail and luminous layers of color. The exhibit will open on Thursday, November 12 with a reception in Payne Gallery from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The reception is open to the public and admissions if free charge.

Mavis SmithMavis will conduct a workshop for Moravian College students earlier in the day exploring this technique of egg tempera, the permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of colored pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium (usually a glutinous material such as egg yolk).

Smith’s paintings have a subtle undercurrent of disruption hovering just below their serene surfaces. Her imagery has a surreal edge, hinting at scenarios that may or may not hold darker subtexts.

Smith recently added a series of large works in oil and graphite depicting twisted roots and branches that seem to pull away from the canvas and envelope the viewer. This new series is being called, the “Thicket” and helps to generate a sense of nature’s mysteries.

Smith studied at the Pratt Institute and has exhibited her work in Holland, Switzerland, Santa Fe, New York City, and several other venues. Smith has extended her talent as an illustrator and author of children’s books, having authored 10 and illustrated at least 75. For more, visit her website.

Her solo exhibition Mavis Smith: Hidden Realities, 2012, at the James A. Michener Art Museum sampled a range of Smith's work, including both paintings and works on paper as well as figurative images, still life’s, and her most recent images of twisted and convoluted tree branches. Her work is represented in the permanent collection of the Michener Art Museum.

The Payne Gallery has been a home for Moravian College’s outstanding permanent collection of fine art. It also has been host to dozens of world-class exhibitions over the past 30 years. In 2001, the interior of the gallery was renovated to Smithsonian exhibition standards after the 1982 conversion from the former gymnasium to the Frank E. and Seba B. Payne Gallery. The gallery, named in honor of her parents, was made possible by the extraordinary generosity of Priscilla Payne Hurd.

Payne Gallery is located on the Priscilla Payne Hurd Campus of Moravian College, in Historic Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The Gallery is open 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The gallery is closed Mondays, major holidays and during school breaks. Admission and parking are free, and the Gallery is wheelchair accessible.

Moravian College is a private coeducational liberal arts college, offering undergraduate and graduate degrees, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For over 274 years, the Moravian College degree has been based on a liberal arts curriculum where literature, history, cultural values and global issues, ethics, and aesthetic expression and the social sciences are infused with multidisciplinary perspectives. Visit www.moravian.edu to learn more.