The Edmonds Arts Commission presents an exhibit at the Edmonds Library of mixed media paintings by Michelle Bear now through Aug. 30.

The exhibit represents Bear’s current body of work called “Sense of Place.” Bear uses acrylic paint, oil pastels and collage in bold, colorful application to depict a collection of meanings and identities we allocate to a “place,” something on and of which we ground ourselves. There is a hint of the familiar, something perhaps forgotten but now remembered, reminisced. Myths are referred to. Animals symbolized. Landscapes made tangible.

An integral part of Bear’s work is to reconnect our link to the natural world by bridging the gap between art and life. Our poignant attempts to “get back to nature” show that such intense reverence for nature can only come with the realization that it could be lost. There is a need to capture what is around us before it disappears.

This work appeals to notions of conservation and of boundaries; to the definitions of wildness and what is natural. They demonstrate a concern for the experience of place as read in the surfaces of things and of her surroundings — of earthen Illinois prairie where she grew up and lush Northwest Coast sea and forest where she currently finds herself.

Bear holds a BFA from Rockford College, Rockford, Ill. Her work has been featured in solo and group shows and invitationals in Illinois and Washington.