The Arts Incubator in the Crossroads invites you to join us at our

Cocoon Gallery during First Friday, Feb. 4, for the opening of

Jodi Lightner's painted and stained drawings.

The event is free and open to the public.

In addition, the Arts Incubator's Hello Art program will celebrates its

first anniversary from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 4. Hello Art is free to

members; a $10 donation is requested from visitors. All are welcome.

Jodi Lightner's work explores the relationship between our environment

and ourselves as being both physical and perceived.

"I consider that a place must coexist with what we are thinking, imagining

and sensing," she said. "As we experience structure through our lens

of knowledge and understanding, we perceive what is not present.

Looking beyond the physical or obvious structure and finding the

exaggerations, icons and associations in the existing forms,

I unfold the mystery of what place is and the significance of

our relationship to it. The role of association in unraveling how

we identify with place is integral to my work."

Lightner examines these ideas of place in the exhibition. The work is

made chiefly on Mylar, a thin translucent material that lends itself to the

idea of mental places and memory. It appears to be composed on

multiple layers; however, each piece is on an individual plane

corresponding to the idea that although we view from a single personal perspective, our experiences and perceptions are multi-layered.

Artist Bio