News Archive
2024
2023
2022
December 2022 Exhibit

December 2022 Exhibit
Hook, Pulp & Weave
A celebration of fiber as art

We’re excited to host the annual Hook, Pulp and Weave once again, a rich and diverse invitational exhibition exploring fiber as art, opening in conjunction with Astoria’s Artwalk, Saturday December 10th. Always a favorite exhibition at Imogen, this year’s annual exhibition will not disappoint. Functional and nonfunctional work will be included in this unique exhibition of textile-based arts. Color, texture, and composition form the backbone of this diverse collection designed with the gift giving season in mind. Included to the diverse array is the extraordinary “crochet paintings” by Jo Hamilton, “vegan taxidermy” by Marjorie Taylor, wall hung linear space fiber drawings by Kimberly Lakin, wall hung art and throw pillows by Pamela Chipman, nuno felted scarves and wraps by Julie Kern Smith, needle felted wool sculpture by Patti Breidenbach, abstract wall hung fiber art of Susan Circone, intricate needle woven beaded jewelry by Celeste Olivares, large scale needle felted figurative sculpture by Amelia Santiago, paper cut assemblages by Kathy Karbo and the whimsical mushroom sculpture of Kim Tepe. Join us in celebrating the season with the artists, Saturday 12/10, 5 – 8 pm. The exhibition will remain on view through January 9.

Fiber based art has a long running history, with weaving techniques dating back to Neolithic times some 12,000 years ago. It is respected as one of the oldest surviving craft forms in the world that evolved from multiple cultures, including the Incans who utilized textiles as currency, which held a more prominent role then gold for trade. Native Americans, for centuries have created elaborate basketry for all uses, including vessels that were watertight, made from regionally known plant materials. Middle Eastern nomadic tribes, have been respected for intricate hand knotted rugs made of wool and silk, dating back over 4000 years, and the rich illustrative tapestries of the 14th and 15th centuries of European cultures, all helped to forge what we appreciate as textile-based art today. The term “fiber arts” came to be applied much later; post World War II with the insurgence of the craft movement. With this came the recognition of craft as fine art and the diminished idea of utilitarian needs. 

Hook, Pulp & Weave is a collection of just a few examples of what textile or fiber art has evolved into. With the lessening of the importance of function, and the consideration of pure artistic expression being delivered through the fiber medium, artists have found a new voice to explore ancient arts, utilizing texture, color, and form. While some of the work included to this exhibition is functional, many pieces are based strictly on the principle of art form, utilizing fiber to create compelling and complex pieces.

We welcome back the intricate wall hung abstract compositions of Susan Circone from Portland. Her imagery places focus on subtle use of texture, pattern, and color. Coming from a career in geological sciences, her compositions are inspired by nature. Circone’s work explores the minutiae of the physical and natural world. She finds inspiration in the structures, textures, and forms observed in both organic and inorganic matter. The importance of the mundane and the microscopic, ignored, unseen, and often ephemeral, is a reminder of our temporal existence.

Pamela Chipman also from Portland is known primarily as a photographer. It was during the lockdown in 2020 that she began exploring with transferring her art to fiber during the pandemic. Experimenting with sun activated fiber dyes, she creates fabric prints from her negatives and local plant materials. She includes both wall hung pieces as well as gorgeous art pillows from her silhouette figurative photography and botanical imagery.
Celeste Olivares of Astoria brings a new collection of her intricately needle woven beaded necklaces and earrings. Each piece is an exotic one-of-a-kind design utilizing semi-precious stones, vintage glass, and crystal, often incorporating found objects. She exquisitely combines brilliant color and form with a result of timeless and original jewelry pieces.

We are also excited to welcome back the needle felted sculpture of Astoria’s Amelia Santiago. Her lifelike large scale figurative sculpture is created with careful attention to detail. She creates solid wool sculpture by hand, a painstaking process of forming felted wool through needle work into realistic creatures. Also working in needle felted wool are the small figurative sculptural pieces by Patti Breidenbach. Breidenbach brings a series of tiny dancers atop music boxes. Her new series is titled “Love is Love”.

Julie Kern Smith of Porland, returns with her rich and sophisticated wraps made of nuno felted wool and repurposed silk from vintage scarves and kimonos. Her choice of materials is exquisitely brought together through fusion of fiber, creating elegant and tactile wearable art forms. We also welcome back the delightful 3-d hand painted, paper cut assemblages of Kathy Karbo.

We welcome back the work of Marjorie Taylor. Taylor, creates what she calls “Vegan Taxidermy” that she describes as “animal replicas that are a mix of realism and fantasy.” Her one of kind sculptural pieces are made from recycled needlepoint, faux fur, chenille, beads, and ribbon. She proudly states, “there are no animal parts of any kind used in the construction.”

This year we are proud to include the work of 3 new fiber artists, Jo Hamilton brings her “crochet paintings”, large scale wall hung works created from yarn that she has crocheted. She brings a series of buildings/cityscapes as well as an extraordinary larger than life Man Moth. Her work is currently on display at the Portland airport and included to the permanent collection of the Portland Art Museum.  

Kim Lakin includes her large-scale wall hung linear space drawings. She enjoys working with fiber medium for its tactile and sculptural qualities, describing it as the line between two and three dimensions.

Also new to Imogen are the delightful terrariums of Kim Tepe. Focusing on the natural world she brings the forest floor and all that grows from it, creating with mixed fabrics and stitching, intricate replicas of mushroom life. 
 

November 2022 Exhibit

November 2022 Exhibit
Facing You   
Our 8th annual invitational portraiture exhibition

Pippa Arend, Reed Clarke, Denise Monaghan, Timothy Peitsch, Amelia Santiago, Ruth Shively and Aaron Toledo

Imogen is pleased to be presenting its eighth annual invitational exhibition exploring humanity through portraiture. This year’s exhibition will include the paintings of Portland based artists Pippa Arend, Reed Clarke and Ruth Shively as well as local Astoria talent of Denise Monaghan, Timothy Peitsch, Amelia Santiago, and Aaron Toledo; all exploring the essence of humanity. This evocative collection moves beyond a surface glance of an individual, inviting the viewer a step closer and to consider the underlying. Perhaps even to see ourselves through the eyes of others and what it means to be a part of humankind. Each portrait tells a story; we invite you to take part. The exhibition opens during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, November 12th, 12:00 – 8:00 pm and will be on view thru December 5th. Artists will be at the gallery from 5 – 7 pm, November 12 and available to answer questions about their work.

Many artists at some point in their career have placed focus on the human form as subject matter, for some it’s a practice of study, for others it’s a means to participate with humanity on a more intimate level. All seven of these artists fall into that category. Portraiture becomes a vehicle utilized to explore deeper reflection of who we are and what we convey via nonverbal communication, simply by stance, expression, or direction of gaze. These artists, all incredibly skilled with chosen medium bring suggestion of story and history through portrayal of individuals.  

This year we are honored to include the work of two artists new to Imogen. Pippa Arends from Portland and Denise Monaghan of Astoria. They both bring work that honors specific individuals. Pippa Arend, the cofounder of p:ear, a nonprofit supporting homeless youth, brings three bold and energetic portraits of individuals she’s known through her work with p:ear. After 20 years of working with this population of youth she has come away with a strong perspective on what sets these young people apart. About this and the work she includes to the exhibition she states, “Some believe that people get what they deserve. Others think we receive only as much we can handle. All meted out through some act of karma or divine judgment. Such thinking ignores the whimsical nature of luck, good, bad or none. In this show, titled “FACING YOU,” I invite you to look into the eyes and lives of these faces—Jupiter, Oddessa, Kayla. These three strong, lovely, exquisite people have been dealt difficult hands, and they’ve played them with various amounts of skill and, yes, luck. I believe in luck, in all its light and dark, in its profound power to make or break a life. Which is why I also believe in compassion. For me, drawing has always been a path to empathy and compassion. WHO is this person behind those eyes? How does that taut cheek feel from the inside? WHY is that the posture they project? Is that smirk I see grimace or grin? For this body of work, I’ve created three portraits of p:ear youth, based on their own mugshots. The conversations we shared while searching for the photos were hilarious and raw, as revelatory as the narratives radiating from their faces. The youth I worked with for those 20 years at p:ear struggled, some to the end of their ropes. My intention here is to reflect their tenacious journeys as well as the luck they fled and the fortune they found.”

A portion of the proceeds from Pippa’s work will be donated by Pippa and Imogen directly to her subjects. Imogen will also be donating proceeds from all sales from this exhibition to p:ear.

Denise Monaghan also brings a humanitarian element to the exhibition, portraying individuals who have and are contributing to global issues through their skills. Working in oil on linen she brings 8 portraits of people dedicating their lives to the betterment of the world. About this series she states: “Mostly, I want to connect and learn, and I hope the viewers will as well. I believe we have to look at our situation with open hearts and minds. We need to include nature, only then can things change. The people I have painted bring me hope, their work and words have helped me understand human nature. I now know that some people can be absolutely wonderful animals.”  Monaghan carefully creates composition in her  portraits , placing each of her subjects within the landscape relating to their work and vision.

Reed Clarke of Portland, Oregon has dedicated much of his career as a fine artist, painting others. Often his subjects are known literary greats. Clarke also creates his own characters, referencing people he’s observed in daily life while bringing in elements to create dynamic composition. Known for his skill as a painter and printmaker, he has had his work juried into Clatsop Community College’s, prestigious Au Naturel:  Nudes in the 21st Century exhibition several years running, receiving a first prize award as well as a purchase award from CCC.  His skill is apparent in the nuance of palette to create mood and emotion through an intimate look and consideration into another’s experience, perhaps with a goal of fostering greater understanding and acceptance of who we are. About his work Clarke states:
 “Faces and figures inhabit all my paintings and when I try to stray from this subject something I can’t resist always calls me back. In my work I hope to elicit a statement about being human that is familiar, and also seems impossible to say as clearly or completely in other mediums. When possible, I seek to emphasize the geometric shapes formed by different part of the composition and bring out the abstract surface rhythms of the composition. Ultimately however, I’m striving for a balance between recording a human subject that is compelling and creating a paint surface on the canvas that engages and rewards the viewer.”

We also welcome back the talented Amelia Santiago. Santiago who lives in Astoria is not new to Imogen, some may recall her incredible felted sculpture of our canine friends and other elaborate needle felted wool sculptural pieces. She balances her work as a fiber artist equally with her love of the painting process. After graduating from Pacific Northwest College of Art with a BFA in painting, Santiago traveled to Iceland where she became enamored with wool fiber, this led to a decade long career of creating 3-dimensional animal portraiture. Still, she never let the process of painting stray too far. About her work and processes she states: “I have been making art my entire life and I have always been drawn to the figure, both human and animal and often the two together. To me, painting a portrait is not only about the sitter but equally about the artist as well. I see myself in the images I make, and I think about the human condition. I think of our feelings about what is happening around us, our relationship to the other creatures we share this world with and our existence and effect on our environment. At the same time, I feel a portrait should be a work of art in itself. I love to push around paint, layer and build, sand and refine. I am enticed by realism but wild with color. I strive to create flow and depth and to think about light, shapes, and pattern. Most of all, when I paint portraits, I love that moment when the sitter comes alive, when the eyes begin to see things, I can’t see and don’t know and have feelings that are not mine.”  

Joining us for again this year is Ruth Shively, a Portland based artist. Typically drawn to imagery of women she portrays quiet resilience and an innate sense of strength and beauty. About her work she states: “I work largely with the figure, concentrating on women. In awe of the strength women behold, I feel the need to express their character through my work. I can’t explain how I choose my subjects, I go with my instinct and immediate feelings and drawn to stark, positive/negative space. I like humor, mysteriousness and intimate mood, wanting the viewer to make their own interpretation. I studied drawing and illustration in school but I’m a self-taught painter and prefer this medium as I love the spontaneity of the paint and using color to create space.” Shively, who grew up in the Midwest has lived in Paris, New York City, Minneapolis and now Portland. She has exhibited her work in numerous group and solo exhibitions that have taken her from Los Angeles to New York and many venues in between.

After a several year hiatus we are pleased to be welcoming back the exquisitely rendered work of Astoria artist, Timothy Peitsch. Peitsch has always focused on the portrayal of people in his work, quite often people who are close to him. His last solo show several years ago at Imogen was an impressive series of graphite portraits of historical individuals who somehow added to the lore of Astoria’s illustrious history. Peitsch has always enjoyed the challenge of portraiture, considering it the purest subject matter, the most recognizable. For him it’s an exploration of personality, with the goal of capturing something beyond the surface ad finding an understanding or hint of who someone is, not merely what they appear to be. About his work he states: “A portrait is the most enjoyable platform for me to work from. I’ve always loved the viewers reaction to them. It seems like everyone brings their own narrative and life experience to my portraits. Inevitably the viewers will begin to tell me stories about a person they knew or a personal experience they had. It’s always fascinating to me that a portrait will trigger those memories and emotions in a person.

We are also excited to welcome back the work of Astoria based painter and tattoo artist Aaron Toledo. Toledo who relocated to Astoria in 1999 from Kansas City owns and operates Keepsake Tattoo, our neighbors here on 11th Street. His small scale and intimate oil paintings explore the relationship between people and the space they occupy, “zooming in on moments as if they are memories, exploiting the perceptions that energize these small captures of time. “As a nonacademic artist his education and career in art has been far from traditional. About his paintings he states, “My work is inspired by the often overlooked and singularly unimportant candid moments, the spaces we live, our most boring days, the far reaches of the earth, bad storytelling and good mistakes.” With a muted palette and limited brushstroke, he brings moody and gestural imprint, or glimpses into people’s personal world, a direct look at reality of moment and fleeting honesty of contemplation.

All seven artists share a commonality of commitment and dedication to the somehow marginalized within their work. Each brings beauty, vulnerability and rawness, elements that live within all of us. The power of the individual shines bright through compassion for humanity. Facing you, we invite you to step inside. 
 

October 2022 Exhibit

October 2022 Exhibit
Michelle Muldrow
Spaces Between the Places that are Known
October 8 – November 7
 
We are excited to be hosting artist Michelle Muldrow and a new series of paintings for her first solo exhibition at Imogen. Her painting is a conceptual exploration of the American landscape, imbued by working history of the land she portrays. The exhibition opens during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, October 8. Muldrow will be in attendance during artwalk and available to answer questions about her work, 5 – 7:30 pm. The exhibition will remain on view through November 7. Also joining us for the evening will be the Horsenecks, comprised of Gabrielle Macrae on fiddle and Barry Southern on banjo, performing their Old Time and Blue Grass music from 5 – 7 pm.

Michelle Muldrow who is well versed in the arts, is a nationally recognized painter and singer/songwriter. She brings a new collection of paintings exploring the relationships between landscape, consumerism, historical aesthetic philosophy and personal narrative. Working in casein on panel with a muted palette, she applies philosophical ideas to American landscape painting, using historical precedents while considering the contemporary experience to reach an understanding of America. A sense of nostalgia marks her gestural style and sense of composition. Her chosen medium casein, is itself historical in nature being one of the original forms of paint, dating back to prehistoric times and utilized in early cave paintings. The medium, soft in tonality with a matte finish lends itself perfectly to her painting style, evoking a dreamlike imprint of memory.
Her subject matter has always been rooted in sense of place, known landforms, man-made landmarks make their way into composition. New to the Northwest, via Los Angeles she has shifted her focus in recent paintings to riverways, timber lands, landscape worked by time and mankind.

About her work, she states: “From macro to micro, I observe and absorb the landscape; from the broad strokes of the vistas that capture the incredible iconic images that define the Pacific Northwest to the small observations that tell the stories of the lives that live in this landscape. I search for the signifiers, the markers that set the region apart from any other place in the United States. As a child of a career military family, I moved all over the United States, developing a subconscious shorthand to recognize the differences from place to place. In my art practice, I study these small “tells”, elements that reflect a region, their priorities, the economy, the history, and the struggles. I first paint the broad strokes, the obvious, the iconographic, almost like a tourist, then follow the throughline, finding the clues that feel as potent as a symbol. I look for those repetitions that become like talisman, a repeating line in a poem. I investigate these empty landscapes, filled with signifiers, until I winnow it down to where the people interact with the landscape, searching, understanding, digging into the stories that are reflective of what captures the essence of a region. This is why I paint; to understand place and gain further understanding of what is this American landscape and American experience.”

Muldrow has exhibited her work extensively throughout the country, from New York to Los Angeles with many stops in between. She is a 2021 recipient of a Provincetown Art Museum/Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Grant and has her work included to many private and corporate collections, including the Microsoft Corporate Art Collection, the Cleveland Clinic Art Collection, Gerard Louis-Dreyfus Art Collection, and many others.
 

September 2022 Exhibit: Elsi Wagner Speaks With Kimberly Marrero

September 2022 Exhibit: Elsi Wagner Speaks With Kimberly Marrero
Elise Wagner speaks with Museum Lecturer + Art Advisor Kimberly Marrero from her Portland studio – the artist discusses the recent work for her upcoming exhibition Marking Time.

Elise Wagner has devoted her studio practice to exploring our planet its vastness in space and the many mysteries that it holds. Her art draws from celestial imagery and the many scientific advancements that have impacted the precious planet that we share.

Marking Time, one of her two exhibitions, scheduled to open this fall, gets its title from the nature photographer, James Balog’s stunning images of our planet’s rapidly melting glaciers. Balog has been tracking the dramatic effects of global warning with a team of scientist annually – the resulting time elapsed images are the focus of his award-winning film Chasing Ice that debuted in 2012. Balog’s film has had an enormous impact on Wagner’s art - igniting in her a similar potency and directive towards the urgency that we can no longer overlook relating to the changing environment – Since the launch of the very first pubic phase of legislation reporting on global warming in 1988 art and science have been on a steady collision course. Influential artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Mathew Richie and Tomas Saraceno present room sized immersive installations that attract record breaking crowds and are meant to beckon public consideration of the earth we share and the damaging effects of our carbon footprint.

Elise Wagner’s art joins in these ranks and leads us - full circle – to the earliest warning signs that we have chosen to ignore– further sounding the irrefutable alarm on the dire predicament that we find ourselves in around the world today. Can and should art be instructive? It certainly appears so.

An artist, first and foremost, Wagner’s work presents us with stunning abstract fauv-like compositions. Her smooth and sometimes textured surfaces come from her arduous process of built-up multiple layers of vintage scientific recordings and the most compelling galactical illustrations that are digitally transformed into stenciled fragments and then combined with swatches of natural fabrics and raw colored pigments and set into fields of thick encaustic wax. A technique, all her own – Wagner has been developing and perfecting this for over a decades long career. Like a scientist at work in the laboratory, her unique studio practice draws from the brains of the environmentally conscious. One might refer to her art as “eco-friendly” evidenced by her research of sustainable organic materials such as honey and akua soy – that she has transformed into art-making medium. Her alchemical art attempts at, making tangible, the atmospheric phenomena, geological matter and the various forms of technological apparatus that measure planetary climate changes and strengthen our gradual understanding of the world around us.

One of her latest works Astral Legend, 2013 offers a visual manifestation of scientific sources such as Author Frank Close’s eye-opening book from 1987 “Particle Explosion” giving visual form to data reflecting the origins of the universe and the subatomic particle. In this work Wagner incorporates interpretations of the astral world inspired by multi-layered and textural images of particle movement discovered through the advancements of technologies like Google images. Another pivotal work, which will be featured in her second exhibition in New York, Is Terra Europa. The impetus for this work originated from the images taken of Pluto’s moon Europa by the New Horizons program – which the artist sourced on the internet.

Wagner’s work carries with it a conscience. She says her art has a responsibility to add something productive to a world that's already overburdened with enough “ineffectual stuff” and she is not alone - her art builds upon the globally conscious icons of the past – some of the earliest environmental artists – you might say - who come before her - like Winslow Homer and JM W. Turner whose seascapes turned our focus to the powerful sea voyages and man’s futile attempt to battle its treacherous forces - and then there are the mid 19th- Century land-dwellers like Thomas Coles and Asher Durand – pioneers of the Hudson River School group– with their meticulously rendered landscape paintings – presented to the viewer on a grand-scale – an exercise of careful observation and regard for the untainted wilderness.

Q+A WITH ELISE WAGNER AUGUST 2022 Kimberly Marrero

On a very hot August day, I spoke with the artist Elise Wagner in her Portland studio about her upcoming exhibitions, her artistic process and the inspirations that continue to drive her practice.

KM - Elise, I am delighted to have this studio visit with you! Is it a coincidence – or perhaps not- that we are doing this during an extreme heatwave across the country that many attribute to the direct effects of climate change and perhaps - global warming. These are unchartered times we live in…

EW - These certainly are uncharted times and unfortunately coincidence has shifted into a new normal. One of the things I had grown to love about living in the Northwest is its ideal Summers that were opposite from New Jersey with average temperatures of 82-88, sunny deep blue skies, low humidity and cool evenings. Now, as I write this, it is 96 degrees, muggy, humid and overcast. Hello Jersey! Not to mention the fact that I work with hot wax produced by a dwindling bee population as the result of climate change. Working with wax has deepened my awareness about the importance of bees. Oregon particularly along with many of the Western states is an area of the country constantly under threat and susceptible to wildfires in the surrounding wilderness area during the Summer month which creates poor air quality and very arid and muggy conditions. Just a spark from a campfire in hot dry climates like we are experiencing this Summer could create a tinderbox and burn thousands of acres of forests and jeopardize wildlife like back in 2020.

KM - I want to begin by pointing out that this a very exciting time for you, with the opening of Coast to Coast shows this Fall and your recent grant awards from the Ford Family Foundation and the Oregon Arts Commission. After a very long period of isolation during the Pandemic I was really thrilled to learn of this special grant, the Artist Resilience Award, that you received. I wasn't aware that this even existed.

EW - Yes, I am thrilled beyond words. In February and March I applied for four grants in anticipation of my solo show at Imogen Gallery in September, then, I was invited to have the New York show. I was so pleased to have won three out of the four, especially with an additional out of state show thrown in! The Artist Resilience Award was funded by the Oregon Arts Commission in partnership with Oregon Community Foundation and the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation. We are fortunate to have had the Miller Foundation based here in Oregon. The Artist Resilience Program provides relief funding to Oregon artists who have experienced financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic due to loss of income, loss of opportunity or other unanticipated impacts to their artistic practice. Funding is intended to help sustain the artistic practice of professional artists. The Oregon Arts Commission offers cycles of Career Opportunity Grants for artists up to $2,000. The application also extends an option to apply for additional funding through the Ford Family Foundation for specific expenses and this time, I was pleased to learn that I received both grants.

KM - Your work always seems to embody questions of ethics and sustainability relating to the environment and climate change. Can you tell me more about that?

EW - An underlying theme in my work intersects with nature’s indifference to human progress and the damage that both cause. It began through studying environmental biology and geology and then noticing the frequency of storms, tornados and wildfires combined with the rising population and sea levels due to greenhouse gas emissions.

KM - I’m noticing a whole new direction in this recent body of work. These are neither prints and nor paintings. You’ve ‘combined a whole lot of different media here and created some compelling hybrids. What lead you to this transition and collision of materials – did you know how they would react together and did you work with specifics here or intuition?

EW - I had a specific idea that developed over some time through discovery of new materials and what I learned through adding printmaking to my studio practice in 2006. While putting myself through collage, I had a particularly unique student job of hand painting color charts at Gamblin Artists Colors factory. This began an inadvertent deeper dive into learning about color theory and chemistry. Sometimes, ideas steep for so long that when they finally come to fruition they feel more like a whim to me when they are actually happening. It has been exhilarating to work in the studio since the start of this year and begin to realize some long steeping ideas. For over two decades, I have been integrating multiple medias in my studio that have now fully matured and melded together. My functions very much like a lab to me at times, as I am always experimenting new and different combinations. I have never been able to work with one solitary medium. This particular combination of media derived from a moment of discovery in my studio, setting the path towards “compelling hybrids”. One day in 2002, I thought, what if I printed the texture of my encaustic paintings on flat panels like printing a collagraph only, the collagraph “collage” materials would be replaced by textured white wax that I make and the unique texture common of my paintings? I started out experimenting with a rolling pin and some pigment sticks. An soon turned to an etching press to get my desired outcome. In recent years, I have refined the process I call Encaustic Collagraph Printmaking through the use of nontoxic soy and honey based Akua Intaglio Inks along with learning and experimenting more with fine art rice papers and Evolon microfiber that lend themselves well to my printmaking practice.

KM - You have a practice that is rooted in materials and a keen interest in researching the most sustainable formulas for your art. Can you tell me about this interest in creating a “green” studio with sustainable inks derived from akua soy and honey – even your use of rice papers and organic micro-fiber textiles - and of course, coming up with your own brand of Wagner Encaustic Collograph White?

EW - I later worked in a marketing capacity at Gamblin Artist’s Colors where traveling to trade shows exposed me to the vast world of art materials. I had the opportunity to meet the makers of Golden Acrylics, R&F Handmade Paints (encaustic), Kremer Pigments and Dominque Sennelier himself! My interest in green studio practices derived from my time at Gamblin. It was my job to educate oil painters across the country about studio safety and green practices. All of this exposure and education became the foundation of my studio practice and kept me pushing the boundaries of my materials. It also even briefly inspired creating my very own boutique line of encaustic paints; Wagner Encaustics. After realizing I didn’t want to be a manufacturer but an artist instead, I stopped making my encaustic paint line. However, at the time, I was also developing a new way to work by printing the texture of my paintings. I began creating “encaustic collgraphs”. Collagraphs are collaged plates for printing and in this instance, the collaged material is replaced with white wax. I formulated Wagner Encaustic Collagraph Wax made from beeswax, titanium dioxide and just enough dammar resin in the wax so that it would not stick to the paper when printed. In my research for the best organic materials while developing both the encaustic collagraph product and the actual printmaking method, I found these amazing Akua Intaglio Inks. I discovered that these inks were originally developed by the Brooklyn artist Susan Rostow. The inks are now produced by Speed Ball who bought her formula. The honey and soy base of Akua Inks forms the perfect marriage with my Wagner Encaustic Collagraph White to releases easily from the paper. I love that they were created by an artist like me and are non-toxic and easy to clean up with soap and water. Through more trial and error I have arrived at creating my prints on rice paper and Evolon, a microfiber. Both, one more delicate, print collagraphs beautifully and can handle the pressure of the press.

KM - Let me state the obvious here: your art goes well beyond the formal aspects of aesthetics: form, color + material. It’s also a platform carrying a serious message of global consciousness. Can you say a little bit about these two worlds coming together – art + environmental awareness?

EW - I have always been a strong proponent for the environment and a believer in scientific evidence and technological advancement. I also have great interest in creating sustainable, substantive work that stands the test of time in both its actual making and its message. In the mid-1980’s I saw the film Koyaanisqatsi which carried a very impactful message about humanity, technology and the future of civilization as we have come to know it. From there, I set out to gain understanding of specific areas of both earth and hard science which became the core aspect of my work. There are two seminal nature conservancy books that had a huge impact on me very early on; Aldo Leopolds Sand county Almanac and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring beauty and nature conservancy Aldo Leopold’s Sand County Almanac. Later, I came into the writings of Elizabeth Kolberet, Margaret Atwood and Helen Kaldicott which were hugely impactful. Working with beeswax, made me very aware of our dwindling bee population. So over a long period of time, my work began to come together with issues surrounding depletion, industrial pollution and the raping of the lands of our planet.

KM - We are in the midst of a global urgency that is no longer avoidable. Pandemics, Major fires, intense storms and flooding. Can you speak a little bit about how your art might help sound the alarm and how art can have a social impact on the public? What were you making during the Pandemic?

EW - These highly textured paintings I call Global Retreats – why? because we were all going into isolation as a planet. I was reading James Balog at the time and I wanted to reflect the Marking of Time of with the retreating of the glaciers – which brought me back to this “retreat we were all experiencing during the Pandemic. This concept led to th title of my show and of my print series.

KM - Let’s talk science for a moment. For the lay person, these references you make to Astro physics and the celestial universe can go over our heads… materiality to it. For example, this latest series of prints are based on found images of bubble chambers and meridians that you digitally manipulate, correct? Can you explain to us what a bubble chamber is - does?

EW - Sure, two of my visual influences in science are NASA and the International Space Station. My parents moving from Jersey to Houston afforded the opportunity for me to visit NASA a few times. I also visited NASA Goddard in Maryland in 2020. I had a visit arranged through an astrophysicist there to see behind the scenes of their media center and the James Webb Telescope which was canceled pretty much upon arrival there due to Covid! So disappointing!

KM - Every artist experiences that critical moment - Henri Cartier Bresson called it “the decisive moment” - when you are struck by something in your life that - a shift – a discovery – something that drives your artistic path….?

EW - It all started back in 1994 when I came across this NASA book at Goodwill called Exploring Space with a Camera. The changing technology has of course morphed my influence to be more visual by following the many NASA missions over the years and now, being able to get Google alerts on news and imagery from NASA and on particle physics, that tends to most often influence me. There are specific books I have added and returned to over the years in addition to my Exploring Space book. In 2004, I was living with a German Physicist at the time. We got into the discussion about pigments and particles and he told me about the neutrino particle (which means little elusive one in Italian). Then a client of mine brought me a book called The Particle Explosion filled with images of particles in a bubble chamber that I poured over for hours. It was then that I created a solo exhibition of paintings called “Particle Maps” in 2006 Since then, I have combined all earlier and newer visual information to create an overarching oevre in my work touching upon scientific advancements, astronomy and planetary placement in relation to human behavior.

KM - One of my favorite questions for artists’ is what is in your personal library? Who are the authors, and film-makers in your library that you go back to time and again?

EW - Yes, absolutely, the films of Godfrey Reggio were huge for me as I was developing my visual language and forming the ultimate narrative for my work. I also follow the work of James Balog who produced the film Chasing Ice in 2011. I am a huge fan of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi ‘s- Creativity, Flow, Finding Flow Elizabeth Kolbert’s - Field Notes from a Catastrophe James Elkins - Six Stories from the End of Representation Victoria Finlay - Color Exploring the Invisible - Lynn Gamwell The wild card here would have to be Gerhard Richter’s - The Daily Practice of Painting and the aforementioned environmental and nature conservancy writings of Elizabeth Kolbert, Rachel Carsen, Aldo Leopold, Margaret Atwood and Helen Kaldicott.

KM - I can certainly see a lot of Richter in your work and his remarkable ability of pushing materials to their limits – Your work embodies that same force. Not to put you on the spot here – but who was your first artistic hero?

EW - I would have to say Leonardo Da Vinci. It was 1982, my sophomore year at Holy Rosary Girls Academy in Union City, NJ. It was an old convent with it's own little chapel that I would visit regularly to find quiet. As a young Catholic child, I would often wonder into the church next to my school in Jersey City on the way home from school. I really thought god lived there. Looking back, this was the beginning of my meditation practice. My high school art history teacher Onelio Marrero introduced me to the genius of Da Vinci. I was so intrigued by Da Vinci’s unique ability to incorporate his knowledge of science, critical theory, engineering, health and athletics into one allencompassing artform. Upon seeing his work in my youth at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was the first time I had ever heard of an art polymath or renaissance man and was completely fascinated.

KM - Years later you mentioned how in 2019 you stumbled across an exhibition in Venice of Da Vinci’s Machines at San Barnaba and also many of his drawings at the Gallery Academia in Venice and and the enormous impact that had on you?

EW - Yes, this was just mind blowing to see and be among the actual machine replicas, some to scale that Da Vinci made and also to see his manuscripts and notes on his creations. That he existed in so many capacities as scientist, engineer, artist and innovator reminded me of the great power of creativity. That there is creativity in all things and that without an idea, there is not creation and thus, things do not come into being. He was so ahead of his time, designing the first helicopter, artillery of all kinds and the dredge used to clean the canals of Venice, the very place where I was standing and the premise of its design still in use there today! What Da Vinci didn’t know and I speculated on while there, is how many cell phones are dredged up in Venice each year with its DaVince designed machine! I bet a lot.

KM - We have talked about this before – the daily rituals of running and staying fit. I wanted to share an interesting parallel here with Leonardo da Vinci – a large part of his success was taking care of his physique. According to scholars, he assiduously studied every facet of the human body. He was an athlete and a vegan. One of his principals for developing genius was this quote by him “a sound mind in a sound body” Can you talk about your commitment to health + wellness and how it relates to your art ?

EW  - I’ve been running on and off for most of my adult life and doing daily meditations since I was 19. Both have become inextricably linked to my practice as an artist. I have a need to keep my art and ideas pure, open and flowing which comes from a pure, open, clear body and mind. Early reading of the Maharbartha and philosophers like Krishnamurti, Alan Watts and later Pema Chodron, Michael Pollan and Jon Kabot Zinn solidified the belief that the body is your temple. While I’m way, way far from perfect, I do pay attention to my nutrition and listen closely to my body. Running has taught me a lot about mindset and how I frame my thoughts. Most of my best ideas that drive my work and my writing come while I’m running or in relaxed state. A combination of yoga, meditation and running is the foundation of my artistic discipline.

KM - On the subject of “parallels” you mentioned a number of other parallels that have occurred along the way between your “every day life” and your art. Can you speak a little more on that?

EW - Well, this is certainly along those lines. When I was in Italy in 2019 just after I showed my Meridian series of paintings in my solo show in Seattle I saw Cassini's Meridian at San Petronio Basilica in Bologna! I could not believe the parallels with this sighting with my work and titles. Cassini discovered the planet Saturn. He taught at the University of Bologna. NASA had a Cassini mission I followed studying it's rings and moons. The mission ended by a dramatic crash of the satellite into Saturn's atmosphere in September 2017. While at the Basilica I got a little book Cassini placing the meridian and was totally blown away. The next day, I walked over to the University of Bologna and on to the AMAZING Palazzo Poggi science museum. So, just wanted to share that! The other little point I wanted to make is that my self imposed residency in Portland with Jane Pagliarulo at Atelier Meridan was a result of getting rejected from the Center for Contemporary Printmaking paid residency in Norwalk where you get to stay in the Helen Frankenthaler cottage and use presses she used. I have taught there a few times. It turned out to be better to have my residency here!

KM - Here’s a fun question for you – I would imagine da vinci at the head of the table – are there other artists you would want to have on your dream guest list?

EW - off the top of my head, there are tons more of course, but if I were to name the most important ones who were direct influences and maybe the creatives I'd want at my dinner table – they would be: DaVinci, Lee Krasner, Paul Klee, Grace Hardigan, Sigmar Polke, Eva Hesse, Joan Mitchell, Agnes Martin, Twyla Tharpe, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Frida Kahlo, Philip Glass, Gerhard Richter, Trevor Paglin, Edward Burtynsky, Julie Mehatru and Diane Burko

KM - Speaking of Grace Hartigan we have talked about her influence on your quite disciplined studio practice. I mentioned Mary Gabriel’s amazing book Ninth Street Women – a treasured gem in my personal library. It chronicles the five leading women of the Modern Art Movement. Hartigan, Lee Krasner, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler and Elaine de Kooning. I loved the parts about their strong work ethic in the studio. Grace Hartigan barely left her easel. Her art came before most things in her life. Can you say a little bit about your similar interest in minimizing distractions that might otherwise keep you from working in the studio?

EW - As Mary Gabriel so aptly describes Grace Hardigan, I have always made my work a priority. I often describe and say that “Art is my other man”. Through marriage, divorce, heartbreak, loss, job changes, moves and big life transtitions, I have made art every step of the way. This was also reflected in the type of day jobs I chose to have over the years. When I first finished college with a degree in art, I faced the normal reality of getting a day job. So, while on the waiting list for a position, I took a driving job. Then, my number came up and I was offered a position at my alma mater in the School of Art Dean’s Office that allowed for flexibility, health insurance, paid holidays and vacations for art making. I would tell people that having a state job at the time was the closest to living in a socialist country! Starting out, I would work by day, and paint by night in my unheated giant warehouse studio. This period of 9 years fomented my self discipline in forming a studio practice. Over time, I made every effort to live a fairly uncomplicated and practical life to allow my creativity to thrive and not be pushed aside. After taking an environmental biology class and learning how much waste one human creates, I made a conscious choice not to have children. Given the statistics on marriage, I didn’t want to end up being a single mom with no family around me to help. Having children was never desired and just wasn’t realistic for me. That’s why I identify so closely with Grace Hardigan and her being from the next town over from me too!

KM - Circling back here to the great da vinci. I want to throw out this rather fitting quote “Here forms, here colours, here the character of every part of the universe are concentrated to a point; and that point is so marvellous a thing … Oh! marvellous, O stupendous Necessity — by thy laws thou dost compel every effect to be the direct result of its cause, by the shortest path. These are miracles…” – Leonardo da Vinci

September 2022 Exhibit

September 2022 Exhibit
Elise Wagner
Marking Time
September 10 – October 3
 
We are honored to be presenting a solo exhibition for Portland based artist, Elise Wagner with a collection of work titled Marking Time. This series will include her encaustic work while also combining print making processes expressing the unseen and the inevitable passage of time. This is Wagner’s first solo exhibition in Oregon in five years and her first with Imogen Gallery, made possible by an Oregon Arts Commission Career Opportunity and Ford Family Foundation Grant. Wagner was also the recipient of a second grant, the Artist resilience Award, from the Oregon Arts Commission. Marking Time opens during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, September 10, 12 – 8 pm and will remain on view through October 3. Wagner will be at the opening and available to answer questions about her work and processes from 5 – 7:30 pm.
Encaustic is itself an ancient art form, with origins from the ancient Greeks and Egyptians. And Wagner’s choice of medium is no accident, the alchemy of the process itself lending to her complex sense of the visual language and subject matter, both looking forward while looking back. Through encaustic, her passion for both science and art has become the perfect vehicle to create dialogue and a bridge between cartography use within ancient history to the uncharted galaxies beyond that we are seeing with our own eyes today, using new imaging technology. Wagner’s work has evolved over the years, with a strong sense of maturity and confidence present while holding constant to her fascination in uncovering the unseen and her constant exploration of materials.
An undeniable sense of timelessness is imbued within her work; darkness to light, celestial and other worldly while evoking a sense of mysticism. Through the rapid changes in technology the celestial universe has come closer to us, Wagner brings it even closer in her own interpretations of the mysteries contained within the vastness of space. About this series she states: “Science and technology have made it so that we can see the world and beyond from entirely new perspectives. As a visual artist, this is the greatest platform from which to observe, interpret and respond to our world. My work marks time from keen observations and the constant tracking of technological progress, climate change and the rapid advancement of scientific discovery. The works in Marking Time reflect the speed in which progress is being made in our contemporary world while taking a pause to notice the evident impact that humans have on our ever-changing environment. This paradox from the fusing of two age old and analog mediums; printmaking and encaustic in these works comes together to mark our present time while also harkening to nostalgia for the past.”
Wagner is known as a prolific, hands-on kind of artist, never to sit idle with a decades long career that is nothing short of inspiring through her commitment and drive as a fine artist. She is a recipient of a Pollack Krasner Foundation Award as well as receiving grants from the Oregon Arts Commission with work found in both private and corporate collections across the US, Canada, and Mexico. As an educator she has been invited to teach and present encaustic painting and printmaking at conferences and institutions Internationally and currently teaches virtual and private workshops. In 2022-23 Wagner will be teaching in Mexico, Ireland, and London. Currently her work can be seen in art venues from Astoria, Oregon to New York, Seattle to Washington DC with two simultaneous exhibitions running currently on each coast of the country.

 

August 2022 Exhibit

August 2022 Exhibit
Tom Cramer
City Lights and More New Works
August 13 – September 5

Opening Reception Saturday, August 13 noon-8pm
We are excited to be welcoming back renowned Portland artist Tom Cramer to help celebrate our 10th anniversary during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, August 13.  Tom brings bold, complex, color saturated paintings along with carved wood relief wall pieces. Cramer also spent some time with us in July creating one of his iconic murals in our entryway, stop by to see that and his newest paintings. We will also be joined by the Beatgreens, a duo of David Crabtree on guitar and banjo and Ray Coffey playing flute and saxophone. Together they bring original and longtime favorites, performing “surf jazz” music from 5 – 7 pm. Tom Cramer will also be at the gallery from 5 – 7 pm to answer questions about his work. His exhibition will remain on view through September 5th.

Cramer has been at the epicenter of the Portland art scene for decades as an exhibiting artist as well as creating public art. For years, many things have acted as a canvas to Cramer, utilizing furniture, cars, buildings, the ballet; these are just a sample of the channels for his creative self-expression. Within this series his collector’s might note a shift in style as he merges into a new era, both personally and artistically. His work continues with a strong anchor in use of color and pattern, echoing his long interest in Eastern spirituality, music, and botany. Cramer utilizes organized color, line, and form to suggest geometry, that then in entirety become a vessel of essence and/or spirituality.

Art Historian and professor emeritus, Roger Hull recently wrote about Cramer and his work. About Cramer he states: “Tom Cramer is a lover of music and musicians, from the Beatles to Beethoven (not to mention Bach, Bruckner, Mahler, and Mozart). Tom played French horn in the Portland Youth Symphony. Perhaps the throb that unifies his diverse art is music – the beat and rhythm of music, from jazz to Romantic lyricism. Some such positive force provides the underlying coherence and magic of his art, whether you come upon it out on the street, in the quietude of galleries, or in the indefinable realm of higher consciousness.”

A conversation with Cramer always leads into avenues that may have been little explored or considered, full of energy, ideas, and many twists. Cramer’s paintings reflect very much the same and are in many ways a direct reference to his own experiences. Drawing inspiration from intense periods of travel and engaging on a deep and personal level in what he considers to be older and wiser cultures, has helped him to create “an art driven by emotional content.” About this series “City Lights,” Cramer states: “To quote Edward Munch, “I paint not what I see, but what I saw.” My way of responding to current world issues is to attempt to lift the viewer towards an elevated consciousness. I believe without art, music, love and immersion in the natural world, life is not worth living.” It’s with this in mind that Tom is offering his paintings at levels that all can afford. His goal is simple and straight forward; to put art in the hands and hearts of all who will benefit from living with original artwork. Each painting holds spirit and soul, and much like music or poetry it has the profound ability to carry those who engage, to a better place whether it be momentary or forever.

Cramer’s formal training began at PNCA in Portland and then on to Pratt Institute in New York. He has enjoyed a long and diverse career, showing in many reputable Northwest galleries over the years, including Russo Lee Gallery and Augen Gallery, both in Portland. His work has been exhibited at the Tacoma Art Museum and the Portland Art Museum as well as many other prestigious visual art venues. Cramer’s work is also included to the permanent collections of Microsoft, Inc, Portland Art Museum, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Boise Art Museum, and many other highly regarded institutions.
 

July 2022 Exhibit

July 2022 Exhibit
Matthew Dennison   Sovereignty of the Ancients and Laura Hamje  Tiger Mountain
July 9 – August 8, 2022
Artwalk and reception Saturday, July 9  12 – 8 pm
 
We are excited to celebrate the summer season with two solo exhibitions opening during July’s ArtWalk. We welcome back Seattle based painter Laura Hamje, long know for her urban landscape paintings, including the iconic Megler Bridge. For her current series she takes us deep into the forest, bringing a new series of paintings and drawings focusing on the grand and magical forests of the Pacific Northwest. We are also pleased to welcome the work of Matthew Dennison for his first solo exhibition at Imogen as well as our first exhibition within our newly expanded space. Dennison brings a new series of oil paintings focusing on wild animals; their power, drama and beauty as focal point while considering the delicate balance between wildlife and mankind. The two exhibitions open during Astoria’s Second Saturday ArtWalk, July 9th 12 – 8 pm and remain on view through August 8th.

These two exhibitions dovetail beautifully as Laura Hamje takes us deep into the woods, specifically Tiger Mountain located in the western Cascades of Washington. Her paintings dance with lush greens and piercing shards of light breaking through limb and moss, perfectly capturing the essence of our majestic forests here in the Pacific Northwest. Hamje had the opportunity to live in the woods for an extended period of time during the pandemic. The experience made a profound impact on her and her art. Known for her gestural brushwork she depicts dense undergrowth, tangled ferns fighting for light filtered through moss and lichen. She captures the crispness of clean air, shattered by verdant branch and limb. About the series and her experience working in her studio in the woods, she states:

“The first time I visited the cabin, I fell in love with the dense, untamed, mysterious land around it. It felt so alive in those woods, that you were sure you were being watched by something deep in the thicket. It was likely no one had walked around this property for many years, due to the owner being housebound. No human eyes had touched these trees, waters, brush, mud, and bramble. We frequently saw bears, coyotes, and deer. There was something magical about witnessing an area that was untouched by other humans.

I recall one day especially, when I was working alone on the property. I had the door open since it was a warm sunny spring day. I was deeply focused, working on my painting “Moss,” when all of the sudden I looked out the doorway to find a deer staring at me, from a few yards away. It took the breath out of me. I of course had seen deer before, but this felt like a foreign entity, like seeing a unicorn, or other-worldly creature emerge from nowhere, and its presence not only altered the space around me, but it altered me. This was one of many transcendent-like experiences I had while living out near Tiger Mountain. Each image I created for this show holds a piece of my wonder and awe from exploring the woods. I feel so captivated by my experiences in the forest, that I believe my work with this subject matter has just begun.”

Hamje has exhibited her work from New York to Los Angeles and many places in between. She has had her work juried into Au Naturel: Nudes in the 21st Century by Jane Beebe, owner, and director of PDX Contemporary, where she was awarded a 2nd place purchase award for her drawing. She earned her BFA from the University of Washington, studied in Rome, Italy as well as the Chicago Art Institute.
 
We are pleased to welcome Portland artist Matthew Dennison and his latest series Sovereignty of the Ancients, new paintings depicting the grandeur of the Pacific Northwest animal kingdom. He brings oil paintings on panel focusing on the wild and unseen, portraiture of the natural world. During the pandemic, Dennison like many of us turned towards the outdoors for solace. For most it provides space to recharge in order to gather the world to a place where it nurtures and makes sense. Dennison is careful to acknowledge the precarious balance necessary to maintain this. This series exemplifies the beauty, grace and untamed world while also considering man’s place within it.

About this series he states: “I hope my work creates a conversation, perhaps about the fragility of the world around us, and the beauty contained there. My work concerns the paradox of orientation in our world, and how it is threaded into our daily lives. My intent is to point people back to the natural world, reminding us that we are all connected to this place and land.”

The paintings themselves are direct windows, allowing the viewer a look into the eye of a majestic Golden Eagle and pointing to the question of what they see, what do they observe of us? There is the undeniable question of survival at its most basic level.

Dennison, a long-time contributor to the Northwest’s art community has enjoyed a notable career, exhibiting his work extensively throughout the region as well as Chicago and the east coast. His work is included to the permanent collections of the Portland Art Museum and the Tacoma Art Museum as well as many corporate and private collections around the world.

 

June 2022 Exhibit

June 2022 Exhibit
Enclosed World(s)
Paintings by Jill Mayberg and ceramics by Kim Murton

We are pleased to be hosting a two person exhibition by the dynamic duo, Kim Murton and Jill Mayberg. Together they bring Enclosed World(s), a new series of work considering the world at large and changed perceptions from two plus years of looking inward through their chosen medium of clay and paint in two- and three-dimensional work. Kim Murton, brings her delightfully playful terra cotta sculpture and Jill Mayberg returns with a new series of mixed medium paintings, pushing into abstraction.  The exhibition opens June 11 for Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, 12 – 8 pm. The exhibition will remain on view through July 3.
Mayberg and Murton, who are both from Vancouver, WA share a commonality in their interest and appreciation of South American art.  Through her interest in Folk, Outsider, Aboriginal, Primitive and children’s art, Jill Mayberg brings her compositions to life with use of vivid color, form, and pattern. She readily takes inspiration from primitive art, expressionism and abstract modernism while merging that with imagery depicting her love of nature, animals, water, color and geometrical design.
 
Utilizing primarily acrylic paint, Mayberg incorporates other elements through collage and other mediums to build a sense of dimension.  Bold colors pop from the canvas while background shapes and form push forward her imaginative imagery. About her process she states, “An idea is conceived (sort of-it can change) and a tentative paper sketch is affixed to a painted substrate.  It is then worked on, added and subtracted, to and from, until it feels right-the result being a textured, dimensional painting.” About this series Enclosed World(s)she hopes to achieve a rhythm, balance and pleasing combination of colors and textures in her art providing what she hopes to uplifting and joyful sense of play. It’s an intuitive process fed by curiosity and constant observation. About this series she states: “At the outset of the pandemic everything slowed down. I spent more time walking and looking. I noticed the cracks and patterns in the pavement; lots of dots. I took in the plants, kids playing in the schoolyard, various critters: squirrels, cats and the very vocal crows and waves of flora through the seasons. Right now the Dogwoods, Cherry trees, Tulips and Irises have my attention and I am eager for the summer burst of color which provide an amplitude of inspiration for painting. This body of work includes repeated elements such as dots, stripes, rectangles, and squares. I often begin with a grid as a foundational structure. Some of the paintings include celestial representation which reflects a reverence for the immensity and mystery of the cosmos.”

Mayberg’s work has been exhibited across the country and is also included in private collections throughout the United States.  She is the recipient of an Artist’s Trust Fellowship award, a non-profit organization supporting Washington State artists, and has been a featured artist to Oregon Public Broadcast’s ArtBeat program.

Kim Murton, a long time ceramic artist works in low-fire terra cotta clay and colored slips creating hand built sculpture, vast in scale that are inspired by pre-Columbian and Mexican pottery.  Her colorful, whimsical pieces borrow from the traditional forms of South American art combined with her training and work history in animation and love of comics. Murton studied ceramics at The School of the museum of Fine Arts, Boston as well as study of film and animation at The Cooper Union School of Art in NYC.
 
About her work she states: “Back in the winter months I was thinking about what to make for this show and the fact of being stuck at home both by the pandemic and the weather led me somehow to the idea of making sculptures with plants on their heads. Houseplants became my main inspiration and as it turns out the possibilities are endless. I started with the Art Deco inspired larger piece and the round artichoke pieces and then started thinking about The Celtic Green man. Then my childhood spent watching hours of television seeped in with thoughts of the Jolly Green Giant and Punchy from Hawaiian Punch commercials. I worried about these references but kept going with the theme, in my own way, veering into mushroom inspired lattice work and the idea of a cage and terrarium. Now it is summer after a long, chilly but blossom bursting spring. I probably would have made more flowers if I had started later. All the pieces are hand built using coils and slabs. I paint most of the colors on the clay before it is fired using colored slips. The green theme gave me an opportunity to try out different green glazes and I used China paint for a third firing as accents on some of the pieces.”
 
Murton is also a freelance illustrator for the New York Times, has her own blog dedicated to the cartoon of the day as well as exhibiting her ceramic work in Portland, Seattle, Bainbridge Island and now Astoria.
 

May 2022 Exhibit

May 2022 Exhibit
April Coppini

Oceans of Disbelief/Jungles of Longing

In a time of uncertainty there is one thing that does remain certain; art is a necessity in our lives, yesterday, today and tomorrow. As we ease back into a world altered by pandemic, there are still elements beyond the individual’s control that impact us all. Throughout this, artists are still creating and communicating, providing a gift of reprieve to all. Artists have always been generous in what they do, whether it is to connect what is good about humanity or record an imprint of challenging times. They create and share with the goal of easing burden, fear, and struggle; to uplift and bring peace to the unknown and even aiding in the comprehension of matters out of one’s control.

With this in mind we are honored to present a new series of charcoal drawings, Oceans of Disbelief/Jungles of Longing by the acclaimed artist, April Coppini. The exhibition opens May 14th during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, Saturday from 12 – 8 pm.

Coppini, known for her passionate interest in all creatures and their importance to place, brings a series of gorgeously rendered charcoal drawings. She portrays a focused record in her subject matter depicting the wild and unseen side of animalia. A slight tension of muscle before a possible leap, or the look of pensive awareness in preparation for escape from a possible predator, are all elegantly conveyed through beautiful and gestural mark making. With the underlying message of the importance of all creatures and their independent role to ecosystem and/or as pollinators, predators, scavengers or even domesticated animals, Coppini asks the viewer to consider the role our species takes (or doesn’t) in protecting the delicate relationship between mankind and animal as well as a direct reminder of our symbiotic relationship to all life on a global level. Coppini states: “We humans have this role as stewards, if not because most of the ecological difficulties we’re experiencing are human-caused, but because that's who we are. We are caretakers by nature. A duty that as a species connected to all other living things on this planet, we have (mostly) abused and/or neglected. We also have capacity for greatness and beauty. A calling to responsibility and redemption. I feel this tipping point we are coming to in my heart, in my body, my spirit, in the shifting energy of my work and in the frenetic, tumultuous energy of the world right now (ecologically, politically, socially). I feel the other species we share the planet with turning their gaze to us, as stewards, in our moment, to see; what will we do?”

Coppini tends to focus primarily on charcoal for her chosen medium because of “its immediacy and forgiving nature”.  For her, the starkness of black on white strikes a basic and guttural cord. Within this series there are several pieces that include color, utilized with care to define emotive qualities or even echo elements of subject matter while still allowing for the dominant line of charcoal to do its work. The stark juxtaposition lends to the overall power and drama conveyed in each piece.

About this series, Oceans of Disbelief/Jungles of Longing, Coppini candidly brings honesty and reality and shares the tribulations of balancing her career with the challenges of life. She states:    “There is this puffy, far away feeling of disbelief. I’ve been trying to shake it for months- and I’m learning to recognize when it comes and settles in. Over the past 2-ish years my 19 year old, diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (a connective tissue disorder), has been complaining of joint pain, then using a cane, then a wheelchair, and now bed-bound. It’s happened during a pandemic, where we’ve been alone and tucked away; where no one could see the change but us. It didn’t seem real.
They have complications that are on the rarer side and we are in the midst of a health crisis- and my brain has resisted its reality at every turn for the worse. Isn’t that weird?! Maybe it’s a self-preservation or biology… I have two other children bouncing off the walls- it can’t be that one is in the other room just lying there! Things have to keep going. Kids go to school, meals made, laundry piles, holidays come and go and we’re coming off a pandemic and I’m longing for connection, for adventure, for travel, for anything else! And to draw!  And things DO keep going, but at a stutter and stop - for hospital stay, for research, for moments of struggle and extreme emotions… any plans for the future ride on what happens next and these drawings have come bumping out on waves- rougher around the edges than usual, as I try to show up where I’m needed and still be myself, full of all of this.”

Coppini has also taken great interest in the rapid disappearance of honey bees, also known as “colony collapse disorder”. As a result she has created over 1000 drawings of bees.  Her hopes in this practice is to create awareness of the significance bumble bees have on mankind. In her own words, Coppini states, “I believe, foolishly or not, in the possibilities of the human race.  I believe the act of being called on to make these drawings is something that comes from a force bigger than us.  Its stating, here’s what needs attention, listen to the fables being told here.  What we do next, what happens to all the imperiled species is, quite literally, up in the air.”  Coppini has taken the cause to heart, not only by creating her luscious drawings of bumble bees in flight, but also donating a portion of the sale of each bee drawing to the Xerces Society for pollination research and conservation.
 

April 2022 Exhibit

April 2022 Exhibit
Don Frank
The Lost Winter 
     
April 9 - May 9
Artwalk and reception Saturday, April 9   12 - 8 pm
 
Photographer Don Frank, known regionally for his compelling sense of composition has always tended to bring what might be considered the more obscure to the foreground. His deep immersion into subject matter within his work always brings a compelling series that is thought provoking and sometimes containing a stark perspective on contemporary life. His latest series The Lost Winter is indicative of his approach. The exhibition opens during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, Saturday April 9, noon – 8 pm. Frank will be on hand to answer questions about his work and this current series. The exhibition will remain on view through May 9.
 
Don Frank once again tackles life issues, this time focusing on the fallout of a global pandemic and it’s not so subtle impact on the region He brings a new series of photographs looking back on the two years of pandemic, specifically the unoccupied spaces during lockdown. The past two years were something few could have ever imagined and through his keen eye for composition, he looks back to those who were the most effected, our restaurants and schools. Empty spaces, now eerily quiet where in normal times people would be enjoying libations and laughter mixed with conversation gone. Schools deserted of children that became nothing but the bones of tired institutions, void of the busy energy of youth. These images are stark reminders on those days of uncertainty, previously thriving with laughter and aromas, they became the testament to the resiliency of people continuing to move forward without knowing what the future may bring.  

With permission from business owners and school administers, Frank was granted access to these spaces to document what never could have been fathomed. His compositions, somewhat sardonic in nature still contain a wry sense of humor even in the face of such uncertainty and sobering conditions. His lens defines what could be considered the lost days from months of “sheltering in place”. Spaces once pristine and inviting now utilized for storage, and left with a sense of foreboding stagnation, void of the human inhabitants that gave each space life. Frank’s imagery brings room to reflect on our collective experiences as we emerge from pandemic.

About the series Frank states:
The sobering news had finally hit home. The mystery virus that seemed so far away was now in our backyard. The days crept along slowly. Stay home. Don’t socialize. Travel and vacations cancelled. And utmost, the fear. Most of us sacrificed for the greater good. But slowly, our lives adapted to this new reality, and we began to do the things we had done before, but with changes that became the new normal. To this day, we still live with the uncertainty, but for life, which is nothing new.
 
Some of us even enjoyed the solitude and quiet that came with being shuttered in. Yet, there were some that took it on the chin. Restaurants and schools bore the brunt of the burden that this pandemic had sown.  Livelihoods were cratered. Education was stalled. Play was abandoned.  The joy of dining out was gone. The proprietors and staff and teachers and kids carried a burden so great, we didn’t know if they would make it.  Some did not, yet some did.  
 
But at the time between now and two years ago, things were so dubious, it became obvious that a documentation of the times would be a story that needed to be told. These images of restaurants and schools, previously thriving with laughter and aromas, are the testament to the resiliency of people continuing to move forward without knowing where they are going. Once polished and tidy, these spaces were now utilized as storage and a stark reminder of what had been lost. Though we now have a better understanding of what is happening and our responsibilities to ourselves and others, let us not forget that time when the unknown was the only thing we knew.
 
Frank has enjoyed a career that has taken his work across the country both in galleries and into private collections, including the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, and the Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado.