The Village Gallery of Local Artists invites art lovers and collectors to savor the work of fiber artist and abstract realist Florence Johns Vezie, as its Featured Artist for October 2026, with a reception on Friday, October 2nd, from 5 to 8 p.m. Guests can meet Vezie and speak to her about her intricate process. Light refreshments will be served.

Vezie’s delightful sculptures appear to jump off the canvas with striking color, texture, and imagination. Her use of bright metallic paints emphasizes light and illuminates the depth of her work. Mostly favoring landscapes, she freely explores other subjects such as florals, butterfly abstracts, and even dancers.

Working mostly with tissue and other forms of paper, Vezie softens her materials before molding, shaping, and applying them to canvas with acrylic medium. Sometimes, she adheres various fabrics, finishes, and molding materials to her canvases as well. She does not want to limit her options for materials. Vezie created a whole piece incorporating repurposed shredded yarn from a boa, and another utilized upcycled cotton from an old vitamin bottle. “I want to leave myself open for experimentation.”

“The work is dimensional, because it comes up from the canvas.” In the final step of her process, Vezie goes back with a very fine brush and touches the top of each wrinkle with a contrasting paint color. “They pop up with color and texture. That’s the signature of my work,” she explains.

Each dimension conveys something distinct. “If people will take the time to look at a piece and study it, there’s more than one story. There’s the background story with the sky and then there are stories with mountains and shrubbery and sand.”

An artist colleague provided the term that immediately resonated with her. “Abstract realism – my landscapes aren’t totally real, but they are abstract and they are real.”

Vezie moved to Sedona from Miami in 1989, building her dream home in the Village of Oak Creek. Around 1995, her church fellowship utilized her as a leader to incorporate art into the worship service, setting up an easel with a large canvas right next to the praise team. Soon, she began hosting a monthly church event in which artists created together as worship. “Art is my language with the divine and it is my greatest joy.”

Her earlier work included sewn and wearable art, which led to re-working the scrap materials ultimately incorporated into the fabric-on-canvas collection of her 2011 debut at the Village Gallery. “When I make artwork from fabric, I make use of the color, print, and texture of the fabric.” Like her work with paper, these segments of fabric are dimensionally shaped and adhered with acrylic medium.

Join us for an exciting evening celebrating the work of Florence Johns Vezie, from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, October 2nd. The Village Gallery is located at 6512 State Route 179, in the Village of Oak Creek, and is always accepting applications for unique art and new membership in our cooperative style gallery. For more information, go to sedonalocalartists.com or phone (928) 284-1416.