JOHNSON CITY – Three paintings depicting scenes at nearby Buffalo Mountain are on display at East Tennessee State University's Advisement Resources Career (ARC) Center through Feb. 15.
These paintings – "White Rock Trail I," "White Rock Trail II" and "The Park Closes at Sunset" – are by Neli Ouzounova, a native of Bulgaria who is pursuing a master of fine arts degree in ETSU's department of art and design.
Ouzounova found inspiration for her paintings during a weekend visit to Buffalo Mountain.
"I took the White Rock Trail," she said. "It went up and down amongst the wilderness of trees and shrubs, and blades of grass, and fallen leaves. I remember the colors. It was as if I was removed from all the burdens of the everyday, and just saw, felt and breathed in the nature that was all around.
"The painting becomes a condensed vision of my life, my existence, where I can dream of fulfillment and of aspiration, while life and its uncertainties fall somewhere in the background."
Ouzounova is a graduate of the Nikolai Rainov College for Plastic Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she studied painting, iconography, sculpture and printmaking. While there, she became a member of the Yemeni Cultural Circle for the Arts. She also holds a B.F.A. from Western Kentucky University. She has exhibited her artwork in Tehran, Iran; San'a, Yemen; Bowling Green, Ky.; and other locations.
The ARC Center is located on the second level of the D.P. Culp University Center at ETSU. Hours are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday.
For more information, contact Caroline Jackson at (423) 439-4098.