When I first heard the theme of this show was to be the house and home I had nightmares of being forced to stare at walls covered with cutsey pink cottages by the sea.

Well, fortunately there's not much evidence of that genre here and, like the Centre's last exhibition, Body and Soul, there's plenty of variety in terms of subject matter, medium and style.

One wall is dominated by several largish oil paintings by Otto Trott, Marie Evers Smith and Appollonia Wittich.

Now I'm a great fan of Mr. Trott's painting, but his two submissions here are not the best examples of his work. Although the genre is typical, Building a House and Putting on the Roof are less controlled than his better work. They do however have a wonderful warmth and busy-ness about them.

Summer in the Catskills by Apollonia Wittich set a cooler, more tranquil scene that also showed a good handling of paint.

Marie Evers Smith likes to use huge slabs of paint and rough brush strokes and The White House is again typical of her style -- a very simple composition blocked in with plenty of warm colour.

My one reservation is that she tends to haphazardly use streaks of primary colour that just don't belong where she puts them -- as though she puts on a blindfold before diving into the pallette.

Nevertheless the result is something that is eye catching and pleasing to the eye.

By contrast R A R Joe Smith's Carter House is a beautifully delicate pen and ink study of a Bermudian home which is skilfully rendered. Mr. Smith is obviously a very talented draughtsman.

June Christie developed the theme of the home in Safe Corner , a watercolour of a cat perched on a window ledge.

Unfortunately kitty looked physically deformed -- as if someone had given it a good throttling in order to keep it still while the artist set to work -- but it also seemed extremely content dozing in the sun and the texture of fur was skilfully handled.

Donegal Cottage by Vaughan Evans was a big blustery watercolour which captured the essence of the Irish coast magnificently. In contrast Amy Evans' watercolour Saved, Flatts Inlet , while skilfully painted, just didn't look like Flatts to me for some reason.

Now I hate to go on about prices and I know one can't really put a value on a piece of art but nevertheless there are a couple of real sinners in this show.

Bruce Stuart's Windows is a colourful montage of -- you've guessed it -- windows, painted in acrylic on masonite.

Bruce is a professional artist who needs to earn a crust and nobody should have to starve in a garret for the sake of their art.

He may argue that you would be buying into some kind of concept for your $4,500 but, even though you can appreciate a certain amount of technical skill in the work, that price tag seems a bit steep.

Similarly The House , at $1,500, seems a bit over the top for something that looks like a baby's mobile.

A couple of other artists were also putting their work in the four figure price bracket and, while it's a free world it does irritate, particularly when others are willing to sell their work for little more than the cost of a Friday night out on Front Street.

Vaughan Evans' House of Assembly is a wonderful cartoon that, at just $85 will no doubt be snapped up instantly while Helen Daniels' papier mache models such as Fishies in a Dishie are highly decorative, original and great fun -- and a bargain at $155.

Despite the gripes this is generally a good show, full of variety and with plenty of work that is above average standard, well put together by curator Julie Hastings-Smith.

If you have a chance in the next month do go along.

Gareth Finighan ART REVIEW REV ARTIST ART