While it’s often fun to look back, the omnipresent media retrospectives – year in pictures, stories of the decade, “the oughts in words”, top ten tragedies, “best” of reality TV – have become a little tiresome. So, here at your friendly local, suburban art gallery, we’re looking forward.

We’re looking forward to more art, and less office cubicles. We’re looking forward to more color on walls and less grey concrete under our feet. We’re looking forward to more bold sweeping vistas, and less of the fleeting peeks from someone else’s corner office. We looking forward to abstractions that will envelope and transport us, rather than pictures from the local “skycam” of the local traffic jam. We’re looking forward to discovering new and unique creations, rather than the next “big thing” in reality TV. We’re looking forward to more standard deviations and less of the same-old and the normal. We’re looking forward to decorating more homes with unique and original art and less of the manufactured so-called originals from far-off lands. We looking forward to finding, developing and assisting more “artoholics” like ourselves and lessening our chocaholic tendencies. We’re looking forward to encouraging the next generation to keep the creative spirit alive and kicking rather than letting it be dismissed and quashed.

Yes, we’re looking forward to another great year of… ART.

Yes, art can be fun as well as beautiful. art251?s December exhibit is almost here. We?ll be unveling new paintings by Marnie Vollenhals, a Keller based artist. The exhibit begins with an opening reception on December 11, 6-9pm, and runs until January 16, 2010.

Her playful works are collected by the young and the young at heart. So, bring your children or just your inner child ? come and revisit the world that you never really left behind, courtesy of Marnie Vollenhals.

Marnie Vollenhals is a natural born illustrator and a prolific artist ? she paints, paints and paints. Her most recent paintings of a group of animal friends, centered around Hawk, the Rocket Dog, a suburban dog with big dreams, is garnering a loyal following both locally and nationally.

Marnie comes from a family of artists, which goes back generations. From an early age she has been surrounded by rich visual arts. This has enabled her to establish a unique illustrative style, melding classic and modern influences, and diverse ideas and media. Marnie?s works balance a keen sense of design with her skills of artistic composition. And, shining through is an underlying sense of happiness and a playful spirit.