As the weather warms and flowers bloom announcing the arrival of spring, the Quinlan Visual Arts Center is joining the visual cues.

Quinlan’s Spring Exhibition will open with a reception from 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, April 16, at 514 Green St. NW in Gainesville. Admission is free.

The featured artists are the Southeastern Pastel Society as well as solo artists Gregory Johnson, Susan Blackmon, Grant Searcey and Thad Green.

The Southeastern Pastel Society, established in 1987 as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting pastel painting in the Southeast, has more than 250 members from all across the United States and throughout the world. Its artwork will be in the Mansfield Gallery.

Gregory Johnson’s work is titled “Spring Reflections,” and his contemporary set of works is built on the concepts of traditional works. His sculpture will be featured in the Mansfield Gallery.

Susan Blackmon describes her work as “Light, Color, Line.” Her paintings are characterized as strongly contemplative, even whimsical and imbue an intriguing sense of immediacy, some more rhythmic or abstracted than others. They will be on display in the Jack and Sandra Bailey gallery.

Grant Searcey’s work is titled “Riders on the Storm: Where Light and Dark Collide.” The Dahlonega-based fine art painter and professional illustrator overall inspiration comes from a variety of sources.

Thad Green, who started drawing only 13 years ago, will feature his “Abstracts in Harmony” artwork in the Green Street gallery.

Since his transition into a professional artist, Green has trained fulltime and completed more than 8,300 pieces of art work, focusing first on the face and figure, and moving to contemporary and abstract art.

Admission to the reception and arts center is free.

For more information, call 770-536-2575 or visit www.quinlanartscenter.org.