Artwork formed by geology, human hands displayed

The word "artwork" normally does not conjure up images of rocks and fossils, but one of Bloomington's galleries does exactly that: it transforms rocks, crystals and fossils into marketable works of art.\nLorraine Merriman Farrell, the owner of Fossil Rain Gallery and designer of its artwork has done exactly that. She combines natural geologic wonders with human craft to form artwork.\n"I combined my fine arts education from IU and my interest and love for nature in my works," Farrell said.\nAn interest in fossils and minerals has long been part of Farrell's life, so long that she cannot assign a definite beginning to that interest.\n"I've always had an interest (in geology) as far as my memory goes back," she said.\nHer life-long interest became marketable in 2000 with the debut of Fossil Rain Gallery. She had been in a partnership in the same location for three years, but the partnership was amicably dissolved when the other member decided to go into teaching. The gallery has been under Farrell's sole direction ever since and has also been one of the charter galleries of the Bloomington Area Arts Council's Gallery Walk.\nThe gallery features all sorts of art forms, including jewelry, painting, print, photography, sculpture, ceramics and textile.\n"We deal with a lot of two-dimensional media," Farrell said.\nThe medium that the gallery focuses most upon, though, is handcrafted jewelry.\n"We display handcrafted jewelry year-round," Farrell said.\nNot all of the jewelry is Farrell's own work, though. Many jewelry artists' work is displayed on consignment. The jewelry artists use Fossil Rain as a venue to showcase and sell their work and get an opportunity to bring public attention to their work.\nFarrell is also focused on bringing public attention to Fossil Rain Gallery. She donates merchandise to non-profit organizations to raise money for various causes.\n"It's a win-win situation because the causes get the proceeds from my jewelry and Fossil Rain's name is made known to the community," Farrell said.\nFarrell also said that her gallery contributes to keeping downtown Bloomington vital and interesting.\n"It really is a one-of-a-kind gallery," she said. "It isn't a chain or franchise, but an artisan owned-and-driven gallery."\nFossil Rain gallery is located at 115 N. College Ave., suite 114 and is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.\nFor more information, call 339-3061