The Tamaqua Community Arts Center will have a gallery opening and meet and greet with artist Kat Collins on Aug. 4 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Collins, of Allentown, is an abstract expressionist artist who expresses herself through shape, color and layers to create space and break the rules. In her work, she conveys emotional states and an openness to the process through gesture and action.

Working primarily in acrylic paint with palette knives on canvas, her works combines moody, vivid colors and thick textures. Her inspiration comes from places she has been and the emotional feelings associated with memories of those places.

It is Collins’ hope that her work will inspire viewers to have an emotional experience, without interpretation or justification, and discover their own truth and their own memories in relation to the art.

Her work has been part of multiple juried exhibitions including Ronald K. DeLong Gallery, Cedar Crest College, Mansfield Art Gallery, Schnormeier Gallery and Bethlehem Juried Art Exhibition.

She was raised in New Jersey and earned a degree in fine arts from Mount Vernon Nazarene University. She enjoys visiting Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and the Maine coast, both of which influence her paintings.