NORWAY – Artwork by two longtime friends and neighbors will be featured in a Commons Arts Collective show.

The public is invited to attend an opening reception of South Paris-based artists Sarah Shepley and Katey Branch on Friday, Oct. 1, from 7 to 9 p.m. with performances by the artists at 8.

Each artist has a distinctive style, but both explore the unconscious aspects of relationships and invite viewers to look beyond the surface.

Shepley is pursuing a masters degree in theology from the Bangor Theological Seminary and working to develop an arts ministry practice, teaching people the value of art as healing. Branch is a multimedia healing artist who uses art, poetry, dance and theater.

A Massachusetts native, Shepley earned a B.F.A. in ceramics from the Portland School of Art in 1985.

Since then, while earning her living as a jewelry-maker, she has made prints, paintings and collages, and developed memory books incorporating all these media. While imparting the craft of bookmaking, she helps others to integrate into book form images, memories, stories and prayers through self-exploration.

She is collaborating with Karen Montanaro on a memory book to celebrate the life of Tony Montanaro, the South Paris-based artist and mime who died in 2002. The upcoming Commons show will include this memory book, collograph prints, encaustic paintings and hung constructions by Sarah. Many of these works are connected to the experience of motherhood.

Branch had a solo exhibit at the Commons in 2001. She works as a massage therapist and facilitates “Powerful Play” workshops for adults and theater workshops for teens about prescription drug abuse (through Project Aware). She also teaches contact improvisational dance and has taught theater in the summer Look program. For this show, she has created fired clay sculptures of winged torsos, plaster-impregnated gauze sculpture and transparencies incorporating poems and photographs.

The two artists will discuss their work at a Conversation with the Artists from 7 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 3.

The Fare Share Commons is at 447 Main St. and open 3 to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. It is also accessible daily through the Fare Share Market.