Nature's Rhythm and hues

NEAR RIGHT: "Green House with Red Flowers," a collage-type painting by Jana TravisFAR RIGHT: "Caribbean Sands," glass pendant by Lana Chu

Natural rhythms, internal and external, are at the heart of Fusion of Dimension, a group exhibition on display at the Buckman Art Center's Levy Gallery through Dec. 18.

Louisiana-born, Memphis-based painter Jana Travis, an assistant professor of art at Christian Brothers University, favors intricately wrought patterns, organic shapes, and color pops in her collage work.

With "Transitions," Travis layers oil paint and scraps of Japanese wrapping paper to create a busy abstract study. Her brushstrokes make swirls evocative of seed spores and spheres that, according to an artist's statement, are "influenced by chaos in nature."

True to its title, "Abundance" includes a plethora of demanding visual concepts: The canvas itself is subdivided into neat geometric divisions, which are nearly overgrown with loose brushwork that suggest a hodgepodge of petals, stems, and winding branches.

The concept is fully executed with "Green House with Red Flowers."

Here, Travis uses her canvas to work and re-work various patterns, balancing size and color with a skilled eye until an engaging deconstructionist theme emerges from the disorder.

While Travis's paintings bristle with energy, glass works by Memphian Lana Chu represent the calm within the storm. Neatly displayed in glass cases labeled "Spirit," "Heart," "Mind," and "Body," her delicate borosilicate pieces, inspired by the artisan glassblowers of Murano, Italy, glow with an internal fire.

Strung on silken cords, Chu's glass hearts and amulets gleam like undersea jewels and bear names like "Lazy River," "Sedona Sunset," "Olive Jellyfish," and "Caribbean Sands." A green bikini top -- glass leaves strung on a cotton macramé bra -- dubbed "Kryptonite" is worthy of any modern day super-heroine.

Don't miss "Integration," a sublimely rendered abstract collaboration between Chu and local metal smith Wayne Henderson. Here, the subjects depicted in Travis' "Abundance" are re-ordered through chemistry and then formed into a shape that flawlessly suggests the fragility and strength of a bird's nest, using twigs of multi-hued glass and copper that rest on an iron branch.

Fusion of Dimension

Work by Jana Travis and Lana Chu on exhibit at Levy Gallery, Buckman Arts Center at St. Mary's School through Dec. 18. For more information, go to www.stmarysschool.org/ thebuckman/thelevygallery.asp

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