“Bugs, Butterflies, and Transformations,” through June 27, Rotunda Gallery, Town Hall, Bethlehem, showcases paintings and prints by regionally-recognized artist Lynn N. Gano.

Gano’s works are inspired by nature, literature and music. According to the artist, the insects, combined with other visual elements, “represent the transformation of the human conditions we have within ourselves or what we observe in others.

“I’m dedicating this show to my mother,” says Gano.

“I painted this after my mother passed away,” Gano says of “Manifestations of Life” (2021; oil on canvas, 45 in. x 23 in.).

“It’s a tribute to her,” she added. Her mother, A. Carlynne Gano, admired the stained glass window behind the altar at St. Peter’s Basilica while visiting Gano in Italy. The purple hues reflect her late mother’s favorite color.

A dove inside a circle is featured in the stained glass artwork. Instead, Gano says, “I used the butterfly because butterflies are a theme in my work for ‘Transformations.’” In the center circle of her painting is an Androcles butterfly.

“If you know the story about ‘Androcles and the Lion,’ he took the thorn out of the lion’s paw and it was forever grateful,” says Gano. “So, this is how I feel about my mother. My mother would always take the thorn out of my paw and I’m forever grateful.”

The circle represents the Circle of Life and eternity. While brighter colors at the center are more vivid, they become more subdued toward the painting’s edges. “We still retain our beauty even though, as we get older we gray,” Gano says. Gano began working on it when her mother died in 2017.

A grasshopper and praying mantis are among the other “bugs” artfully depicted in flight in Gano’s aquatint etchings.

Gano received a BFA from Temple University Tyler School of Art, studying her junior year at Temple’s Rome, Italy, campus. She is Director of Creative Services at Alvernia University, Reading. She previously worked for Rodale Press.

Gano, an Easton native, graduated from St. Francis Academy for Girls, Bethlehem, and studied commercial art at Northampton Community College. She has been painting since age 9. She works out of her home studio in West Brunswick Township.

Gano’s work has been shown in Pennsylvania art galleries, including the Miller Gallery, Alvernia University, as well as The Pelham Art Center, New Rochelle, N.Y., and The Bradley International Print and Drawing Exhibition, Peoria, Ill.

The Rotunda exhibition is sponsored by the Bethlehem Fine Arts Commission.

“Bugs, Butterflies, and Transformations,” through June 27, Rotunda Gallery, Town Hall, 10 E. Church St., Bethlehem. Gallery hours: 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday - Friday, Closed weekends and holidays. Information: https://bfac-lv.org/rotunda-gallery

“Gallery View” is a column about artists, exhibitions and galleries. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com