Cheryl Paswater – Vencino’s Café – Dec. 24, 2003 – 2 stars

It's said that the sincerest form of flattery is to copy. In art, there is a certain creative validity to this visual mimicry. Creative growth happens when techniques and manners of expression are tinkered with and taken through a certain trial and error. A truly unique personal vision or style eventually can be discerned, though usually not overnight, from this exercise and consequent artistic experiments. This is being an artist. Not every piece created, or presented to the public, need be the end-all of an artist's creative boundary. Nine acrylic pieces clipped with clothes pins on a string at a mere $35 each, two framed pieces and four canvases by Paswater hang beautifully at Vencino's - only they too closely resemble the context-heavy work of fellow Harrison Center for the Arts mate Artur Silva. Visually they are quite appealing: abstracts with caked layers of dribbles and drippy swaths of color. Occasionally there is a seemingly meaningless word, more a compositional element than symbol, added. Influence and admiration of another's work could be a plausible, valid and a natural piece of an artist's journey; with some journeys more obvious than others. Through December, 2003; 317-634-1995. – Mary Lee Pappas