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‘Thursday Art Group’ takes over Kenai Art Center Rear Gallery

Published 6:30 am Friday, May 5, 2023

”Alstroemeria,” by Melinda Hershberger, hangs as part of “Thursday Art Group” at the Kenai Art Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
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”Alstroemeria,” by Melinda Hershberger, hangs as part of “Thursday Art Group” at the Kenai Art Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

”Alstroemeria,” by Melinda Hershberger, hangs as part of “Thursday Art Group” at the Kenai Art Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
“The Courting,” by Marlyn Kramer, hangs as part of “Thursday Art Group” at the Kenai Art Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
“Alstroemeria,” by Melinda Hershberger, hangs as part of “Thursday Art Group” at the Kenai Art Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
“There’s Dancing Tonight,” by Juli Sexton, hangs as part of “Thursday Art Group” at the Kenai Art Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, May 3, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

This month in the Kenai Art Center’s Rear Gallery the work of the “Thursday Art Group” will be on display.

For more than a decade, the Thursday Art Group has been meeting in a variety of venues to “paint for pleasure,” one of the members, Melinda Hershberger, said Thursday.

The group first came together as a class at Kenai Peninsula College, but Hershberger said they quickly became a community. Each week they meet to catch up, to paint, to eat snacks and to talk about art.

“It’s a group of friends. We’re really close knit,” she said.

The group has met at a variety of locations, including KPC campus, a church basement, a warehouse and just in the last month or so at the Kenai Art Center. On Thursday, the group met in the back gallery — where their own art exhibition already hung on the walls.

Hershberger said the show was largely composed of watercolor work, pulled from as many members as were willing to participate, including some who have never had their work shown before.

Hershberger said the show includes “a little bit of almost every genre of painting within a watercolor scope,” with a variety of different styles and subjects all created by local artists.

“Thursday Art Group” will be available in the Kenai Art Center’s Rear Gallery during their business hours, Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.

For more information, visit kenaiartcenter.org.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/peninsulaclarion.