Stepping into the "Chrysalis" exhibit at the Gallery at Hillcrest is like stepping into the mind of artist James Stricks as he contemplates issues of imagination, growth and mortality. The artist’s own narrative expresses his vision.

“In trying to understand the four ages of Man—the egg, the caterpillar, the chrysalis, and the butterfly, it’s coming out in fragments, as if falling from the sky. Someday they will come together, and I will know why.”

Visitors to the opening of Strick’s second Hillcrest exhibit were drawn into his work—sometimes bemused, sometimes bewildered, but consistently immersed in its vivid colors, shapes and ideas across both traditional and unconventional formats.

For example, attendees were invited to step inside a box titled “Food for Thought”—framed as intergalactic mail from Demerge Galactic Center to Jim Strick. Earth—where the only way to understand the piece was to become part of it.

Other pieces gave a new and different vision of Biblical stories as filtered through the vision of their creator who wishes to imagine how things are viewed in a contemplative state of mind. His works are compelling and original. They are not for sale.

Originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, and now a resident of Claremont by way of Alaska, Strick has a background in architecture, anthropology and college administration. He began working with watercolors in the early 1990s. His
wife Ethel is a ceramic artist, although she doesn’t describe herself as such.

"The Chrysalis" exhibit is free and on display through June 26 at the Gallery at Hillcrest, 2705 Mountain View Dr., La Verne 91750.
Open Monday-Sunday, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
(909) 392-4000
More information

Dale LaCasella is a retired attorney, sculptor and writer who lives in the Hillcrest community. She is the artist behind Two Cat Studio and the publisher of Two Cat Media.