The Johnson Center for the Arts will host a reception for artist Paige Smith-Wyatt and photographer Warren Simons from 6 until 8 p.m. Thursday, March 28. Both artists have Troy connections and will be present at the reception and will participate in an Art Talk.

Wiley White, JCA exhibition coordinator, said Smith-Wyatt’s “Nature’s Way” and Simons’ “Visual Surprises: Hiding in Plain Sight” have been well attended and the response to the works of these two very talented artists has been extremely positive.

“These are such insightful exhibits for our community,” White said. “Those of us who know Warren and Paige personally can attest to the fact that these are artists who are invested in the Troy and Pike County communities through their work and through their art.”

White said Simons and his wife, Janice, lived in Troy for several years.

“Warren entered work in Johnson Center exhibitions while living here and continued after he and Janice moved to Montgomery,” White said. “Recently, they attended the Troy Bank & Trust Company permanent art exhibition and the Larry Allen pottery exhibit and purchased a beautiful piece of Larry’s pottery.”

Janice Simons is an extremely creative potter who has donated works to Troy’s Empty Bowls project, benefiting the Salvation Army, White said.

Smith-Wyatt is an arts instructor at Troy University and often brings her art classes to tour the JCA’s exhibitions and study them—most times utilizing JCA’s exhibitions as “tests.”

“Paige’s students receive a sheet of questions and a pencil as they enter the galleries, then select a piece of art in the exhibition and began answering each question on the sheet about their ‘chosen’ piece of art—and turn it in,” White said. “That was the test.”

Smith-Wyatt is currently an adjunct professor of visual arts at Troy University and an art education doctoral student at Florida State University.

Her current exhibit in the Johnson Center’s Mack Gibson Family Gallery, John & Eloise Kirk Gallery and the Tile Gallery is titled, “Nature’s Way.” It consists of large colorful floral watercolors on paper affixed to board. It is a stunning exhibit that transports the viewer into, and beyond, the depths of spring, White said.

Warren Simon’s Photography Exhibit is titled “Visual Surprises: Hiding in Plain Sight.”

Simon’s has been photographing since 2003. His goal is to express moments of clear, fresh, perceptual connection with the visual world.

Simons’ original work is exhibited in the Lower Level Jane Jernigan Brantley, Dorothy Hataway Brantley, Muriel and George Saunders Gallery and the Jones-Allred-Chapman Gallery.

“It’s our honor to re-introduce these talented Alabama artists and their current work to the Troy and Pike County communities at the reception on March 28,” White said. “They know us; they love us; and we are so happy to have them in our midst again. We’ll have a great crowd in attendance to welcome Paige and Warren to Troy and the JCA because Troy is a community that appreciates fine art and is fast becoming an arts destination.”