Painting Passions at Edina Art Center

Nancy Acker didn’t think she could paint. After retiring in 1997 from her job as a psychologist in the Minneapolis school system, she had taken woodcarving and sculpture classes at the Edina Art Center, but was apprehensive about picking up a brush. Eventually, she took both watercolor and oil painting classes at the center and found a new passion. Today, Acker calls herself an accomplished painter. For the past two years, she has won awards of excellence and awards of merit at the Art Center’s Annual Members’ Juried Exhibition Show. This year, she plans to submit an oil painting of a house on Nicollet Island in the 2013 competition, which will be judged by local potter Nick DeVries and Lia Rivamonte. According to Art Center director Michael Frey, more than 250 entries are submitted each year. After agreeing on the best of show, the judges choose 75 to 90 of those pieces to display. This year’s exhibition will be on display from September 26 to October 30 at the Margaret Foss Gallery in the Edina Art Center.