Artist forum and reception at the Museum of Art is Sept. 30 The North Dakota Museum of Art will hold a forum on painting with the artists of the current exhibition, Paint Local on Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. The exhibit features the work of local painters Pirjo Berg, Zhimin Guan, Lori Esposito, Dyan Rey, Adam Kemp, and Mike Marth. The exhibition continues through Oct. 11. Pirjo Berg was born in Helsinki in 1964. She studied Regional Planning at the University of Tampere, Finland, before moving to the United States in 1991. In Seattle she concentrated on art, mainly on drawing and painting, but also studied art philosophy and art history. According to Berg, “In my work, I combine painting and collage to create compositions that are built on repetition. I enjoy exploring the contrasts between the collage and painted surfaces, and how the space becomes the surface and how the surface becomes a space. I transform the shapes of the materials by cutting them into stripes and lines, and then rearrange and organize them on the canvas. I let the layers of collage blend together with the paint.” Born in 1976 in Thousand Oaks California, Lori Esposito has lived and studied in a variety of regions of the U.S. Through the invention of her own unique drawing and painting practice Esposito has created "senses of place" infused with plants, geologic forms and atmospheric realms. Dyan Rey has exhibited her artwork both locally and nationally for over 25 years. Her work has been seen in 17 solo shows and in over 50 group exhibitions. Her works are in many private and public collections, including Microsoft Corporation, SAFECO Insurance Company, Tacoma Art Museum, City of Seattle, and the Washington State Arts Collection. Gallery affiliation has included the Greg Kucera Gallery in Seattle and the Albert Merola Gallery in Provincetown. Adam Kemp is a most prolific and talented artist whose work is found in homes and businesses throughout the region. He has shown at the North Dakota Museum of Art, the Plains Museum, and at various galleries. Kemp was born in 1962 and grew up forty miles northeast of London in the Essex countryside. He graduated from Newcastle upon Tyne with a B.F.A. and earned an M.F.A. degree from UND. Kemp continues to teach popular sessions in the Museum’s Summer Art Camp and to run the You Are Here gallery in downtown Grand Forks, with co-owner Mary Weaver. But most importantly, Kemp has made art a living presence in everyday life in Grand Forks. He was awarded Grand Fork’s First Annual Artist of the Year award in 2006. Mike Marth was born in 1962 in St. Paul, Minn.. He received an MFA in painting from Southern Illinois State University in 1991. Marth currently lives in Moorhead, MN where he maintains his studio. Over the years he has taught in the design department of North Dakota State University. He also worked as curator at the Donaldson Hotel in Fargo during the first years of its reincarnation in the 21st century. Zhimin Guan was born in China in 1962. He started to paint when he was nine years old, influenced by his father, a traditional Chinese calligrapher and ink painter. Zhimin received rigorous training in calligraphy and ink painting before he was fifteen years old. During his B.F.A. studies at Fuyang Teachers College in China, he concentrated on oil painting and again received rigorous training in drawing and painting in the Western classical style. From 1985 to 1994, he taught painting, drawing, and design at Dalian Institute of Industrial Design in Dalian, China. Besides teaching, Guan devoted himself to his art practice. Since 1998, he has been a professor of art and design at Minnesota State University, Moorhead. The Museum hours are weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends, 1 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Museum Shop is open during these hours. There is no general admission for viewing exhibitions, visiting the Museum Shop or the Museum Café. -- Brian Lofthus, Assistant to the Director, North Dakota Museum of Art, blofthus@ndmoa.com, 777-4195