The Frances Anderson Center and the Edmonds Arts Commission present a new joint exhibit  “Impressions – Paper & Stone,” a collaboration between artists Jim Ballard and Richard Hestekind. The exhibit may be viewed during building hours, Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-9 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m.-4 p.m., now through March 15. The Frances Anderson Center is located at 700 Main St., Edmonds.

This exhibit explores the duality and the dynamic interplay between opposites – light and dark, hard and soft, positive and negative, subtractive and additive, substantive and illusive. The interplay of these qualities converge on the paper and stone.

There will be an artist reception this Thursday, Feb. 17 from 6-7:30 p.m. during the Third Thursday Art Walk.

Jim Ballard’s “Brush Series” – works on paper – evolved from his interest in the brushwork used in Sumi-e and Chinese Calligraphy. This work is his exploratory departure from these traditional expressions. The exhibit also includes a prototype book of embossed images with Braille and English text that was created for the Louis Braille School in Edmonds, a non-profit K-12 day school for children who are blind or partially sighted. The book is titled Spineless Critters: A First Book of Invertebrates. In 2009, with the help of a Community Grant from the Edmonds Arts Festival Foundation, Ballard created the book to provide tactile information about insects that other books either do not or cannot offer. The book features enlarged, anatomically correct embossings of spiders, scorpions and other critters with Braille descriptions. Samples are on display for touching.

Richard Hestekind explains that in his “Chrysalis” Series, each rock is a fragment of the skin of the earth. Each has a compositional identity that narrates its own history. On a select few, he engaged in an active dialog exploring their unique character. This process displays another cycle in its metamorphosis of form. In these few presentations, he attempts to reveal what he discovered. Each stone left an impression on him and he left a fragment of an impression on it.

In 1993, Ballard and Hestekind were commissioned to create Community – an installation of large carved granite figures sited in several areas of  the Meadowdale Playfield Park (16700 66^th Ave W, Lynnwood). This was a joint Public Art project between the Cities of Edmonds and Lynnwood who share the park.