End of the line

Blue swirls of energy, rainbow-colored tree leaves and a midnight sunset are all impossibly wonderful scenes.

These images and others were displayed at the fifth and final installment of "Music is Art," a Center for the Arts series that organizers say will appear again in the fall semester.

The free event showcases the talents of local artists, both visual and musical, in the main lobby of the CFA. Visitors are encouraged to speak with artists as they work.

"I usually rotate my pieces. The title of this one evolved while I was working on it," said Cornelia Dohse-Peck about her piece, "Blue Energy."

The stunningly celestial piece depicted thick spirals of energy rotating outward in various shades of blue against a dark canvas background.

The German-born resident-alien also had a piece from her "Immigration Series" on display. It was a patterned mixture of cut-up U.S. Immigration papers and Islamic-patterned artwork. The work was stamped with red airplanes in memory of Sept. 11.

Former UB student Lauren Braun also had work on display at the center, including one piece entitled, "Breathable Utopia."

"My inspiration for this piece came from images I had during a serious asthma attack," Braun said.

In fact, the piece is deeply significant, as it was inspired by her hospitalization and struggle for life. The work depicts an idealized world with a rainbow colored landscape. Red and white futuristic chairs are suspended from the branches of trees.

Worlds and maps are something Georgia Trimper knows a good deal about.

Her sewn cloth artwork represents maps and locations relevant to her life. The largest piece was entitled, "Mapped Facts: Obscured."

Inspiration for the piece came from "a time of highs and lows," said Trimper.

The piece tells the story of her repeated disappointment with plans for a promising Egyptian exhibition event falling through. Incomplete multicolored cloth spheres representing the Earth, divided by lines of latitude and longitude were set against a dark tie-dyed cloth background.

When asked how long one of her intricate, sewn pieces took to create, she said, "If I thought about that, I might never get started."

Arthur Barnes was another artist at the event, specializing in night scenes and working in pastels. His work was richly detailed.

His piece entitled, "Midnight in the Park" was a scene with an illuminated streetlight under a pinkish yellow sunset colored sky.

When asked about the piece, Barnes explained that he had drawn the piece at midnight, but added the color of sunset from memory.

"That's the house I grew up in, I drew it from the inside," Barnes said about another night scene on display, which was also modified to fit memory.

Barnes is limited by the reality of the scene; he illustrates what he feels should be there.

An hour or so after the commencement of the event, the local musical group Standard Of Living played while a camera crew recorded.

Their set of vocal-heavy, keyboard-accompanied rock evoked light applause from the audience between songs. They sounded excellent, but their stage performance was uneventful, perhaps hindered by the "soft and cushy" sit-down feel of stage area seating.

They played songs like "Top 5," "Dead Man's Soul" and "Proving My Words." Three guitars and a drummer backed up lead singer and keyboardist Josh.

The second group to take the stage was The Frame Up.

Headed by lead singer Joe Folmar, the band muscled through some technical difficulties to deliver some great performances, including "Fool Maker" and "All the Things."

A broken bass string and thinning crowd didn't bring down their performance a bit.