Karma Connects Coachella Valley Artists to LGBT Food Bank

Highest Form Art Gallery exhibit benefits NestEggg, showcases local talent

JIM POWERS Arts & Entertainment, Attractions

Ryan Motel Campbell believes there is no limit to where his career as an artist is going.

The wide-open spaces of the desert have served Campbell well since relocating from Los Angeles in 2001.

“I felt claustrophobic in LA,” says Campbell, a multi-media artist whose work includes murals, installations and abstract portraits.

“I really feel like this is my home. The energy we have here in the desert and the wide demographic it attracts, you can really tap into a different energy going around,” Campbell continued.

Campbell is one of six local artists who will be showcased Friday night at Highest Form Gallery, 668 N. Palm Canyon Drive, in Palm Springs. The art exhibition, slated from 6-9 p.m., will benefit the NestEggg, the food bank operated by the LGBT Community Center of the Desert. A portion of proceeds from each artwork sold will be donated to the food bank.

Robert D’Amour, who opened Highestform Gallery earlier this year, said the mission of the Center and its food bank to provide free groceries for up to 275 households a week has always hit home with him.

“I like the idea that people in need are being fed through their efforts,” D’Amour said. “The Center is an organization that I and all artists I represent are proud and thrilled to support. I think of it as karma, local artists helping a local organization.”

Campbell has exhibited his work with D’Amour since he opened in February, and he was immediately on board for the charity event.

“I know a couple of people from the food bank, and I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about it,” Campbell said. “I know what they are doing is making an impact.”

Campbell, 32, said he will be showing his latest abstract figurative work focusing on dancers and people in motion.

“I’ve seen great progress in my career, really exponentially from last year,” he said. “When I look back, I feel a little more established. I still feel I’m early in my career.”

Another Campbell in the show but no relation to Ryan, Heath Scott will show his nature photography taken while on a trip to Copenhagen, Amsterdam and parts of Sweden. The Palm Springs resident's work will extend to architecture, textures, odd objects, generally anything inanimate.

"People tend to play to the camera," Heath Scott Campbell said.

Heath's photos are a result a unique aluminum print process which gives the finished product a luminescent, 3-D quality. He hopes to fund a new exhibit through the website, Kickstarter.

The rest of the exhibiting artists include:

• Steve Webster of Indio. The sculptor’s work has sold to private collections and galleries throughout North America.

• Brian Wilson of Palm Springs. The mixed-media painter offers unique geography and climate of the southwest in his current work.

• Sheri L Robinson, who splits her time between Joshua Tree and Los Angeles, has had her bold canvas work collected from coast to coast, often by interior designers for showroom installations.

• Matt Opoien of Palm Springs. The painter allows the viewer to create his or her own interpretation rather than focusing on any true form or structure.