The Twin Cities’ best-kept secret just might be the quarterly artist receptions at the Hewing Hotel in Minneapolis’ North Loop. In collaboration with the Hewing, and in keeping with the hotel’s “woods and water” theme, Kolman & Pryor Gallery selects a local artist whose work exhibits a variation on that subject matter.

Over a beverage purchased at the cash bar, and with complimentary charcuterie platters satiating the need for a quick bite, visitors snack and chat with the artist before setting out on a guided tour of the artworks throughout the hotel. Previous artist receptions have included couples on a first date, work colleagues catching up, and art aficionados taking a first look at a new artist they might want to collect.

Although best known for her fabric sculptures, costumes, creative millinery, and ceramics, Candy Kuehn has recently been experimenting with iPhone photography and apps. The results are fantastical images that blend the realistic and the abstract to create magical landscapes of color, movement, and mystery. Lush and lyrical, the vivid work takes digital imagery into an inventive new realm.

“My pictures are about joy,” Kuehn says, “and we all need joy, color, light, depth, and fun in our lives.”

“Candy’s work takes the woods and water theme and gives it a twist,” says Anita Sue Kolman, co-owner of Kolman & Pryor Gallery, and curator of the Hewing exhibitions. “Her colors are bright, bold, upbeat, and riotous, and she uses them in unexpected ways. Her work is perfect for the Hewing, and for new visitors to our art receptions at the Hewing, because they are a perfect complement to the hotel’s lively scene.”