LEWISTON — Jennifer L. Gammon is the featured artist for the month of July at Wicked Illustrations Studio and Gallery, 140 Canal St. 

For the pieces in this show Gammon  has followed the theme of “deconstructed vanitas.” A vanitas painting is categorized by the use of symbolic objects to convey the sense that life is short, that beauty is fleeting and that death finds all things. Vanitas are generally noted as morbid still life paintings that were popular in the 16th- and 17th-century Netherlands. Many of these themes run through Gammon’s work. The show includes works in oil-on-canvas with great texture as well as pieces done with conte’ on an acrylic background she creates with a palette knife on paper, which makes a layered space for the subject to float on.

Haystack Mountain School of Arts as well as her high school art teacher inspired Gammon to pursue a creative career. She earned a bachelors degree in fine arts from the University of Southern Maine. Her home and studio have been located in Lewiston for the last 18 years.