By John Chambless
Staff Writer

There are some nice surprises in the Oxford Arts Alliance's new show, “Kennett Artists in Oxford,” beginning with some monumental sculptures.

Lele Galer, best known for her paintings, shows the huge “Steel Heart,” a dazzling, room-filling statement whose jagged steel bands must have been an injury-producing nightmare to work with. Ragged yet right, it's a standout piece. Galer shows several smaller but satisfying pedestal sculptures, “Mended Heart” and “Heart,” as well as a jagged tower of fused metal pieces, “She's Come Undone.”

Galer's paintings – a series of trees in various lights -- make a nice grouping. The sense of space and the forest floor in “Evening Light” are particularly well done.

Carol Lesher's five oil paintings of autumn fields are warm and inviting. Among the smaller works, Susan B. Myers' “Frozen Stream” is sparingly done and just right.

There are two stately still lifes by Dorothy Boxler, “Quail Eggs” and “Breakfast in Blue,” and three large abstract mixed-media pieces by Katee Boyle that anchor the end of the gallery.

Sarah Yeoman's watercolor “Here and There” captures the motion of birds in flight, and her “Walking in This World” is a beautiful view of tangled trees and reflecting water that hovers just on the edge of abstraction.

Frank DePietro shows a wonderful triptych, “Yellow Leaves,” that pops off the wall with clarity and glowing sunlight. Peter Willard has an intriguing split personality in the show, with some fine paintings of woodlands and marsh, as well as three graffiti-like paintings of cartoonish, grimacing dogs that have captivating expressions – somewhere between grumpy and anxious.

Metal sculptor David Beck is one of the exhibit's stars, with his masterfully constructed “Reciprocation,” an industrial-looking pedestal sculpture that has a mirror-image effect; and “5 O'Clock,” which has a looming presence in the middle of the gallery floor. It looks like a clock from some ancient civilization, and although it's metal, it looks like it's hewn out of a log.

Overall, the show introduces some fresh names and striking works to Oxford, and it's well worth a visit before the show closes on Nov. 13.

Gallery hours are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gallery is at 38 S. Third St., Oxford. Visit www.oxfordart.org for more information.

To contact Staff Writer John Chambless, email [email protected].