Visible Arts | Animals, rainbows and lively hues distinguished in show

50 percent of the pictures in the present-day McConnell Arts Middle show are of animals this kind of as giraffes, moose, owls, elephants and ducks. The other 50 % are energetic pond scenes of fish.

All these depictions of Earth’s creatures are by mom and son Betsy and Derek DeFusco.

Betsy, 73, has been a painter for 30 a long time and right before that, an illustrator. She lives in German Village and maintains a studio Downtown.

Derek, 47, performs at Open Arms Health and fitness Units where by he fortunately suggests that he receives “paid for making artwork.” Derek was born with Klinefelter syndrome, very similar to but a lot a lot less familiar than Down syndrome. He graduated from Higher Arlington Significant College and now life on his have, albeit with day-to-day support, in a residence in Upper Arlington.

About 15 years back, Betsy gave her son — who adores videogames and Bigfoot lore — some artwork supplies for Xmas.

“He sort of turned up his nose and then he started utilizing them,” she said.

Now he attracts animals and landscapes with coloured pencil on paper. He states that when he is creating artwork, he “goes to a distinct mind — and it feels excellent.”

For the first time, mother and son are exhibiting their will work together in a general public exhibition. “Family Colors” continues by way of May possibly 13 at the McConnell Artwork Middle in Worthington.

Derek’s works are comprehensive of shiny colors and cheer. His favourite zoo animals — a moose and a giraffe — have individual portraits, as do an owl and “Bigfoot in the Woods.” (Derek statements to have witnessed Bigfoot a handful of decades in the past and, each individual 12 months that it is held, he attends the Bigfoot Convention at Salt Fork Point out Park.)

Rainbows figure into a amount of Derek’s will work, he claims, mainly because “rainbows are lucky and have a pot of gold at the stop.”

Using the two fish ponds at her house for inspiration, Betsy has created a sequence of oil paintings — vibrant scenes with a number of, clear fish shapes overlapping just one one more. Some of the scenes also include tiny birds. Her paintings are stuffed with motion, as if a teeming pond has been caught in freeze frame. Each has quite a few complementary and contrasting hues.