Special Sale: Maple Table Slabs

This almost never happens:  The wood artist who creates many of our live-edge slabs has authorized a one-time only, over 50% price reduction on two of his fabulous maple tabletops.


Live-edge Maple, 75" long x 33" wide x 2" thick


Both gorgeous pieces are currently marked down from $2,850.00 to $1,200.00.  The price is for the tabletop slab only; your choice of legs may be purchased separately.  For further information, shipping estimates or more photos, please contact the Gallery at ssn@theislandgallery.net or sr@theislandgallery.net.

Eva Funderburgh Ceramics Workshop

In honor of National Teacher Day on May 7, 2013, the Bellevue Art Museum in Bellevue, Washington is designating the weekend of May 4 and 5 Teacher Appreciation Weekend. As part of this celebration, one of our wonderful ceramic artists, Eva Funderburgh of Seattle, will offer a workshop on the making of her beasts on Saturday, May 4, 12 - 2 pm, entitled Monsters & Movement with Eva Funderburgh. If you’re a teacher and want to learn how to teach little monsters to make little monsters, you should definitely look into this.

Eva will tailor the workshop to the classroom, going over the basics of creating the beasts that inhabit her studio. If you’re familiar with her work, you know that these creatures tend to be part whimsy, a dollop of mischief, and - gasp! - occasionally a wee bit threatening!  (Why don't we let them show you themselves what we mean...)

Clockwise, from top left:  Two Birds; Monster for Todd; Water Drop; Amazement

Because the techniques Eva uses are fairly simple, the workshop should be informative and accessible to folks at all levels of clay experience. She will also cover the idea of air dry clay, which can make sculpting accessible even to educators without access to a kiln.

Teachers are invited to experience BAM for free all weekend long. Please bring school identification for free admission.  You can also go straight to their website for more information and to RSVP (www.bellevuearts.org).

Beau Metro Quartet Returns to The Island Gallery

We are delighted to announce that the chamber music group Beau Metro Quartet is returning to the Gallery with a Father's Day concert.

The Beau Metro Quartet - Stephen Bryant and Tom Dziekonski, violins; Sue Jane Bryant, viola; and Virginia Dziekonski, cello - with guest violist, Timothy Hale, will perform a concert of Viola Quintets by Brahms, Mozart, and Beethoven on Sunday June 16, 2013, at 3pm.  Seating is limited and tickets are $15.00 in advance at The Island Gallery or at the door.   Call us at 206.780.9500 or e-mail ssn@theislandgallery.net for reservations.

What a lovely way to spend Father's Day afternoon!

We'll post a reminder a little closer to the event with any further updates or information.

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May 2013 First Friday Artwalk: You're Invited!

We have an unusual schedule between now and late May:  Because the month's batik textile exhibit is "traveling" and must depart before the end of May, we have scheduled a week of early previews leading up to the First Friday Artwalk on May 3rd.  The Artists' Reception will be held on May 10th from 6-8 pm, when Agus Ismoyo and Nia Fliam will join us for the evening.  (See past postings for more information on the artists.)

For textile and batik afficionados everywhere, here's a tantalizing detail from one of the large batik art pieces in the show, Tumbuh, showing lots of lively flora and fauna in its Aboriginal symbols and earthy colors:

Tumbuh, 2009 (Detail).  Batik on Silk. 

Collaboration, Agus Ismoyo & Nia Fliam with Ernabella Arts

For First Friday, we again welcome Peter Spencer & Friends!  This month will feature fiddler Sarah Comer and appearances by three of Peter's guitar students:  JD Stahl, Natasha Stearns, and Willa Jones-Irwin.  The concert is free and will be, we have no doubt, fabulous!

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ISNIA Exhibit: About the Artists

ISNIA stands for the collaborative team of Agus Ismoyo and Nia Fliam, renowned for their intricate, nuanced and time-intensive textiles. They are widely acknowledged as the first artists in Indonesia to go beyond the boundaries of modern batik painting and extensively explore the medium of Javanese batik as contemporary textile art. Ismoyo’s ancestors produced batik for the royal court of Surakarta in Central Java; Fliam was born in the United States and studied at the Pratt Institute, New York, traveling to Indonesia in 1983 to study batik, where she has lived since. In 1985 they established the batik studio Brahma Tirta Sari (“Creativity is the source of all knowledge”) in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Semar Jalan-Jalan, 2009.  Batik on Silk

Embracing artistic traditions and philosophical ideas that span continents, Ismoyo and Fliam have conducted numerous workshops in Indonesia, Africa, the United States (including Bainbridge Island, Washington), and Australia, working in collaboration with Australian Aboriginals, Native Americans and Asian artists. Their collaborative work in Australia, Africa and Indonesia has had the sponsorship of the Ford Foundation and the American Embassy in Indonesia. One notable collaboration, with a group of Aboriginal artists from the Utopia Community in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia, began in March 1999 and continued for more than two years, producing 20 large batik art pieces subsequently exhibited around the world, including a 2005 exhibit at The Island Gallery, Bainbridge Island. This series, along with the consistent quality and scope of their entire body of work, has garnered Ismoyo and Fliam critical acclaim for successfully exploring their own creativity while pursuing a broader understanding of the value, role and meaning of tradition in the development of world culture.

Ismoyo and Nia explain:

“Our world culture is, in fact, one, and has arisen from the strength of ‘budi’ or human intelligence, and the spirit of humankind motivates this intelligence. This spirit is the oneness or unity we speak of. In any creative work, an awareness of our position within its framework is of utmost importance. With this in mind, it is our commitment in our creative work to devote ourselves to the work of the spirit in exploring aspects of the heritage of our world culture and its role in the shaping of contemporary culture. At the heart of it our ancient cultural traditions are the roadmap of the future.”

The duo has exhibited extensively in Indonesia and at many prestigious locations around the world. Most recently they were recipients of a Fulbright Scholarship, which brought them to Michigan in 2007-2008. During this time they presented “Fiber Face”, a very well-received exhibition of their works, at the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., where their work is part of the permanent collection. This exhibition has also shown at the Netzorg and Kerr Gallery, Richmond Center for the Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan, at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C., here at The Island Gallery, and at the cultural center of Taman Budaya, Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia.  Their current exhibit, Out of Southeast Asia:  Art that Sustains, opened Friday, April 12, 2013, at the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., and runs through October 13, 2013.

Their adjunct show here at the Gallery is Symbols of Nature & Man:  A Journey of 40,000 Years.  It will run May 3-24, 2013 with works available for Preview from April 26th.  The official opening is First Friday, May 3 (featuring Peter Spencer & Friends in concert; more on that shortly); the artists themselves will join us for a reception on May 10th, 6-8 pm.

ISNIA Exhibit Coming to Bainbridge Island

The Gallery is delighted to announce an upcoming exhibition of major works by world-renowned batik artists Agus Ismoyo and Nia Fliam of Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia.


Fire Flower
Batik on Silk
7' x 3'

Symbols of Nature & Man:

A Journey of 40,000 Years

May 3 - 24, 2013

Previews Begin Friday, April 26th

Artists' Reception Friday, May 10th, 6-8 pm

Currently in exhibition at the Textile Museum, Washington, D.C., these extraordinary artists will travel across the country to Bainbridge Island, with previews of their related show beginning in the Gallery on April 26th.  (The D.C. exhibit, Out of Southeast Asia: Art that Sustains, opened Friday, April 12th and runs through October 13th.)

Commentary on the exhibit from The Washington Post:

The exhibit, which opened Friday, is the final one before the Textile Museum relocates to the George Washington University campus as the cornerstone of its new museum in 2014.  It centers on Indonesia and Laos and examines how four contemporary artists draw inspiration from ancient artistic techniques in a way that also allows them to customize and reinterpret the art — and help keep it relevant.

The 42-item exhibition pairs handmade batiks and ethnic weaving, and includes 17 pieces from the museum’s collection to help demonstrate the linkages through time.

There are over 1,000 ethnic groups in Southeast Asian, and most of them have some sort of textile tradition, says exhibit curator Mattiebelle Gittinger. A woman on the north coast of Java in a dark blue sarong is in mourning. Certain motifs in blue and white are worn in another region for weddings. The textiles are “made to be specific. They have a great deal of validity,” says Gittinger. “When contemporary artists go in search of inspiration, they sense this validity and that’s what they respond to.”

The husband-and-wife team Agus Ismoyo and Nia Fliam focus primarily on Indonesian batik (a pattern created by covering parts of the cloth with removable wax to keep them from being dyed). Batik motifs are politically and spiritually powerful and the couple uses the Kawung (a cosmological symbol of overlapping circles), Parang (knife) and Tree of Life throughout the smooth commercially woven cloths that provide the foundation for their patterning. They experiment with techniques: Appliqué and layers of cloth are melded together to create the varicolored forms in the hanging piece “Extended Family”; “Trash Can of Tradition” uses Javanese puppet figures and the Kawang and Parang motifs to express fear over losing the underpinnings of Indonesian cultural history.

Excerpted from: "Textile Museum displays ethnic weaving from Southeast Asia before its move to GW campus"

Lonnae O'Neal Parker, The Washington Post, April 12, 2013

Dates for related events will be announced shortly.  Please visit this blog for all the latest information.

April 2013 Gallery Picks Newsletter

Another month, another Gallery Picks Newsletter!  Enjoy viewing these wonderful items, and don't forget to follow us or sign up as a member.  You can also receive an update directly in your inbox every time we publish the newsletter, or special notices of shows, sales and musical events, by sending an e-mail with your address to sr@theislandgallery.net.

For further information on any individual item,click on the link in its title to visit our web shop for a close-up look.

Enjoy!




 Walnut Table

Dimensions: 106” l x 21” t x 19” w (at widest point)

Perfect as a coffee table in front of a long couch or as a low side table,

this local salvaged walnut is quite remarkable.

What a beautiful addition to a contemprorary home!



From left: Tall Jar; Medium Jar; Large Round Pot

Stephanie Oliveira
Dimensions: 16" x 6"; 8-1/2" x 7"; 12" x 11"

Created by multi-media artist Stephanie Oliveira,

these gorgeous black-smoke and white raku fired vessels look great in a group,

as we decided to display them in the Gallery, but each makes an impact

displayed on its own.  The Tall Jar shown on the left has its own lid,

which you can see off to its side.  They are listed separately in the

web shop (click on their title for a close-up look and more information).

Sequoia Table Slab
Dimensions: approximately 94" x 42"

A remarkable live-edge slab of sequoia redwood, ready to be turned into a

dining or conference table, or even a stunning desk.

 




 Tin Shingles, Michelle de la Vega

Dimensions, each piece: 14" x 10"

A set of four, these interesting "industrial" pieces are ready for wall mounting.

The artist has inscribed patterns inspired by sea creatures on tin roof shingles that are

wood-framed on the back, giving an opportunity for varied,

pleasing presentations and groupings on a wall:  they could be displayed

in a row; two above and two below in a square; or even

stepped up a stairway wall, for a fit in any space.



Silk Ikat Wrap, ImperioJP

Dimensions: approximately 18" x 84"

A spectacular silk wrap from ImperioJP!  Luscious colors and fabrics are

trademarks of Imperio.  This one shows off shades of purples, pinks,

and white in an ikat design, and a solid, dense royal purple silk on one side.

Gorgeous to drape over your shoulders on a spring or summer night, or as

the essential wrap for a wedding.  Or how about something for Mom,
as that memorable Mother's Day gift?



Driftwood Lamp

Dimensions: approximately 14" x 9"

How cool is this?  A beautiful lamp created from sustainably harvested

driftwood from Pacific Northwest waters, finished with hand-rubbed

carnauba wax product, this piece features a fine hand-blown glass globe

with lifetime fiberglass wick.  Ready to turn even the most ordinary night into
an ultra-romantic evening... especially if you light up several of these
lamps at a time... or if there's a fire burning gently in the fireplace
and a bottle of wine on the hearth... or...
Oh, just use your imagination!
For use with smokeless and odorless pure paraffin oil. 





Blue Tile Necklace, Sylvia Luppert

Dimensions: adjustable from 16" to 24"

A fascinating presentation by Sylvia Luppert! We've offered her
wonderful handmade round bead polymer clay necklaces for several years, but
these are quite an interesting style departure.  These beads appear as painted
Asian-themed "tiles", and make for a very lightweight yet striking necklace.



Calm Sea, Jen Till

Dimensions: 48" x 48"

Oil on canvas

We've put up a post about Jen Till's wonderful, tranquil
art works in the past, but couldn't resist one more.  Her
April show wraps up in a couple of days after nearly selling out
of her Small Works, but we're hoping to keep some of her pieces
on display - and, we hope, have another selection of her
Small Works very soon!