This contemporary painting of the American Falls will be on display at the Kenan Center through Oct. 12. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS)

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The painting represents photographer Cindy Sherman. Some of her work,  from the collection of Gerald Mead, will hang next to this painting in the  exhibit.

“Sharing the Spotlight: A Decade of Painting by Coni Minneci,” opens today at the Kenan Center with an artist's reception from 2-5 p.m. and runs through Oct. 12.

The exhibit will feature one of Minneci’s most well-known series: “A to Z: An Historical Survey of Women Artists,” in which she uses a still life of a pear to represent each woman.

“Each of those paintings is intended to serve as an homage to a specific woman artist that I researched.” Minneci said, adding that the exhibit includes loaned works by several of the women artists represented in the A to Z series including Cindy Sherman, Susan Rothenberg, Bonnie Gordon, and Dorothy Simpson Kraus—all from the collection of Gerald Mead. Minneci, herself, is adding a piece that includes nine prints from Yoko Ono’s “Instructions for Paintings/Interactive Papers,” featured in a 2002 retrospective exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. The individual “cards” (of which there were originally 21) will be framed together and displayed next to Ono’s representative painting in the A to Z series.

The exhibit will also include an extensive number of paintings of Niagara Falls that span 10 years of Minneci’s painting career along with other landscapes, many of which are on loan from private and public collections.

With degrees in Graphic Design and Fine Art, Coni Minneci has worked as a commercial illustrator, designer, and fine art painter for over thirty years.  Her award winning work has been shown in solo, juried and curated exhibitions and galleries in the United States. Her work can be found in private collections in the U.S., Canada, Japan and Europe and in corporate and public collections, most recently Harper International Corp. and the permanent collection of the Castellani Art Museum, Niagara Falls. She is represented by Tom McCabe and Jeff Holloway of Eminent Design Gallery, Sonoma, CA. Says Holloway of Minneci’s art: “Her work has been described as startlingly beautiful in whatever format she chooses, from her miniatures to her over scale panels, from oil to acrylic. She has the ability to capture one’s imagination and attention.” Minneci has been an art instructor at Partners in Art in North Tonawanda for more than 10 years.

A Tea & Tour in the Gallery will be held on Sunday, September 21. The event includes light luncheon fare, dessert and tea followed by a conversation with the artist. Cost is $20 per person; advance reservations are required by calling 433-2617.

For more information go online to www.kenancenter.org.

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