The City Hall Gallery presents the beautiful and unique works by Olympia-based artist Shelley Carr.

The gallery, at 25 W. Main St., is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. It is free and open to all.

Carr’s works will be on display through April 20.

In the vibrant arts community of Olympia, Carr has enjoyed more than 40 years creating, teaching and supporting the arts. Over the past several years, her favorite material to work with has become copper.

“Sometimes, certain mediums just speak to an artist. Copper has chattered at me since my undergraduate days working with this lively metal in both jewelry design and printmaking at Washington State University,” she said.

While taking a “metal arts” class at a local community college several years ago, where the primary focus was the art of welding, she connected with copper once more.

“In 2005, I retired from salaried work enabling me to devote my time and passion to unsalaried work – art,” Carr said. “My medium currently is copper –etched and completed as single presentations or designed as copper quilts.”

This reflective work is based on photographic studies of patterns of favorite places, modes of travel, and the glorious patterns of nature. The interesting textures result from the “etch” and the variations in color, “patinas” are created with the application of heat.

Now showing in galleries as well as in public collections in the Pacific Northwest, purchased and commissioned work is also in private collections up and down the West Coast, from Washington to California, throughout the country.

In 2011, Carr was selected as one of four local artists whose work is on permanent display in Olympia’s New City Hall, at 601 Fourth Ave., between Cherry and Chestnut Streets. Fifty-six artists submitted work for consideration. Shelley’s two pieces selected by the jury, “Essence of Olympia”, are each 30 x 40.

“For me, Olympia is a community, which feeds the creative spirit,” she said.