The lower level of the Cherry Hill Public Library features an art gallery. The walls are lined with works of art that are switched out on a monthly basis, each new exhibit displaying the works of a different local artist.
For the month of August, the gallery features the works of Debbie Lynch, whose works feature a heavy emphasis on nature, color and animals.
After spending five years teaching science and 17 years as an elementary art teacher, Lynch retired, now spending her time working on her art, having always wanted to have the opportunity to display her work.
“It’s always been my dream to work on my paintings and to have the opportunity to exhibit them,” Lynch said. “Yeah, so this is a lifelong dream being fulfilled.”
As a Cherry Hill library patron, Lynch would often visit the gallery, which is what gave her the idea to ask about potentially getting her own work displayed there. After asking about it and giving some examples of her work a year and a half ago, August 2025 was her month to display.
“I’ve been over the moon since,” she said.
Lynch’s artist reception at the library, titled “Exhibit Number One, My Journey’s Just Begun,” was held on Aug. 16, where she met with friends, fans and viewers.
The walls of the hallways were adorned with Lynch’s acrylic paintings, while half of the conference center was set aside to display her watercolor works, painted vases, and painted coasters.
Her style of painting – with its use of color and the way shapes and textures are utilized and painted – are reminiscent of Vincent Van Gogh and Gustav Klimt, two of her inspirations, along with Canadian artist Alex Demers, who also often features animals as her primary subjects.
“I love color … sometimes I just go off the grid and just kind of go abstract and crazy, I just love to play with color,” said Lynch.
Her paintings largely feature forests, cats, horses and sometimes fantastical elements like fairies and dragons.
“I wanted to show a variety of what I can do,” said Lynch.
Some of the pieces also feature hidden images, like “The Cat, the Moon and Friends,” which shows a cat sitting in a tree illuminated by the moon, with the shapes of several black cats hidden among the tree’s roots.
“This one sold as soon as I painted it,” said Lynch, referring to the work. “But I said, I need to hang onto it for my show.”
Cats and dogs are some of her favorite subjects. She has two black cats and a lab mix. Horses are another favorite subject of Lynch, and are featured in a number of her pieces as well.
Her watercolor works were set on a table in the conference center, with visitors sifting through the different works to look at the range of subjects Lynch took on, with some viewers purchasing pieces as well.
Besides her love of animals, her passion for gardening is also present in much of her art, with several paintings displaying a variety of plants, trees and flowers. Each of the painted vases on display had flowers painted on them.
Another piece on display was a painted stool that bore a note telling spectators to ask about the work.
While it looks like a stool now, it started its life as a plant stand in the 1960s, once having three tiers, though over time it became just a one level stool-shaped structure. Lynch inherited the stool from her mother last March.
“She used to just put her feet on it and I thought, ‘I can do something with this … ’ So I filled in the hole with a little bit of work, and I hand painted it, and now it’s a decorative footstool. It was once a 1960s plant stand, and it’s been reborn,” said Lynch.
While this was her first art display, Lynch hopes to have more in the future. She is already in talks with other local art displays and galleries.
