Lifelong Artist's Works Come to NoHo Senior Arts Colony

The new NoHo Senior Arts Colony is currently showcasing a mini-retrospective of renowned artist Alice Asmar, whose lengthy career has covered many styles and subject matters in her works.

Her paintings on display in the building's lobby date back to the early 1970s, when she was fixated on drawing giant mushrooms.

She says the resembled something out of a fantasy and a few of her works blend the fungus with everyday items like clocks and even some Hopi Indian jewelry.

"We always have a combination of what's going on in our thoughts...I have those things always in my work," she said.

Paintings range in materials from ink drawings like in Mushroom and Indian Jewelry to bright casein paintings such as Summer Sunflowers.

Asmar, who resides in Burbank, says her love for painting dates back to her youth when, at the age of 10, she was asked to design a stained glass window for a church.

Since then she's garnered recognition from around the globe and even has a few pieces at the Smithsonian.

From mushrooms she later progressed to focusing more on Native American themes, like the painting of the ceremonial Zuni Shalak Dancers.

The most recent painting in the mini-retrospective is called Calico, which is a portrait of Asmar's cat.

Her mini-retrospective will be on display through May 5. Anyone who wants to see the gallery must buzz in via the intercom at the entrance.