The Dixon Gallery and Gardens has three new exhibits by three very unique female artists.

If you don't click to enlarge the picture of Clare Leighton's block print "The Lovers", you're going to miss out. Even if you do enlarge it, you're probably not going to be able to see all of its stunning fine line details.

The best way to view the woodcuts in Leighton's show "Quiet Spirit, Skillful Hand" is at the Dixon, with one of the magnifying glasses located in the gallery. Every log, every stalk of wheat, every man's face is excruciatingly intricate.  The detail that the artist / illustrator was able to achieve in her woodblock prints is incredible.

One gallery over, Helen Turner's impressionist paintings offer a sharp contrast to Clare Leighton's show.

It took the Dixon two years to collect all of the paintings in Turner's exhibit. She was an influential (and largely unsung) Southern impressionist who painted from age 37 until her 80s.  Most of the paintings in "The Woman's Point of View" depict well dressed ladies in the act of leisure. The colors are soft and the lines are blurry, which gives all of the paintings a hazy-summer-day feel.

Lastly, I completely loved the Dixon's contemporary, local show, "In the Blood". It's a collection of work by Memphian Clare Torina and her father, John Torina. John's paintings are mostly landscapes. They sort of feel like updated, brightly colored impressionist art.

Clare's paintings are mostly active portraits of museum docents, leaping dogs, screaming gorillas and hysterical girls. As in John's paintings, Clare's colors are intense and bright, but her lines are sharper.

All of the current shows at the Dixon will be on display through mid-September, so you've got plenty of time to check them out.

If you'd like to check them out sooner rather than later, I'm giving away two pairs of tickets to July 15th's Art After Dark with the Beale St. Caravan. The event is going to be awesome - the galleries will be open late, and there will be blues music in the gardens. To win, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me which of the above works you like best. I'll pick a winner at noon on Friday, July 9th.

Go There:

Dixon Gallery and Gardens

4339 Park Avenue
Memphis, TN 38117
(901) 761-5250