The artwork of Jennifer Bruton Sims is on display through Sept. 12 at the Capital Arts Alliance in the Houchens Gallery in Bowling Green.

Sims, who lives in Cave City and teaches art at Munfordville Elementary to students in grades K-8, has been an artist for 15 years.

She works primarily with acrylics and uses mediums to build up surface textures.

“In my artwork I try to create personal spaces of sanctuary through the use of color and texture. I work abstractly to take the viewer away from representational reality that they face on a daily basis,” she said. “Hopefully, the viewer is transcended into a space that is peaceful and comforting which comes from the heart and soul of the artist.”

Sims said she wants the viewer to understand that they can like a work of art because they like the composition without trying to figure out what the artist meant by painting the picture.

She says her artwork has always shown abstraction with an emphasis on color and texture.

Sims does an exhibit like the one at the Houchens Gallery once every three to four years.

“I haven’t tried to work on getting exhibits outside of Kentucky or push my artwork prior to a few years ago because I was working on my national board certification in Early Childhood through Early Adolescence Art,” she said. “I received that honor in the fall of 2006. Since then, I have been trying to refocus on getting new galleries outside of Kentucky to show my work and develop a Web site.”

Paintings from her series titled “Cedar Sink,” are on display at the Houchens Gallery. Those paintings relate to the landscapes of Mammoth Cave National Park.

“I feel that nature creates a personal space of peace and tranquility. In these landscapes, the colors transcend to create a spiritual space much like the space created from the stained glass windows in a cathedral,” she said.

Her “House Plant” series, evolved into the “Lifescape” series several years ago when she began to look at the structure of her houseplants and how they grow with nurturing. They, too, are also part of the current exhibit.

Sims has been revisiting her work that deals primarily with color and texture in the “Lifescape” series.

“Once again I am dealing with human relationships and how people come together and then how, over time, people drift apart. This is a series that deals with the pain and joy that life brings and how each experience gives us another layer to our complex lives.”

Her “Reflection” series began with the creation of symbolic images that relate to her and to society.

“I wanted to take simple images that could translate situations that many people face daily, but in a non-threatening manner,” she said.