In an installation designed to be as controversial as its "Shoe Bush" one earlier this month, the MAda Shell Gallery invited locals to draw on famous and anonymous art pieces Friday night.

"The idea was to take the art object and give an opportunity for the viewer to actually penetrate the art object," said Amy Godard, who owns the plaza gallery with her partner, City Councilor Eric Navickas. "The viewer can come in and alter the art."

Although both Navickas and Godard said they believed the installation was just as controversial as their first — where people threw paint covered shoes at an image of President Bush — most visitors said they thought the gallery's second installation would generate less fervor in the community.

"I'm sure someone's going to find it just as controversial, but I don't think it is," said Carrie Hart, a co-owner of the Hong Kong Bar above the gallery. "I think it's just fun and imaginative. It's fun for the whole family."

Hart brought her 6-year-old daughter, Bella, to the exhibit.

"We're coloring on pictures that have already been colored on," Bella said, as she drew two girls dancing on a print of Claude Monet's "Jerusalem Artichoke Flowers."

"These paintings are really pretty and you get to add on to them so it's cool," she said.

Navickas, however, spoke sarcastically about the quality of the artwork — mostly landscapes, still lifes and portraits — on display at the gallery Friday.

"We spent a long time searching out some of the premier artworks in the Northwest," he said. "We were inspired by the other galleries in Ashland. We're working to build bridges with local gallery owners by showing work of a similar caliber."

The name of the installation, "Social Climbing Primatives," relied on Godard and Navickas' interpretation of the art on display.

"We feel that the nature of artwork presented here is very primitive and through social interaction we hope to bring it to a higher level of critical art," Navickas said.

The couple held the event on what they're calling "Last Friday," because of "the harsh reaction from the (Ashland) Gallery Association from our opening show and the use of First Friday," Navickas said.

In a Jan. 8 Tidings story, Suzanne Heinrich, administrator for the association, said some association members were concerned that people might think they were somehow involved in the "Shoe Bush" exhibit, since the association manages the First Friday gatherings, which feature special art events.

"We feel like this (the First Friday Artwalk) is our event, and when other galleries take part without being part of the Gallery Association, it's fine. But what we don't want is that activity to be attributed to the official First Friday," she said.

The association could not be reached for comment Friday evening.

Despite the controversy, Godard and Navickas hope the MAda Shell Gallery will become a member of the association as soon as they are in a position to pay the $300 per year member fee, Godard said.

"I think we're showing quality work with critical content and I think the misunderstanding comes about because the kind of work that we show isn't necessarily represented in other galleries here," she said.

Staff writer Hannah Guzik can be reached at 482-3456 ext. 226 or hguzik@dailytidings.com.