Art and Artists at Kung Food
Mandala plates by Jo Thomas Blaine. Clockwise from top left: Joy; Prosperity; Awareness; Good Happens
Kung Food Express Café is proud to display creations by local artists. So far, we've enjoyed photography, oil and acrylic paintings, mixed media, hand-painted plates, and sculpture.
Below, you'll find information on our current artists, and further down the page is a list of past and future exhibitors. For more information, please e-mail us.
Mandala Plates by Jo Thomas Blaine
Mandalas speak to the soul. They are art, yet they are more than art, the same way we are each our selves, and yet we are more than our selves. Mandalas invite and entice us to look beyond the surface, to the many layers that combine to form our experience of an image in the moment. The word "mandala" is from the Sanskrit, meaning "circle". Mandalas have traditionally been graphic, mystic symbols of the universe, of creation, and of the drama of a human in the world seeking his or her sense of origin. They have been used by many different cultures to cultivate power or healing energy, to protect, to inspire, and to call upon the divine. Mandalas are deeply a part of our nature. They are found in our cells, in our eyes, in fruit, in flowers, in snowflakes and tree trunks and molecules.
Jo Thomas Blaine has been painting mandalas for over twenty years. An intense love of color, a lifelong fascination with the patterns found in nature, and an ongoing quest to connect with the spiritual essence of the Self and the World, have all influenced and nurtured Jo's love of the Mandala: symmetry radiating in all directions from a single point. A mandala can be a point of focus. It can be a soothing presence. A mandala can be a porthole to dreams, a prayer for healing, or simply a beautiful decoration.
Jo draws and paints each mandala entirely by hand, in pencil and watercolor. Their size varies from 9 to 18 inches. Each original is then scanned and digitally reproduced in various sizes to make glass platters and plates, mandala bowls, limited-edition prints, handmade greeting cards, ceramic tiles, treasure boxes, pendants and earrings. Each product is available in over 40 different designs, with new ones being created all the time.
Approximately two dozen of Jo's mandala plates are on display at Kung Food Express Café. Their variety is staggering; their beauty, dazzling.... www.mandalaartplates.com
Past and Future Exhibitors
"On the Wall" Gallery:
February 2005 — Mark Greenleaf: Oil paintings. www.mustwarnothers.net
March 2005 — Kris Manske: "Vivid Vegetation: Plant-Based Photography" www.meeeow.net
April 2005 — Sam Rudiger: "Circular Spectacular Space Invasion #144" — Paintings and Mixed Media www.samrudiger.com
May 2005 — Jason "Gosent" Coe: "Over-Due Transitions" — Paintings and Assorted Mixed Media www.jasoncoe.net
June 2005 — Latara Dragoo: "The Essence of Being" — Photography
July 2005 — Midge Hyde: "Feast Your Eyes" — Oil Paintings and Mixed Media www.midgehyde.com
August 2005 — Zuri Waters: "Unraveling Point" — Oil Paintings www.zurizuri.30art.com
September 2005 — Alana Martins: "Unspoken Dreams" — Paintings www.unspokenart.com
October/November 2005 — Geoffrey Uhl: "Absurd Relevance" — Photography
December 2005/January 2006 — Mark Greenleaf: Oil paintings. www.mustwarnothers.net
"Off the Wall" Gallery:
February 2005 to Present — Jo Thomas Blaine: "Mandala Art Plates" — Watercolor on Glass www.mandalaartplates.com
May 2005 — Antonia Davis: "Original, One of a Kind, Whimsical Art" — Metal sculpture using recycled kitchenware www.antoniasart.com
May 2005 — Tadja Dragoo: Array of Sculptures