(Journey to Coso by Randal Leigh)

Art in the Atrium, Franklin Crossing, First Friday, January 4, 5-8pm, exhibits Randal Leigh’s Parietal Art and Petroglyph Suite. The exhibit continues through January 27.

In the current artwork on display at Franklin Crossing, Randal Leigh depicts “ancient art of distant millennia” and his respect for those artists whose creations date back to the dawn of artistic expression. He notes his intrigue with “our ancient artistic predecessors who stood in reverent, silent, creative solitude through distant millennia to portray the life and soul of that era with elegant and evocative depictions.”

In his current Parietal Art and Petroglyph Suite the artist shares his appreciation of “nature’s geological artistry and man’s earliest connection with his own imagination and creative impulse.” In his intricate artwork, Leigh pays tribute to the primordial designs of bulls, shamans, early Native American imagery and others of unknown origin.

At Franklin Crossing, the artist exhibits Journey to Coso inspired by one of the images found on The Coso Range, a 90 square-mile area in eastern California, with rock art petroglyphs and carvings. Also exhibited is Buckhorn Mystic inspired by images on the 23 mile wall of Buckhorn Wash in Green River, Utah, one of several canyons and gorges boasting a gallery of prehistoric wall art.

Leigh, a Central Oregon resident, honed his innate artistic ability with some 40 years of work in Los Angeles. He created backdrops, sets and props for live audiences and film productions such as Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and many others, winning two Emmy Awards in the process.

Billye Turner, art consultant, curates the Franklin Crossing displays with info at billyeturner@bendnet.com or 503-780-2828.