Last Friday night, Walnut Street downtown offered plenty of evidence of Des Moines’ robust gallery scene:
Studio Gallery in the East Village (323 E. Walnut St.) opened “Flora Project,” a new exhibit of works by artist and gallery owner Jay Vigon. We’re wild about the floral digital prints Vigon creates—so wild, in fact, that we feature one on the current cover of dsm. This exhibit is your chance to check out the others in the series. The prints are available in different sizes and at various price points; we especially love the ones mounted on Plexiglas. Vigon, who opened Studio Gallery last fall with his artist wife, Margo Nahas, is a nationally known designer whose impressive client list includes Warner Bros. and George Lucas. In addition to illustrations and digital art, he’s created graphic designs for album covers, logos and fashion advertising.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the river at 520 Walnut St., Des Moines artist and sculptor James Ellwanger and his wife, Melinda, hosted an opening reception for Nest Gallery. The space, on the first floor of the U.S. Bank Building, showcases Ellwanger’s new digital geometric prints. It also will serve as the hub for Ellwanger’s “Spectrum on Walnut,” a proposed lighting display for Walnut Street; you can get a glimpse of the project at Nest, where some of the lighting already is installed. Ellwanger’s sculptures around town include “Shattering Silence” (our favorite) at the Iowa Judicial Branch Building on the Capitol grounds and “Liberty Crown” atop Exile Brewing Co.
–By Christine Riccelli
