October 2015 Gallery Picks Newsletter

Yes, we're back!

Following a little summer hiatus we are happy to be laboring under a veritable backlog of beauty, as you will see by scrolling downwards.  This post will feature several more items than actually appear on our card, so continue on for October Surprises, particularly in Jewelry and Textiles.

And of course, our artists have outdone themselves, as always.

We have also just posted some important and exciting news pertaining to the online shop, so please see the post prior to this one for all that information.

Please enjoy!

FINE WOOD FURNITURE
& VISUAL ART

Sycamore Bench; with A Particular Green Hillside, Mark Bowles

A combination too seductive to ignore, this lovely Northwest artisan-crafted

sycamore bench looks right at home beneath one of Mark Bowles'

glowing acrylics.  Once we noted the two together,
we couldn't feature one without the other!

From locally salvaged wood, the artist has carefully combined

raw nature with clean lines for a contemporary look that

is highly sought after these days.   The jaunty yet rustic bowtie join,

quite literally, ties it all together.

Here's a closer look at those lovely, undulating edges:

Sycamore Bench, close-up showing live edge

For more information on Mark whose work, so reminiscent of abundant

Central California landscapes, we so greatly admire,

click here to go to his online Gallery shop page.

from ICE 2.  Irene Yesley

The subject of our current Gallery Exhibition Patterns in Plexi, Irene Yesley has

presented us with more of her incomparable artistry.  The range of

techniques and styles, including her use of monotype and paper with layers of plexiglas,

is most impressive; we highly recommend a visit to the Gallery
to view these new works by a truly special Bainbridge Island artist.

Irene is also featured in an exhibit that has just opened at the

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, Thought Patterns,
550 Winslow Way E, Bainbridge Island, Washington.

For further information about Irene, please view the previous post on this blog,
which discusses more about the artist, her work and recent/current shows;

or click here to visit her pages in our online shop.

TEXTILES

Ponchette, Purple.  Bobbie Sumberg

What a lovely way to ward off the cold of winter!

These fine knitted wool and silk "Ponchettes", with

snappy tassels and casual styling, are just the ticket.

Just toss over your head, and off you go.  They are soft and stylish,

easy to dress up (for example, with the shown orange silk batik

and bead necklace from Red Lotus, or one of Carter Smith's fabulous

little shibori silk scarves) or keep casual, over a shirt and jeans.

They are also available in other colors.

We welcome Bobbie as one of the Gallery's newest artists.

Here's a little something about her:

Bobbie Sumberg began knitting at seven years old and has been involved

with textiles ever since.  After a five-year stint raising sheep,

spinning, dying, and weaving, she returned to school and received

an M.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1993 and a Ph.D in 2001.

Research for both these degrees in textile studies was conducted in

West Africa.  She has also done research and traveled in India, North Africa,

Turkey, and the Middle East and held the position of Curator of Textiles

and Costume, as well as Curator of African Art, at the Museum of International

Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico for fourteen years.

She has authored Young Brides, Old Treasures:  Macedonian Embroidered

Dress, Textiles:  Museum of International Folk Art Collection as well as

co-authoring the book Sleeping Around:  The Bed from Antiquity to Now and

has published articles on her research and on collections at the Museum.

Please check Bobbie's page in the online shop here

for further information or to see other available colors of

these delectably cozy capes.

Peplum Jacket and Pleat Skirt.  Carol Lee Shanks

We love Carol Lee Shanks' work, as you may have noticed

if you follow this blog.  And why not?  Her styles are always

eye-catching and avant-garde, yet she is able to add a

functionality to each piece that allows them to take you from

daily wear to high fashion with a tweak here or an accessory there.

Brilliant!

This ensemble, for example, is breathtaking.  We don't like

exaggeration, but this really is something to behold:  In dramatic tones of autumn

browns with a metallic gleam and red/orange undertones, the fabric is crisp and
holds its pleats.  With a pair of walking boots and your favorite friend,
this amazing outfit would take you directly to the opera.

So dramatic, and typical of Carol's work, more of which may
be viewed right here.

Jacket, Midnight Blue.  Spirithouse

Oh, boy.  This one is fun.

From our wonderful Spirithouse line and its creator, Katrin Noon,

comes this new addition to the Gallery, a terrific zip-front jacket

with collar that can flip up or lie flat, and can easily convert to

double duty as a top over leggings or pants.

It shows as very dramatic when zipped all the way up, which gives

it a high-collared, faux-turtleneck look; then add a scarf or necklace.

But we particularly love the styling on the back, with its

gentle pleating - such a pretty additional touch by a skillful

artist/designer. Visit more of her work here.

Silk Shibori Scarf, multicolored.  Carter Smith

Not to repeat ourselves, but we must:  if you follow this

blog at all, you know we LOVE the shibori genius of Carter Smith.

And we are happy to announce that we have another selection of

his small and medium scarves available once again in the online shop here,

most of which qualify for free shipping.  For an even greater selection,

please call the Gallery or just wander in when you're on the island; there are

always a few pieces that don't make it onto the website.

For more information on this great Shibori Master, see one of the many

other posts here on the blog where he is featured, or visit his

page (right here) in the Gallery's online shop.  While you're there, do

take a gander at the magnificent clothing this incredible designer creates,

more of which are available in the Gallery.

Nacho Poncho "Fire".  Amy Brill

Another artist we can't get enough of!

Our latest shipment of Amy Brill's fabulous knitted tops, sweaters and ponchos

has just arrived in the Gallery, and we're working like mad to get them up

in the webshop.  These are so interesting, stylish, wearable, fun,
fit a wide range of body shapes and sizes, and really look good on everyone.

They are also wonderfully priced, so think GIFTS!

One of these would make a beautiful and functional present for a

special someone.

(Oh, dear, and look at the date - almost time for holiday shopping!

Sorry to bring that up, but... YIKES...)

For a fun and colorful visual feast, check out all our available
pieces from Amy right here.

GLASS ART

Regular Tumblers: Topaz, Teal, Lime.  Ken and Ingrid Hanson

What were we just saying about gift giving... oh, YES, that's right.

Time to start thinking.

Well, think no more:  We'll make this easy.

For gifting to your favorite glass lovers or simply as lovely accents

on your own Thanksgiving table, these handblown tumblers

will bring together that festive look we all shoot for at this time of year.

And these colors - the amber, teal and apple green are at the

very heart of an autumn color palette.

They are available in a range of colors, such as lime, salmon, aqua, topaz,

purple, orange, green, cobalt, yellow and ruby.  Please give the Gallery a call if

you don't see the color you need online here; if we're out of stock in particular

colors we can special order for you, but please check early for the holidays.

For more information about these excellent artists
click here to visit their pages in the online shop.

CERAMICS

"Naked" Raku Pot.  Mark Ferris

The Gallery welcomes local ceramic artist Mark Ferris and his
pottery, known for beautiful form and wonderful markings, in this case
created from horsehair.  The artist refers to his technique
as "naked" raku, so-called because the clay is unglazed.

Here are a few of the artist's own words about his craft:

I have been working with clay for about 10 years. My passion is exploring the

earthier, natural look of the pottery tradition. Each unique pot is hand-thrown

in symmetrical forms, generally trending toward the pottery and style of the

American Southwest. My current focus has been exploring the smoke firing

technique called Naked Raku.

Currently, I have been working with smoke or carbon firing. This technique

challenges me to explore the depths of this complex medium. My goal is

to create one of kind pieces that challenges the medium’s depths but also

my creative energy.

You can visit Mark's page in the online shop here.

JEWELRY

Kunzite Necklace.  Virginia Paquette

My, my, my.

Virginia outdoes herself every time, something we have come to expect,

long for and admire, but this stone - Gorgeous!

The large focal stone is an extraordinary piece of pink kunzite.  At first

glance the pink is bashful and elusive, but when the right light catches it a pinky-rainbow

of subtle color presents itself.  Virginia has paired it with a milky, glowing old

African trading bead and bulky chain, and frankly, all we can say is

whether you wear it with an evening gown or a potato sack,
no one will notice the difference.

(Officially, however, we do NOT endorse the wearing
of potato sacks.)

Multi Charm Necklace.  Virginia Paquette

This one has also just arrived - a familiar style of

Virginia's in recent years - and features a number of little treasures,

including pearl, silver, mother of pearl, lodalite and labradorite (drool).

(This looks great with the Carol Lee Shanks metallic swirl

autumn brown ensemble, by the way.)

More of Virginia's incredible jewelry appears here.

Well, that should do it for right now.  We'll be back in November with many more suggestions for holiday gift giving and wearing or, of course, simply wonderful items for you and you alone.

If you'd like to have our Newsletter Alert card mailed directly to your inbox please send a note to us at sr [at] theislandgallery [dot] net, and we'll put you on our mailing list.  This will also assure that you receive first notice of exhibitions, sales and concerts, as well as our other occasional features.  (Don't worry, we only do mailings about twice a month, so we won't stuff your inbox.)

Have a ghastly Halloween, enjoy the lovely cool of autumn, and we'll be back before Thanksgiving!

You're Invited: First Friday, March 7, 2014

We have a really wonderful exhibition coming up in March, featuring some of the finest works of art from five local and regional artists in different mediums.  Here's the info, along with their fascinating bios:

Western Landscapes

Mark Bowles

William Thompson

Jen Till

Theodore Waddell

Irene Yesley

 March 7 – April 27, 2014

Opening Reception:

First Friday, March 7th, 6-8 pm

Presenting the works of local and regional artists depicting views of the changing
seasons and moods of the Plains, the Palouse of Eastern Washington,
the Pacific Northwest, and color-drenched central California.
Their styles span from representational to minimalist and abstract
in mediums of oil, acrylics, and fine art photography.

About the Artists:

The Calm of a Day.  Mark Bowles

Acrylic on canvas

40" x 40"

Mark Bowles was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and has painted all his life. His passion for interpreting what he saw brought him to study at the California College of Arts & Crafts and then at the Institudio Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  His work is shown extensively throughout the West, with two US Embassy exhibitions in Kathmandu, 2010 and Mexico City, 2009.  His work is represented in numerous private collections and publically in the Denver Art Museum, Tucson Museum of Art and Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California.

Some words from Mark:

Whether I am working with a still life, the human figure, or landscape, I am always fascinated by texture, form and color which I use in expressing how I feel about what I am seeing. I do not limit myself in what I paint or how I might interpret what I see. This freedom allows my work to move from representational to minimalist to abstraction. My work is ever changing, ever challenging and always a passionate delight. It is always my intention to address the canvas directly, honestly, and boldly. My heart is always pushing my work to find new language in expressing what I see and how I feel about it. The result therefore is not just an intellectual exercise for me, it is being involved in the “Now”……….always open for change and challenge ……..always evolving.

Exploring color, composition, the quality and attitude of a line, as well as various materials will always fascinate and be tools for me. It is my goal to draw the viewer into my space and let them become involved in their own personal journey and discovery of the work. The ultimate reward for me is to communicate something new to the viewer even if for just a moment in time.

Painting is my commitment, my passion and my fulfillment.

Commentary from Scott Shields, Ph.D., Chief Curator, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California:

Bowles’s paintings are subjective, reductively simple, and filled with blazing light and color—a harmonious balance between the landscape he knows well and his passion for abstraction and the physical act of painting… [His] landscapes are individual statements that have emerged with individuality from a rich tradition of California landscape painting… Mark Bowles is not a plein-air painter although he finds time in the field crucial to his artistic sensibility. Mark prefers the solitude of the studio to address painting infrastructure and color interplay which eventually find placement in a finished work. Whereas many practicing Northern California landscape painters find richness with riparian settings or city-scapes, Bowles primarily features the broad plains of the Central Valley as his favored subject matter. Often, distinctive landmarks are visible in a setting that is on the verge of abstraction.

Sunset Ride.  William Thompson
Fine art photography
44" x 44"

For as long as Poulsbo-based artist William Thompson can remember he has had an insatiable quest for adventure and the exploration of cultures around the world. He trained as a cultural anthropologist (ultimately earning a PhD); he then delved into fine art painting, working on an MFA, but then “magic” happened.  He discovered that the camera was the direct pathway to his eyes, heart and brain… his true creative “paintbrush’.

For 12 years Thompson had the good fortune to photograph for the National Geographic on assignment around the world. With his anthropologically defined mindset he saw things in terms of the essential truth of his subject’s lives — that gleam of light in the heart of darkness. His visual travels took him into many exciting and often unexplored corners of a very large world.

While with National Geographic, Thompson made the first and, to date, only complete aerial imagery of Mt. Everest. This imagery of the ‘top of the world’ was created over many months destined for the lead story in the 100 year anniversary issue of the magazine.

Other NGS adventures include trekking across Bhutan by yak train, exploring its people and geography; he defined the life of the Kathmandu Valley for the NGS in another major magazine story. Thompson traveled extensively though Africa for over a year (and Asia for another year) following the elephants of the world on their tragic path toward extinction - almost becoming extinct himself after contracting cerebral malaria in the Central African Republic.

The last 20 years of Thompson’s professional career has been defined by commercial image making—directing film and still photography for premier global corporations. His iconic images are well recognized in marketing campaigns for clients including Wells Fargo, Marlboro, Boeing, United Airlines, Intel, and Holland America to name a few.

However, in recent years Thompson decided to make a critical shift in the application of his creativity. He redirected his high-level professional film and still competence towards short and long form films that contribute to the world. He notes, “My goal is simply that my imagery should enlighten, create ideas, define passions, allow discovery, and above all, make a ‘difference that makes a difference’.”

In this light, Thompson recently completed three short films. The first is a film to help get women off the streets of Seattle and transition into a more normal life; the second film is a dialog about the tragedy of stillborn children, and the third a perspective of the unique and positive relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and art therapy.

In other venues, Thompson recently taught a University Course entitled Visual Anthropology for Quest University Canada in a remote region of India. Upon returning home he enjoyed a very successful gallery exhibit in Jackson Hole of his Everest aerial imagery as well as teaching two seminars on “the art of seeing”. Today, Thompson’s creative endeavors include two books: the first is a compilation of his Mount Everest aerials and another about the Kathmandu Valley - Kathmandu, The Way It Was.   He is also presently invested in two film projects, one on Elephants of the World and the other, an Imax project, about the American icon – the cowboy.

Returning.  Jen Till

Oil on canvas

48" x 48"

Bainbridge Island artist Jen Till spent her childhood years in a seaside village, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, along the New England coast.  Surrounded by the seasons during her formative years led Jen to look to nature as the basis of all her work as a painter today.

Her love of painting began at a young age.  Jen's childhood experience in her New England surroundings was filled with the richness of colorful, sweeping fall, quiet, bleak winter, spring's lush bloom, and summer with its green warmth. Inspired by her many creative family members, she was fortunate to be entirely embraced in her budding love of art throughout childhood.  Jen went on to the Rhode Island School of Design where she studied Painting and Textiles.  After graduating, Jen moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico where she began to explore painting the vast landscape and light of the Southwest.

Eventually making her way to the West Coast, Jen now lives, paints, teaches and works as a freelance textile designer on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

I am inspired by the many ways light casts itself on our earth. Moments in my life when I behold such beauty inspires me to create its memory in my work. Nature provides me with a foundation upon which I can build paintings to express a wide range of feeling.

The process I use is meditation with my brush in hand. This enables my creative energy to flow, uninterrupted and fueled by intuition. By creating layers with glazes I try to explore the inherent aspects of paint itself while keeping my mind focused on a feeling and place. 

My painting experience grounds me and reminds me to be aware of the presence of spirit in all of life's moments.

I search for this essence and mystery as I dwell on a place filled with light. My hope is to engage the viewer and to share the mystery and calm I so cherish. My work reminds me that by painting the experience of the material world around me I can move toward the intangible, ethereal mystery of life.

Camus Prairie Reds Dr. #4.  Theodore Waddell
Oil, encaustic & graphite on paper
30" x 40"

Theodore Waddell's sophisticated modernist paintings have attracted widespread recognition. A native Montanan cattle rancher, Waddell most often paints freely-rendered range animals roaming the vast plains of Eastern Montana. In his work he draws a deliberate parallel between his subject and the elements of abstract art: cattle and horses are motifs formally arranged on the flattened and enveloping painted "ground" characteristic of modernism. Noted earlier for heavily textured surfaces, Waddell's recent paintings are more atmospheric, with translucent wax medium layers suggesting the drift of grazing animals, transitions of days, and the procession of the seasons.

Theodore Waddell was born in Billings, Montana in 1941 and raised in Laurel, Montana. He studied at the Brooklyn Museum Art School, Eastern Montana College, and Wayne State University, Detroit (MFA, 1968). Waddell taught at the University of Montana from 1968 to 1976, and has since been a full time artist and rancher. He has had over ninety one-man exhibitions, major surveys at the Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, and the Denver Art Museum.

Waddell's father, Teddy, painted boxcars for the Northern Pacific railroad. When Teddy would return home at night he relaxed with a paint-by-numbers art piece while his son watched in fascination. Young Waddell's budding interest in paint paralleled a growing interest in music. He played coronet in a high school dance band, traveling on weekends to play for dances in nearby Montana towns. His interest in music would later turn to jazz, which in turn influenced his art.

An early interest in architecture was squelched when he flunked a math test at Eastern Montana College in Billings. Instead Waddell enrolled in Isabelle Johnson's (known as Montana's first modernist painter) painting class. After a few days with her, he decided painting was what he wanted to do the rest of his life. Johnson's work, steeped in the nineteenth-century European traditions of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism rather than traditional Western realism that had long dominated art in the region, clearly had impact on Waddell's style of painting. Waddell studied with Johnson for two years and received his first big break with a scholarship to study at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. Homesick after a little more than a year of study, Waddell jumped on a plane home and upon arriving in Laurel, found his draft papers waiting for him. Waddell went on to spend two years in the U.S. Army, playing trumpet and touring with a big band. Returning to Billings, he finished his degree at Eastern, and then his Master's of fine arts at Wayne State University in Detroit.

In 1968 Waddell joined the University of Montana art faculty, teaching sculpture and design. For eight years he lived in Arlee, teaching at the University and creating many minimalist-influenced, polished steel sculptures that can still be viewed in many towns and cities across the state. "When we were living in the mountains, making sculpture made sense and it fit within the context of the narrow mountain valleys," Waddell says.

In 1976 Waddell left UM and took a job as a manager for a large ranch north of Laurel owned by relatives of his wife Betty. "On the prairie, where you can see for 150 miles in any direction, sculpture made no sense to me," he said, "I couldn't afford to make sculpture on the scale necessary for it to make sense so I went back to drawing and painting, drawing first, and then, after feeling the need for a scale change, painting our black cows." For years, Waddell ranched and painted, rarely showing any of his work.

In 1982 Waddell did exhibit a group of his paintings of cattle and landscapes in the sales arena at the Billings livestock auction yard. Soon after, a curator from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., came to town looking for artists to include in a painting biennial, the Second Western State Exhibition. Waddell's paintings were among those chosen for the biennial and ended up being singled out in reviews by the Washington Post and The New York Times. They were also the subject of a Newsweek article; thus his career was launched. The exhibit traveled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among other venues, and Waddell signed on with noted galleries in San Francisco and Reno, Nevada. Contracts soon followed with galleries in Chicago, Santa Fe, Seattle, and Scottsdale, Arizona.

His work can be found in the permanent collections of many worldwide embassies, museums, universities, and corporations (Apple Computer, Marriott, Nordstrom, and United Airlines, to name a few), as well as in numerous personal collections, including those of such notables as Robert Redford and Ringo Starr.

Waddell left the ranching life in 1995, moving to the Gallatin Valley east of Bozeman. He now divides his time between homes in Sheridan, Wyoming and Hailey, Idaho, where his wife, Lynn Campion, a writer and photographer, teaches at the Sun Valley Art Center.

Some thoughts on his work:

The heart and hand needed to create a strong American painting is not limited to those living east of the Mississippi. It is a product of endless work, self-evaluation, and the courage to allow one's paintings to evolve. It demands the marriage of the artist's lifestyle and his work. Theodore Waddell exemplifies this definition. His enthusiasm and lifestyle are reflected in the way he works and the imagery he uses.

 

Waddell's paintings are a combination of rough marks; thick paint; transparent elegant strokes; and, on a few occasions a slow, hard line scratched into the canvas. You can feel the movement of the paint throughout the paintings but the subjects are frozen. They are not frozen as a stagnant object but captured as a solitary image. Captured, interpreted and enveloped in the landscape. They are carved out of, or laid onto the green and grey-yellow of the spring and summer, or the white canopy of winter. And sometimes there are ghosts in the paintings, the faint image of what has changed in the piece or decays in the pasture. These ghosts refer to Waddell's interest in life and death and our own mortality. They are metaphors for the struggle and change that is constant in life. In his artist's statement he says, "The understanding of death brings about a feeling of wonderfulness and appreciation of life and just how fragile and magical it all is."

 

Whether Waddell is studying the changing seasons, animals as individuals, or the later figures, one can see his magic in his reverence for nature and celebration of paint. He is a painter's painter: strong hearted, sure handed and high spirited.

Therefore, if I must categorize Waddell, he will live in the ranks of American painters and not be limited to the confines of the western artist.

 ~ Jennifer Complo McNutt 
Curator of Contemporary Art, 
Eiteljorg Museum

Palouse 4.  Irene Yesley

Acrylic on Board

36" x 48"

Artist Irene Yesley of Bainbridge Island describes herself as a geometric abstract minimalist, designing flat, hard-edge patterns against a relatively flat background. Physical textures, such as brush strokes, play a minimal role to the interplay of positive and negative shapes, and the emotional impact of color.

Irene describes her journey:

I earned an MFA in printmaking from Arizona State University. After graduation, I bought two floor looms and started making rugs and tapestries. Eventually I grew frustrated with the restraints of weaving, the warp and the weft and sold my looms. Freed from fiber, I have explored pencil, pastel and oil stick on paper, done reverse painting on Plexiglas, acrylics on wooden panels, gesso board and canvas.

The outdoors is the biggest influence on my work. The first landscape I knew was Spokane, Washington, where I grew up. That was followed by the cactus of Arizona for 5 years, the urbanscapes of Boston and Washington, DC, the chaparral of Topanga Canyon, and 22 years in the desert of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  For six years until 2004, we had a condo in Kas, Turkey, on the Turquoise Coast of the Mediterranean, where I spent six months a year.

Now I live on an island across the sound from Seattle in a temperate rainforest. Without even being aware of what was happening, each new location has changed the shapes and colors in my work.

The Exhibition Opens on Friday, March 7th and runs through Sunday, April 27th.

Location:  400 Winslow Way E., #120, Bainbridge Island, Washington

For More Information contact the Gallery at 206.780.9500 or ssn@theislandgallery.net