After putting out the call last month for artists, the Long Beach Creative Group will present its newest gallery “Coming Together: An Exhibition of Small Works” beginning Saturday, July 10.
The gallery will be available for viewing until August 14 at the LBCG/Rod Briggs Gallery at 2221 E. Broadway.
Over 450 pieces were submitted by local artists to the open call last month. Judges Asia Morris, formerly the arts and culture editor of the Long Beach Post, and Brian Trimble, Board President of the Arts Council for Long Beach whittled down the finalists; 85 made the cut.
“Some works are true discussion starters,” Morris said in a statement. “Some are simply gorgeous to look at.”
The small works (no larger than 16 inches in any direction) span a multitude of disciplines and styles from oil painting to mixed media to sculpture and photography.
“190 people submitted 465 entries,” said Helen Cox, artist and Exhibit Coordinator for the show. “The work reflected Long Beach in all its diversity, including artistic experience and expression, racial and cultural background, age, and style.”
The gallery will be open to the public from 1-4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. No appointment required.
The Long Beach Creative Group gallery was once the studio of Rod Briggs, a former LBUSD school teacher who moonlighted as an oil painter. His photorealist paintings depicting scenes from Long Beach made him an icon in the local art scene.
A collection of some of his works is permanently displayed at the Long Beach Museum of Art and at his old studio, which was transformed into the Long Beach Creative Group/Rod Briggs Gallery after he died in 2017. Today, the gallery highlights and supports local artists through exhibitions and events.
LBCG/Rod Briggs Gallery is at 2221 E. Broadway.