A new exhibit opens at the Austin Area Art Center next week.

Art center member Shelley Aquino-Brandon presents “A Journey in Pastel and Watercolor” Wednesday through Sunday, June 27. The AAAC will host an artist’s reception in her honor on Sunday, June 6 from 1 to 4 p.m.

The exhibit showcases works in pastel and watercolor on traditional watercolor papers as well as on yupo paper. Much of the art stems from a trip Aquino-Brandon taken to Sicily and Southern Italy in 2007.

Aquino-Brandon has been twice accepted into the Southeastern Pastel Society’s International Exhibit in Atlanta, Ga., where she has received honorable mention. The 2009 National Exhibit in Chicago accepted one of Aquino-Brandon’s pastels as well.

exhibit by Shelley Aquino-Brandon

When: Wednesday, May 26 through Sunday, June 27

Where: Austin Area Art Center,

Oak Park Mall, 1301 18th Ave. NW

Art center hours: Wednesday-Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.

She has since joined the Minneapolis based Lake Country Pastel Society and received her second honorable mention through an exhibit in Elk River, Minn.

The art center is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

For more information, call the art center at 433-8451, or e-mail aaacoil@smig.net.