WESTMINSTER, MD.- The Carroll Arts Center presents the exhibit On the Lighter Side: Art That Makes Us Smile through August 5. The Tevis Gallery welcomes summer with a gallery full of magic and whimsy. Ronald Markman from Annapolis takes Dick Tracey, Li’l Abner and Krazy Kat and adds in his own multi-layered sense of design and humor to create uniquely inspired visions. E-bay purchases find their way into Elizabeth Morisette’s tongue in cheek wall hangings like Easter Parade, brimming with bright plastic Easter Eggs, and Sticky Basket, constructed from a gathering of beverage stirrers. Morisette hails from Greenbelt. The pen and ink and mixed media creations of Westminster’s James Hanessian and his wife Debbie, approach the exhibit a bit more traditionally with their carefully articulated pen and ink comic drawings.

Three Baltimore ceramic artists add a quirky tough to the exhibit. The comical sculptural forms by Cat Audette and Rich Holt, aka Clay Monster combine with Genna Gurvich delights viewers with whimsical ceramic tea pots. Amy E. Connor, from Myersville uses a mix of media to create slightly twisted versions of fairytales such as “The Frog Prince.” The fanciful dolls by Rebecca Grimes, a talented artist and long time friend of the Arts Council, who passed away in February 2005 after an 11 year battle with cancer, will add to the magic and humor. These 3-D characters delighted viewers at Art in the Park and the Members’ Exhibit. Her work reminds us that, after all, “Laughter is the best medicine.”