Architect As Artist
Warren
Pollock and Jeffrey Hummel
First in a
Series
November 2 –
25, 2018
Reception
with the Artists:
First Friday
Artwalk, November 2nd, 6-8 pm
IMAGES SHOWN IN MONTAGE ABOVE, LEFT TO RIGHT:
Warren Pollock, 14’ 8” Bridge.
Indian Ink and Prismacolor, D’Arches paper
Jeffrey Hummel, Bali Door
I. Photograph
About the Show:
Architect
as Artist: Warren Pollock and Jeffrey Hummel
First in a Series
It has been said that art and architecture are closely
connected. Indeed, the Victorian art critic, John Ruskin, wrote, “No person who
is not a great sculptor or painter can be an architect. If he is not a sculptor
or painter, he can only be a builder.”
Certainly,
artistic skills enhance architectural results.
At the most fundamental level, the visualization of the “work” - drawing,
painting, photography, sculpture or structure - begins in the brain and is made
visual through tools of the trade:
pens,
brushes, ink, paint, camera,
stone and chisels. Modern
technology, with its computers, CNC machines, 3D Printers, and a host of other
developments, provides unique opportunities for both architect and artist to
explore new dimensions of art.
Indeed,
those “architect/artist brains,” with their bent toward exploring both space
and form, are able to let their imaginations soar!
In a series of shows the Gallery seeks to explore the
creative opportunities provided by the mix of art and architecture. In this first show, two Northwest
practitioners - both Bainbridge Island residents - illustrate the synergies of
art and architecture and provide some insight into how it works. Warren
Pollock has recently retired after some 33 years of designing and building
residential, commercial and art related structures in the United States and
around the world. Jeffery Hummel, whose architectural firm is located in Seattle, is
involved in residential, commercial, retail, and development projects in the
Northwest and Hawaii.
Art has been an integral part of each architect’s life. They both note that they started early. Pollock reports that he sketched and drew
from an early age and learned perspective drawing when he was seven. The sketches he has placed in this show
illustrate the “pull of the pen,” to draw your eye, and your mind, to that yet
unseen point just around the bend. Hummel
too reports a long love of art, as well as architecture. An award winning photographer, his work focuses
on the essential elements of larger structures, their pattern, texture and
rhythm, and the play of light upon those elements. Additionally, both artists have worked with
wood for many years and have created several furniture pieces for this
show.
We are
pleased to welcome them to The Island Gallery.
About the Artists:
Warren Pollock (Bainbridge Island): Warren was born in Vancouver, Washington in
1945, earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of
Washington in 1968, and after apprenticeships in Seattle and Denver, became a
licensed Architect in 1972.
Warren
learned perspective drawing when he was seven years old. He has been sketching and drawing his whole
life and has used pen and paper to develop and communicate design ideas
throughout his professional career.
Warren was
the Managing Principal of a successful architectural practice, Warren Pollock
and Associates Architects, for 28 years.
His work included custom houses, multi-family units, office buildings
and mixed-use development projects. From 2004-2009 he was the Principal and
Commercial Mixed-Use Team Design Leader for MulvannyG2 Architecture in Bellevue,
which undertook housing projects in the United States and China and affordable
housing in Seattle. From 2012-2016, he
was the Founder and Managing Partner of Metrica Architects, an international
design firm with offices in Seattle and Bogota, Colombia. Projects included an
international airport in Western Australia and a museum and center for the arts
in Bogota. He has also traveled to Milan
for the Salone International Furniture Show and Design Week for the last seven
years. He retired from his architectural
practice and moved from Seattle to Bainbridge Island in 2017 and has been
drawing and building furniture at BARN (Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network).
Awards include AIA
Citation for Retail Design, Builders of Our Community Environmental Award, AIA
Home of the Month seven times, and MAME Silver Award for Market Excellence. He
has also served as an Expert Witness for arbitrations and trials.
Jeffrey
Hummel (Bainbridge Island): Jeff
lives on Bainbridge Island with his wife, two boys and assorted animals. He has a Bachelor of Architecture from
Washington State University and has been an architect for 34-plus years, a
photographer nearly as long and a woodworker even longer. He has won several awards for his
photography, particularly his black and white images, and shows on both
Bainbridge Island and in Seattle.
Jeff owns and operates Hummel Architects, p.c., in Seattle
and does residential, multi-family, commercial, retail and development projects
in Washington, Hawaii and Oregon. His
other company, Toad Holler Woodworks on Bainbridge Island, produces live-edge
one-of-a-kind wood and mixed media wood and metal furniture. His pieces are sold through The Island
Gallery on Bainbridge Island or by commission.
For this show, Architect
as Artist, Jeff is showing both photography and furniture. The series of photographs reflects Jeff’s
background in architecture and design.
The series of furniture pieces is a departure from much of the work Jeff
has done previously. In his own words,
on these two genres:
Photography. The abstract compositions
reduce the subjects to their essential elements, emphasizing the structure,
pattern, texture or rhythm of the objects in the built environment and the play
of light upon that structural order. The Doors (Bali) speak to me of the same
elements as above (structure, pattern, texture or rhythm), but as portals to
another place, have the added mystery of what lies beyond.
Furniture. Rather than fussy hard lines,
these are raw materials of rusted metal, railroad spikes (legs) and cut tree
branches and speak of the rural nature of where these pieces started. The patterns of the corrugated metal and the
circles play off one another as an extension of the other.
LINKS (to
artist bios, images):
Visit for images, biographical or other artist
information. Alternately, please contact
the Gallery for required information.
Web Site Artists’ Page (roster of Gallery artists,
bios and more images):
http://www.theislandgallery.net/artists.php
To Contact the Gallery:
ssn@theislandgallery.net
CURRENT ONLINE
ONLY EXHIBITION
About The Island Gallery
beautiful Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from Seattle, and steps
from the new Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.
In 2017 we celebrated 15 years of collaboration with unique and
talented artists from near and far.
Event Location/Contacts/Visit:
The Island Gallery, 400 Winslow Way
E, #120, Bainbridge Island, Washington.
Underground
parking is available at The Winslow off Ericksen Avenue.
Web site: www.theislandgallery.net
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