The James S. Murray Gallery is featuring the exhibit “In This Place” by local artist Will Redwood through July 26. The public is invited to attend a reception with the artist today, July 18, from noon to 1 p.m.

Through painting, “In This Place” captures the mood of personally meaningful places of being. “We each inhabit our own inner world of contemplation. In this place … we each take part in shaping what will be. We each have our own places of being,” explains Redwood. “These places are the subject of these paintings.”

The symbolism in his paintings conveys paradoxes experienced in life — loss and gain, joy and pain, growth and decay. “When I finish, the painting remains like a passage to that place of being,” says Redwood. “As we are each on a journey of our own, we are all together, and our experiences are often similar.”

The exhibit is open for viewing Mondays through Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Redwood is a painter and vector illustrator as well as the author of two independent storybooks. For six years, he also taught art for the Boys and Girls Club of Springfield. Redwood earned a degree in drawing and graphic design from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2003. Since then, he has continued to make and show art at various galleries, events and retail spaces.