The Columbia Museum of Art offers a rare opportunity to experience the exhibition Animal Instinct: Paintings by Shelley Reed with Reed herself on Sunday, August 10, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The Boston-based artist gives a tour through the galleries to discuss the inspiration and the compelling process behind her paintings. Following is a champagne toast and a reception with hors d'oeuvres and a beer and wine cash bar to share thoughts with Reed and fellow museum-goers.

Reed’s fascination with works by the Old Masters has led her to conceive a modern take on those allegorical pieces by creating large-scale paintings full of intricate details and rendered completely in black and white. Reed not only makes Old Master paintings feel contemporary by making them large and dismissing color, but she focuses on the contrasting mixture of wildness, as represented by tigers, lions, birds, and other animals, with high culture. She is fascinated with how human beings tend to understand the world in terms of themselves, yet wild animals have their own natures. She explores this complexity in both complicated narratives and simple animal portraits.

Reed is represented by Danese/Corey and the Sears-Peyton Gallery, both in New York. She has had solo shows in New York, Toronto, and Boston and has participated in many group shows around the country. The CMA is the first museum to present a career retrospective.

Tour and reception 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Cash bar. $35 / $20 for members.

For more information, visit columbiamuseum.org