Two widely known local artists join with a watercolorist from northeast Georgia to present an art exhibit in Jekyll Island's Goodyear Gallery called "Separate Paths - Common Ground." The show runs through July 31.

The show is free to the public and features the paintings of Leigh Ellis, the pottery of Cary Knapp and the pottery and sculpture of Barry Knapp. Goodyear Cottage, which is on Riverview Drive in the Jekyll Historic District. Goodyear is open daily from noon-4 p.m. on weekdays and from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on weekends. Ellis, who holds a master's degree in biology and began her art career 13 years ago in biological illustration, now makes her home in Arnoldsville, a few miles east of Athens.

She has studied painting and design at the University of Hawaii and Montana State University and participated in Smithsonian Institution workshops. She has taught watercolor and botanical illustration classes at local art centers in Montana and Oregon and in Winder, a short drive from her home studio, which she calls "Studio in the Wood."

Her works have been exhibited in juried and private shows from Hawaii to Georgia. Ellis also has illustrated five books for Menasha Ridge Press and teaches watercolor classes.

From biologist to illustrator, Ellis combines her lifelong fascination and love of the natural world with a strong sense of color and design. "I paint," she says, "because it keeps me observing and it gives me permission to let my imagination roam. I paint what brings me joy, touches my day and makes me think."

Many Brunswick-area residents are familiar with the works of the Knapps. Cary Knapp, the adult services librarian for the Brunswick-Glynn County Library, leads two lives. One is providing books written by others to her library clients. The other is art she creates herself.

She was born in Lubbock, Texas, but grew up in Westfield, N.J. She has a bachelor's in art from Kent State University in Ohio, a master's of bilingual education from the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico, and a master's of library science from Indiana University. Cary has worked in libraries for many years. She started as a staff artist in the Carlsbad (Calif.) City Library and went on to become a Navy librarian in Keflavik, Iceland, and an Air Force librarian in Lakenheath, England.

She enjoys pen and ink and colored-pencil drawing, but for the past few years she has been a decorative painter working primarily on wooden bowls, frames and furniture.

Her husband, Barry, grew up in the rural Midwest with dreams of becoming a farmer. His plans changed when he discovered a love of art at Purdue University. He was graduated from there with a degree in art education, a field in which he has worked for over 30 years. He has taught school in Indiana and California, and worked for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools teaching young Americans living in Iceland, England, Cuba and Germany.

He teaches part-time at Job Corps in Brunswick, and spends the rest of the time creating at his "Whole Gamut Studio." His craft runs the gamut from cartooning, pottery, glass blowing, photography and sculpture to painting and drawing. Several of his creations have won awards in art festivals in the Southeast and his pottery is in homes throughout the world.