At Abington Art Center Sculpture Park, Richard Metz's 'tree spirits'

Richard Metz apparently never met a mature tree in the forests of the northeastern United States that he didn't like. This Erdenheim artist has chosen an unusual path for a professionally trained painter. On his frequent treks through wooded areas of Southeastern Pennsylvania, he paints images of what he calls "tree spirits" at eye level on the trunks of tall trees.

Just now some embellished arboreal specimens can be discovered along the woodsy paths of Abington Art Center's Sculpture Park. Metz has painted 12 in the park; I located 10.

There's something vivid, elemental, and exuberant about these faces and figures. They are very personal statements, and they catch the "moods" of their rough-barked canvases as well. Seeing them up close makes one think about what inspired Metz to choose a particular tree.

The artist calls the tree creatures "environmentalist" works, done to express "my deep connection and admiration for our natural world." That they're meant to be part of nature, not separate, is brought out convincingly by the materials he uses. He grinds his own pigments, purchases only powdered pigments from mineral and plant sources, and uses natural media and binders such as eggs, gum, shellac, and walnut oil.

Anti-materialist and anti-consumerist, the tree creatures cannot be "owned." Metz believes too much art-making, past and present, has battled nature in order to preserve things over the long term, so "I vowed to let nature win," he says.

He gives the current tree paintings six months to a year before they fade away - though there's always a chance, he hints, that new ones may appear.

The three-person "Sculpting Nature" show at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists offers an exhibition's worth of promise and variety.

Leading off is Susan Benarcik, a sculptural installation artist who really understands her materials. While her work isn't personality-starved, its chief attraction is its buildup of surfaces, its handling of texture. What's really on view in these abstractions is the product of Benarcik's bending, pushing, breaking, and other process-oriented manipulation of natural and man-made recycled materials. Her offering evokes beauty and sensuous nature-related artistry elevated to a symbol.

Meanwhile, hard clarity and firm delineations push representation to the borderline of abstraction in John Woodin's photos of a vast acreage of nursery stock under meticulous commercial cultivation. Instead of documenting specific locations, scenes are animated by their emphasis on patterned relationships. Otherwise these photos have their own unhurried grace.

R. Noel Shaak, an illustrator and horticulturist working in a meticulous, polished style with no loose ends, captures eons of time capsulated before our eyes, yet also looks to the future. His often-bizarre, peopled landscapes are certainly beautiful viewed closely, and offer a suggestion of process.

The glossy art world is left behind in the art shows Tyme Gallery sponsors. What is continually impressive about this gallery is the purity and amplitude of the welcome mat it sets out for entry-level artists who submit their work for screening in its competitive exhibits. Interested in bringing community people and artists together, it wants to quash the assumption that art is an elitist thing.

Tyme possesses more of a community-based cultural-center aura than is typical of commercial galleries. It's overseen by Edna Davis, a former social worker who regularly displays work by more than 200 artists on three floors and holds opening receptions on second Fridays. Currently Tyme's 13th annual juried show "Inner Essence" is featuring 48 works chosen from 156 entries - a lively mix of amateur and professional efforts.