Do you have an artist in your family? Or maybe you are the artist in your family’s current generation, and have a distant relative who has influenced you, down through the ages?

“If so, you’ll love the July show at Orcas Senior Center, ‘Celebrating Our Artistic Heritage,’” said Sue Lamb, chair of the senior center’s Visual Arts Committee.

Island residents have submitted works in varied media done by their relatives. A reception will be held Friday, July 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Orcas Senior Center.

On the poster for the exhibit is a copy of a print that now hangs in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.  It is by Jeannine Lehmann Rodenberger’s great grandfather, Carl Peter Lehmann (1794-l876). A print by him also is hanging in the show.  His son Emil, also an artist, emigrated to the U.S.

“In putting together the exhibit, we discovered that each relative had fabulous stories about ‘their’ artist,” Lamb said.

For instance, Susan Mustard lent a portrait that her father, Jack Mustard, drew of her mother when both were students at Kansas State University during World War II.  Another artist, Vargas, had chosen Jean Mustard as one of the four most beautiful women on the college scene that year.

These and many more pieces are hanging in the show, which will be up until Aug. 5.