Near the wall that is the Franklin Art Gallery, at the back of Ben Franklin Crafts in Rochester, there’s a children’s easel with crayons and newsprint.

It wasn’t long ago that Durham artist Zach Derr, whose work is on display at the gallery through September, was just another student doodling in a class. In fact, the 17-year-old returned to Oyster River High School for his senior year last week.

His first art show, “Machine Art: the Illusion of Soul in the Heart of Automation,” formally opens with a reception on Sunday, Sept. 7 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Some of Derr’s drawings look like the overwhelmingly complicated span of controls and gauges in the cockpit of a jet, but each is a machine itself. The machines all transport some sort of matter: liquid through glass tubes in the first series of 11 drawings and gas through pipes in the second series.

A selection from both is on display, and Derr has already begun a third series. The first series is hung horizontally, and the second is hung vertically. All are the same size and are on sale for $95 each.

For the third series, Derr said he considered solids as the next type of matter to move around, but that would involve a change to cranes and conveyor belts. He decided on plasma, the fourth and perhaps most obscure type of matter, and has chosen to illustrate this through computer generated images called fractal flames. It’s possible to imagine gears turning in his complex mind as he explains this.

The machines, however, are not designed to look functionally accurate or realistic, but rather to convey emotions. These feelings for the most part remain invisible to the unbiased onlooker. The titles sometimes help, such as “Catharsis,” one of his most striking drawings, and “Harbinger,” which is the last piece in the first series and sets expectations for the next.   

The purpose of the machines could be described as vessels to transport color. Derr draws the black outlines of each machine by hand, spending two to four hours. He then scans the line drawings and digitally colors them in layers, usually taking even more time. “The color really instills a concept of soul and life. It’s a drawing. A drawing has no soul. It’s the color that brings it life,” he said.

This gives insight to the title of his show, which alludes to both the mechanical way he gives life to the drawings and to the fact that each is an image of a machine. It’s about technique and technology.

“Catharsis” is bright yellowish green and full of energy, and “Facular” is red and fiery, having been named after a large hot spot on the sun. The backgrounds or matter in the drawings sometimes look airbrushed or tie-dyed, and a blurring technique Derr applies to the black lines sometimes makes them appear spray-painted. The printing process gives them a comic book quality, in the best way. There’s a real maturity in Derr’s color coordination, and this has been complemented by the matting he selected with gallery manager Ross Bachelder.

Bachelder organized the show after watching Derr’s skills develop over the years as his parents came to the store to have his work framed. He said he is a supporter of showing art in unlikely places, like a retail store, and also of finding creativity in unlikely places. He considers Derr an “early savant” and said, “I would never put a 17 year old in my gallery if I didn’t think he was something special.”

Derr said his interest in technology from an aesthetic point of view started early, when he collected parts from the dump in a bucket. He is now considering a career in video game animation.

“Machine Art” by Zach Derr will be on display through Sept. 30 at the Franklin Gallery, 60 Wakefield St., 603-332-2227, Rochester.