The city of Santa Clarita has announced a new art exhibition, “Wonders That Surround Us,” will be on view now through March 17 at the Canyon Country Community Center.

Artist Tim Forcum’s work is an ongoing investigation into the ability of abstract painting to create a personal pictorial language.

Forcum released the following artist’s statement:

“With suggestions of landscape or figuration, there is created a tension between spontaneity and calculation, gesture, and rendering. In response to the memory of external nature there is the constant attempt to find a place between pure expressive forms and the experience of nature internalized. In conversation with the attempts to depict our world, I reference early sources of abstraction and enhance these references with personal associations of the same wonders that still surround us.”

Q&A with Tim Forcum

How do you usually start your pieces?

“It is a very free and open process. Relying on a spontaneous approach and simply responding to the empty space of a canvas or paper. I am constantly looking at information, be it landscape or figure, day to day, or on a hike in the local area. All of these things go into the imagery that I’m creating in a piece.”

What memorable responses have you had to your artwork?

“I have been fortunate to get a lot of great responses to my work over the years. From commissions for pieces, like the Beverly Hills Hotel, to work that is in Jarkarta, Indonesia.”

What is the best piece of advice that you have received as an artist?

“Just keep working.”

How do you know when your artwork is finished?

“That is a constant question for abstract art, but even though it isn’t representational, you recognize when the work is finished, it makes sense to you on a gut level, the color is right, the value is right, the balance keeps the work active. When they all come together, you feel it and that’s when it’s finished.”

Do you have a favorite piece you have created?

“I have several. A few that I have hung on to, and several that are in private collections. Currently, my favorite piece is in this exhibit, ‘The Approach’.”

Do you have any tips for artists starting out?

“The best advice that I can give to artists just starting out is to focus on what is important to them as an individual. Not what you think will make a good art piece but what you want to do. Stay true to yourself and make work that works first for you, and the rest will follow. Not everyone is going to respond to your work but that doesn’t matter. You will find your audience.”

What inspired this particular exhibit?

“The surrounding hills and valleys, and my interaction with these spaces.”

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

“All of it.”

Canyon Country Community Center,

18410 Sierra Highway,

Santa Clarita, CA 91351

For more information about public and performance art in Santa Clarita visit SantaClaritaArts.com.