"Walrus Family Portraits"

Beautiful exploration of cultural roots

SONYA KELLIHER-COMBS:  Artist melds tradition with contemporary inspiration.In her show "Walrus Family Portraits," Sonya Kelliher-Combs fills the International Gallery of Contemporary Art with intricate designs, textures, colors, delicate lines, layered shapes and surfaces of translucence and plasticity.

She uses acrylic polymers and polyurethane, combined with thread, gut, hair and other materials, to create what must be defined as mixed-media art. Those familiar with her work will recognize in this show the recurrent themes: pores, secrets, eddies, tattoos, strings, pocket and tusk forms--metaphorical references to her life and culture.Below:  "Large Buried Walrus Family Portrait: Orange" by Sonya Kelliher-Combs is at the International Gallery of Contemporary Art.