Art Show at the Towns Burr Gallery in Burbank

For the second time since their Gala Grand Opening in February 2008, Connie Towns and Bruce Burr hosted a Fine Art Show at their beautiful "downtown Burbank" Gallery.

Situated in a choice, street-side location in the Magnolia Park Arcade (across the street from Porto's Bakery), the Gallery glowed with friendliness and invitation. The food, wine, and live jazz band in the adjacent courtyard offered additional appeal, and over 170 people joined the festivities.

Besides Connie's cheery signature watercolors and Bruce's serene photographic illustrations, the showroom offered an eclectic variety of work by four of the couple's close artist friends.

Vince Takas, who is credited with first introducing the couple five years ago, specializes in landmark architectural watercolors. One nostalgic collection included the famous Bob's Big Boy restaurant in Toluca Lake and Zinke's Shoe Repair in Glendale. Several other paintings featured antique bicycles and Italian landscapes.

Jack Spiegelman's bold, almost simplistic portraits seemed to reach out and grab the observer. In a style suggestive of batiste fabric design but with personality and a hint of mystery, these oil paintings lured viewers back for a second, third, and even fourth examination.

Across the room, Richard Piña's realistic renderings of people and animals were so detailed and accurate they practically breathed. As a professional photographer, he often paints from his own photos. Several examples of these "commissioned" portraits, done with charcoal or pastels, were of beautiful women, children, and even pets.

Piña's large acrylic painting of a zebra drew amazed stares, with its dusky light and dark contrasts. The creature seemed to stare back at viewers as a lookout for the herd of "ghost" zebras behind him.

Everyday reality transformed into artistic expression would describe Stephen Coleman's impressive photographic collection. From a silhouette of a jumbo jet taking off into the sunset, to a panoramic shot of the city from behind the famous Hollywood sign, to the silvery reflective architecture of the Disney Performing Arts Center, Coleman's artistic eye and sense of timing turned his National Geographic quality photos into works of art.

His 22-photo exhibit of "many wonderful places within LA County" is currently displayed downtown, in the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration.

Connie Town's vibrant flower and palm tree paintings continued to draw sighs of pleasure and delight. Her new experiments in acrylics, with their bold colors that complement and blend beautifully just like her watercolors, were also exhibited for the first time.

Bruce Burr's unique photographic collages and composites were so expertly done, that they seemed like natural quirks of Nature instead of human manipulations. One mirror image photo of the camellia forest at Descanso Gardens looked almost Tolkien in style...as if you might expect to see the Hobbit appear at any moment.

Burr's beautiful ocean shots (where the light sparkles from the water almost supernaturally) made you want to don sunglasses...or maybe jump in!

This show continues through May 23, 2009, but Bruce and Connie hope to offer exhibition opportunities to many more artists in the months to come.

Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 11am - 5 pm, or by appointment if you have specific questions for either Bruce or Connie. Call (818) 541-1510 or (818) 378-4591.

The Towns-Burr Gallery is located at 3609 W. Magnolia blvd, (near Hollywood way) Burbank, CA 91505. Free Parking is behind the building, off Cordova Street.