ASTORIA — Winnifred Byrne Luminari Arts presents the work Astoria artist Chris Bryant in “Holiday Bizarre and Images de Plume,” with an opening reception featuring live music during the Astoria Second Saturday Art Walk from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13 at the gallery, located at 1133 Commercial St.

Bryant’s “Images de Plume” or “Images of the Pen” are inspired by regional icons, strangers sitting on benches, and posing nudes. Some of the featured drawings were done while traveling in Turkey and Greece, listening to local musicians, and participating with the Astoria “Draw” group at a variety of nearby locations.

Bryant is intrigued by artistic challenges: She says the ease of toting a pen and pad of paper facilitates the spontaneous creation of her drawings, but at the same time there is a risk, as pen cannot be erased. To make things more difficult, “I’ll sometimes draw without looking at the paper, just keeping my eyes on the subject,” she says.

The artist compares her pen-and-ink line drawings to working in a perfume distillery: “I endeavor to capture the essence of the person through what seems like a simple contour drawing.” At a recent Fort George Brewery Sunday night music event, band members came over to Bryant’s table and were amazed at how she’d captured the spirit of each one of them. “It is such a gratifying feeling when people recognize themselves in my work!” she says.

Bryant is passionate about her mixed-media art, from the initial collecting to the assemblage of unusual found objects. In the Winnifred Byrne Luminari Arts “Holiday Bizarre” exhibit, one can identify vintage spice cans, discarded zippers, seed pods, metal tips from bolo ties, old maps, chopsticks, shells, and clock parts, among other things.

“One of the most interesting assemblage ingredients was discovered washed up on a remote Columbia River beach south of Rosburg, Washington,” Bryant says. “It was a rusty metal disk with beautiful color and texture. Was it from the Japanese tsunami, from a sunken ship, or…?”

Finding a rusty bottle cap in a parking lot, Bryant might combine it with a porcelain doll head, some game pieces, electrodes, broken pencils and wire. “It’s a lot of fun going to garage sales, vintage shops, and thrift shops looking for ingredients for these assemblages,” she says. “At the time, of course, I have no clue about what they’ll be used for!”

Gallery patrons know Bryant well for her plein air paintings and scenic photography; the current exhibit will run through early January.

Also at Winnifred Byrne Luminari Arts, Paula Kenworthy shares her “Crown Jewels Series,” inspired by the ornate jeweled Russian headpieces at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. She uses recycled jewelry, scraps of fabric, and other re-purposed elements to represent, honor and celebrate various women and places in a modern version of “crowns.”

Local Nancy Karacand presents new jewelry in “Crafted Jasper,” featuring intricate bead work and pieces of jasper. And Geezer Creak’s Bob Lennon and Dale Clark will perform live music.