A friendship of 20 years, like the one Dorothy Grebos and Janet Lindsay share, can bare many fruits.

For these artists, friendship has born artistic inspiration, inspiration the duo will share with the public tomorrow and Sunday at the Art Alliance Center, 818 Pike St. in Lemont.

The exhibit, fittingly titled Coordinates, is unique because Grebos and Lindsay created their pieces with knowledge of each other in mind.

"Coordination started in the conception stage, which is unusual," said director of the Art Alliance Connie McGeorge. "I'm excited about it."

For Grebos and Lindsay, collaborating seemed like a natural step.

"Our work is very similar. For an artist, your whole life experience affects your work, and we've both grown together on parallel lines. We're on the same track a lot of the time," said Grebos of her colleague and friend, Lindsay.

Lindsay echoed her partner's reflections. "We work well together because our palettes are similar. The colors we choose compliment each other."

Grebos, a multi-talented artist who paints and sculpts, calls herself a musician. She recently retired from teaching piano locally and now devotes the majority of her time to creating abstract works of art. Her mission, she said, begins with "spontaneous brush strokes, establishing rhythm and movement, and improvisation in color and light."

Coordinates will showcase her acrylic work, striking combinations that convey intensity of emotion, some on stark backgrounds of black and white, and each with crisp edges.

"We aren't into ugly art. Art should be uplifting and inspiring," said Grebos.

Indeed, a sense of beauty seems to emanate from Grebos' pieces, which Lindsay used to design her own Batik wall hangings.

"Batik is hot wax painted on fabric. Like silk, wax is a resistant," Lindsay said of her medium.

Her wall hangings take several days to construct. The colors of the hangings are created from the dyes in the fabric or in the wax itself. For Coordinates, she specifically chose the colors she would use from those in Grebos' paintings.

The exhibit, Lindsay hopes, will give viewers a better idea of how colors can blend.