To kick off its 2010/11 season, the Kittredge Gallery at University of Puget Sound has partnered with the Greater Tacoma Community Foundation (GTCF) to put on an impressive exhibit of works by some of the best and brightest artists working in the Tacoma area at this time.

The show includes all of the nominees and winners of GTCF’s Foundation of Art Award, which has been given annually since 2008. In all, 26 artists have one or more pieces in the show.

As with all large group shows, the totality of works present make for an eclectic mix. There are works in traditional media: paint, print and drawing, as well as mixed media pieces, ceramic sculpture and sculptures that utilize non-traditional materials. Jewelry and video are also present in the show.

Among the painters are the likes of Jeremy Mangan (the 2009 winner of the Foundation of Art Award) whose carefully drawn barns on stilts resemble something that Piranesi might have done had he been born and bred in the American Midwest. His “Heavy Seas” is a fantastic version of Noah’s ark with a pair of his barn buildings mounted on a ship that rides the crest of mountainous waves. Also present is a Chris Sharp (winner of the 2008 award) painting in which puffy, cartoon cloud characters overlap with one another. Jeremy Gregory’s velvety dark comic-inspired paintings lend an electric edge to the show. Mauricio Robalino has contributed some dazzling, cubist-inspired print-like paintings in gauche.

Robalino is also represented among the print artists as is Chandler O’Leary whose intimate pair of bird prints (“Long Billed Curlew” and “Tufted Puffin”) have all the charm of antique book illustrations. (Chandler herself owns and runs her own press.) Shaun Peterson’s NW native style screen print of an Orca whale is circular like a luminous mandala.

In the drawing department, one may find Jessica Balsam’s charcoal drawings of strains of bacteria (as seen through the lens of a high powered microscope), as well as James Porter’s expertly rendered charcoal and graphite portraits of women from outdated advertisements. Sean Alexander’s tightly drawn and brilliantly conceived works on paper pull the viewer into a haunted and pretty world. “Honky Cat” is a disquieting scene inside a house shaped like a big, boxy cat. In the largest room (open to the viewer) a lone figure sits on the edge of a bed. The back wall is a landscape with a curvy road that meanders off to the vanishing point. Twin silhouettes of pie-holding grandmas lean out of the pair of windows that are the cat’s eyes. The lonely figure’s breath becomes a plume of smoke that rises from the chimney. The smoke plume, however, is also the cat’s tail, which holds a gigantic hammer.

Franklin Ackerly, working partially in collage, partially in paint and partially in drawing has created eye-catching compositions that have a hand-made, home-spun feel to them. “We dress them in the presumptions of the world” features a picture of a woman with a 60s hair style that is done in olive green paint. Rows of comas are laid over the surface. The woman’s neck is a photograph (from a magazine) of a group of old men in a field. The overall effect is striking but the elements seems as if they came together by mere chance.

Spencer Ebbinga’s detailed, ceramic turtles are involved with tall, narrow house forms that give them a flavor similar to that of Mangan’s strange barns. Also working in ceramic (as well as paint, paper and rope) is Nicholas Nyland whose enigmatic “Dog Love” is a colorful affair that dances on the edge of representation.

Sculptural works in non-traditional materials abound. There are, for example, a set of large spiky balls made of “repurposed” books by Holly Senn. Marc Dombrosky, meanwhile, takes found, cardboard signs and uses black thread to recreate the original, hastily hand-lettered messages in embroidery. One will never view either hand-written, cardboard signs or examples of embroidery the same way after having encountered the juxtaposition of such meticulous needle work and surfaces that were meant to be disposable.

This year’s winner of the Foundation of Art Award, Lisa Kinoshita, is represented by three necklaces that seem custom made for a proud, neo-barbarian or a modern stone age cave goddess. One of these features no fewer than five shiny water buffalo horns that hang from a heavy silver chain. Every other horn is capped with an oval of silver.

It is reassuring to see that Tacoma is able to support a stock of artistic talent. The current show runs through Oct. 2. An opening reception is scheduled for Sept. 2. For further information visit www.pugetsound.edu/kittredge or call (253) 879-3701.

Contact the writer at dave@tacomaweekly.com