October 2024 Exhibit
Clay Bodies
An invitational ceramic exhibition
October 12 – November 4
We are excited to be hosting a group invitational ceramic exhibition curated by local ceramic artist Molly Schulps and includes the work of herself, Ryana Lawson, Brian McNamara, José Flores Nava, Miles Nielsen, Michelle Valigura, and Paige Wright. The exhibition, Clay Bodies will be representative of a variety of styles, including hyper realism, stylized, figurative, narrative, installation, character driven and anthropomorphic. The exhibition opens in conjunction with Astoria’s Artwalk, Saturday October 12, 12 – 8 pm, several of the artists will be here that evening 5 – 8 pm and available to answer questions about their work. The exhibition will be on view through November 4th.
Molly Schulps, known for her functional and sculptural, hand-built and wheel thrown work celebrating flora and fauna, has put together a diverse and thoughtful collection of ceramic sculpture artists for the show Clay Bodies. About the exhibition she states: “Clay Bodies is an exhibition that explores a variety of contemporary ceramic sculpture. The artists work in a variety of processes and styles, which includes figurative, installation, trompe l’oeil, narrative, caricature, and sculptural vessels. The work itself is a small survey of the ever-changing scope of ceramics and how it continues to evolve.”
Schulps relocated to Astoria from Los Angeles where she was head of the Ceramics Program at Cypress College, beginning in 2004. She recently left that position to open her own teaching studio, Columbia Clayworks here in Astoria. She earned her Masters of Fine Arts, with distinction from California State University, Northridge in 2001 and has exhibited her ceramic work nationally as well as facilitating and presenting multiple ceramic workshops over the years. Her joyful ceramic work exudes positivity like a sunny day while reminding all the importance of wildlife conservation efforts. About her work she states: “There is a vulnerability that animals face because of human beings, which creates fragility and damages the ecosystem. My interest in creating visual narratives that include animals has long been a way to reflect on our tenuous relationship with nature and connect to my concerns about the environment and a responsibility to protect. I work in series, which lets me explore themes and develop narratives over time. This series is about dreams and vulnerabilities.”
Along with Molly’s work will be the Yakimon figures of Miles Nielsen who lives here in Astoria. Besides being a talented ceramic artist who is widely collected he is also the proprietor along with his father of Munktiki, creating a line of collectable tiki mugs as well as Dead Man’s Isle, perhaps Astoria’s first full-fledged tiki bar. For the exhibition Clay Bodies, Miles includes his highly sought after Yakimon figures. Miles’ work, inspired by Japanese culture creates his own characters, Yakimon—combining "yaki," meaning fired, and "mon," for monster. His characters are inspired by the tokusatsu genre of live-action shows. Each character inhabits a world that has evolved into a Japanese underground wrestling storyline. About his work he states, “This work aims to capture the essence of vintage Japanese soft vinyl toys, or Sofubi, in ceramic form. Through Yakimon, I invite viewers into the playful and imaginative universe my characters inhabit.”
José Flores Nava from Southern California brings his slip cast and hand-built sculpture, utilizing the vessel to hold/contain farm produce and act as metaphor to the experience of the undocumented immigrant. About his work he states, “As a potter, it’s my job to give meaning to the vessel. Vessels that are used as a substitute to the human body; vessels that resemble outdoor utilitarian objects; or vessels that echo the phrase “farm to table.” As an immigrant, it’s my duty to use my voice to speak about the undocumented laborer. In my artistic practice, I have chosen to represent familiar produce in an unfamiliar way by crafting slip-cast vegetables from stoneware. These sculptures, both strong and fragile, are brightly painted to draw attention to their presence. By nesting them within forms associated with outdoor utility or domestic vessels like buckets, cans, and bowls, I invite viewers to contemplate the interconnectedness of our society and the individuals whose labor sustains it.” José Flores Nava holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts from California State University, Fullerton. Places he has exhibited include, Grand Central Art Center, Irvine Fine Arts Center, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Riverside Art Museum, Brea Gallery, ALMA’S RVA, Eutectic Gallery, and Northern Clay Center.
Brian McNamara, also from California includes his figurative sculpture. McNamara draws inspiration from his Mexican/Irish heritage as well as his early childhood. He taps into the nostalgia of action figures of the 90’s, specifically referencing the luchadores of Mexico. About his work he states: “sense of play is integral to my work, inviting viewers to reconnect with their own cherished memories of childhood and exploring the world around them- a time when imagination reigned supreme. The luchador figures serve as a bridge between my mixed Mexican and Irish heritage and the broader experience of holding diverse identities.” McNamara earned his Masters in Fine Arts in Ceramics from Tyler School of Art and Architecture and now teaches at Chico State, he has also taught at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Hood College in Maryland, and Butte College in California.
Ryana Lawson of Seattle brings an installation piece, focusing on hand-built objects inspired by the natural world and in her own words “objects of existential curiosity and whimsy. Each piece is adorned in the flora and fauna from my dreams in a subtle narrative applying magic to the mundane.” Lawson received her MFA from Pennsylvania State University in 2019. In 2017, she was an Artist in Residence at Flower City Arts back in Rochester and received a post-baccalaureate education from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2016. She graduated with a BFA from The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2015. She has exhibited her work nationally.
Michelle Valigura of Cannon Beach brings hand-built sculpture echoing her background in stop motion animation design, (including Elf, and the Simpsons) and her love of mid-century aesthetics that directly translate into her work. She now owns and operates her own studio/showroom, Basalt Studio located in Cannon Beach. Prior to that she had her own design company, partnering with companies such as Disneyland, Kidrobot, Paradise Toys and other art brands. She has exhibited her work, lectured, and taught workshops at galleries, museums, and universities worldwide.
Paige Wright from Portland is known for her expressive ceramic faces, reminiscent of classical busts she hand builds each persona embellishing with texture, color, and pattern. About the work she includes to Clay Bodies she states: “these works are rooted in the ceramic process that grow from the fascination with the human mechanism, relinquishing to daydreams and quest for craft.” She received her Bachelors in Fine Arts with an emphasis in ceramics from The University of Montana in Missoula in 2006. She has participated in several artists in residence programs including the Carbondale Clay Center's long term residency program, Red Lodge Clay Center's year long residency program, Ohio University study abroad program at The International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary, and Project Network at the International Ceramics Research Center: Guldagergaard, Denmark. She received her Masters in Fine Arts with emphasis in ceramics from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio in 2012. She has held positions at Ohio University, Grand Valley State University, The Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Clark College, Radius Art Center, Idyllwild Arts Academy and Pratt and Larson Tile. She conducts workshops and lectures around the country. Recently shown with Eutectic Gallery, The Chefas Projects, Antler and Talon Gallery and the Salem Art Association.
Clay Bodies
An invitational ceramic exhibition
October 12 – November 4
We are excited to be hosting a group invitational ceramic exhibition curated by local ceramic artist Molly Schulps and includes the work of herself, Ryana Lawson, Brian McNamara, José Flores Nava, Miles Nielsen, Michelle Valigura, and Paige Wright. The exhibition, Clay Bodies will be representative of a variety of styles, including hyper realism, stylized, figurative, narrative, installation, character driven and anthropomorphic. The exhibition opens in conjunction with Astoria’s Artwalk, Saturday October 12, 12 – 8 pm, several of the artists will be here that evening 5 – 8 pm and available to answer questions about their work. The exhibition will be on view through November 4th.
Molly Schulps, known for her functional and sculptural, hand-built and wheel thrown work celebrating flora and fauna, has put together a diverse and thoughtful collection of ceramic sculpture artists for the show Clay Bodies. About the exhibition she states: “Clay Bodies is an exhibition that explores a variety of contemporary ceramic sculpture. The artists work in a variety of processes and styles, which includes figurative, installation, trompe l’oeil, narrative, caricature, and sculptural vessels. The work itself is a small survey of the ever-changing scope of ceramics and how it continues to evolve.”
Schulps relocated to Astoria from Los Angeles where she was head of the Ceramics Program at Cypress College, beginning in 2004. She recently left that position to open her own teaching studio, Columbia Clayworks here in Astoria. She earned her Masters of Fine Arts, with distinction from California State University, Northridge in 2001 and has exhibited her ceramic work nationally as well as facilitating and presenting multiple ceramic workshops over the years. Her joyful ceramic work exudes positivity like a sunny day while reminding all the importance of wildlife conservation efforts. About her work she states: “There is a vulnerability that animals face because of human beings, which creates fragility and damages the ecosystem. My interest in creating visual narratives that include animals has long been a way to reflect on our tenuous relationship with nature and connect to my concerns about the environment and a responsibility to protect. I work in series, which lets me explore themes and develop narratives over time. This series is about dreams and vulnerabilities.”
Along with Molly’s work will be the Yakimon figures of Miles Nielsen who lives here in Astoria. Besides being a talented ceramic artist who is widely collected he is also the proprietor along with his father of Munktiki, creating a line of collectable tiki mugs as well as Dead Man’s Isle, perhaps Astoria’s first full-fledged tiki bar. For the exhibition Clay Bodies, Miles includes his highly sought after Yakimon figures. Miles’ work, inspired by Japanese culture creates his own characters, Yakimon—combining "yaki," meaning fired, and "mon," for monster. His characters are inspired by the tokusatsu genre of live-action shows. Each character inhabits a world that has evolved into a Japanese underground wrestling storyline. About his work he states, “This work aims to capture the essence of vintage Japanese soft vinyl toys, or Sofubi, in ceramic form. Through Yakimon, I invite viewers into the playful and imaginative universe my characters inhabit.”
José Flores Nava from Southern California brings his slip cast and hand-built sculpture, utilizing the vessel to hold/contain farm produce and act as metaphor to the experience of the undocumented immigrant. About his work he states, “As a potter, it’s my job to give meaning to the vessel. Vessels that are used as a substitute to the human body; vessels that resemble outdoor utilitarian objects; or vessels that echo the phrase “farm to table.” As an immigrant, it’s my duty to use my voice to speak about the undocumented laborer. In my artistic practice, I have chosen to represent familiar produce in an unfamiliar way by crafting slip-cast vegetables from stoneware. These sculptures, both strong and fragile, are brightly painted to draw attention to their presence. By nesting them within forms associated with outdoor utility or domestic vessels like buckets, cans, and bowls, I invite viewers to contemplate the interconnectedness of our society and the individuals whose labor sustains it.” José Flores Nava holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts from California State University, Fullerton. Places he has exhibited include, Grand Central Art Center, Irvine Fine Arts Center, American Museum of Ceramic Art, Riverside Art Museum, Brea Gallery, ALMA’S RVA, Eutectic Gallery, and Northern Clay Center.
Brian McNamara, also from California includes his figurative sculpture. McNamara draws inspiration from his Mexican/Irish heritage as well as his early childhood. He taps into the nostalgia of action figures of the 90’s, specifically referencing the luchadores of Mexico. About his work he states: “sense of play is integral to my work, inviting viewers to reconnect with their own cherished memories of childhood and exploring the world around them- a time when imagination reigned supreme. The luchador figures serve as a bridge between my mixed Mexican and Irish heritage and the broader experience of holding diverse identities.” McNamara earned his Masters in Fine Arts in Ceramics from Tyler School of Art and Architecture and now teaches at Chico State, he has also taught at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Hood College in Maryland, and Butte College in California.
Ryana Lawson of Seattle brings an installation piece, focusing on hand-built objects inspired by the natural world and in her own words “objects of existential curiosity and whimsy. Each piece is adorned in the flora and fauna from my dreams in a subtle narrative applying magic to the mundane.” Lawson received her MFA from Pennsylvania State University in 2019. In 2017, she was an Artist in Residence at Flower City Arts back in Rochester and received a post-baccalaureate education from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2016. She graduated with a BFA from The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2015. She has exhibited her work nationally.
Michelle Valigura of Cannon Beach brings hand-built sculpture echoing her background in stop motion animation design, (including Elf, and the Simpsons) and her love of mid-century aesthetics that directly translate into her work. She now owns and operates her own studio/showroom, Basalt Studio located in Cannon Beach. Prior to that she had her own design company, partnering with companies such as Disneyland, Kidrobot, Paradise Toys and other art brands. She has exhibited her work, lectured, and taught workshops at galleries, museums, and universities worldwide.
Paige Wright from Portland is known for her expressive ceramic faces, reminiscent of classical busts she hand builds each persona embellishing with texture, color, and pattern. About the work she includes to Clay Bodies she states: “these works are rooted in the ceramic process that grow from the fascination with the human mechanism, relinquishing to daydreams and quest for craft.” She received her Bachelors in Fine Arts with an emphasis in ceramics from The University of Montana in Missoula in 2006. She has participated in several artists in residence programs including the Carbondale Clay Center's long term residency program, Red Lodge Clay Center's year long residency program, Ohio University study abroad program at The International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary, and Project Network at the International Ceramics Research Center: Guldagergaard, Denmark. She received her Masters in Fine Arts with emphasis in ceramics from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio in 2012. She has held positions at Ohio University, Grand Valley State University, The Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, Clark College, Radius Art Center, Idyllwild Arts Academy and Pratt and Larson Tile. She conducts workshops and lectures around the country. Recently shown with Eutectic Gallery, The Chefas Projects, Antler and Talon Gallery and the Salem Art Association.
September 2024 Exhibit
Laura Hamje At the Beach: Mirrors & Reflections of the Subconscious
Deb Stoner Natural Wonders
September 14 – October 7
We are honored to present two exciting solo exhibitions in September. In our south gallery space, we welcome back Laura Hamje and her dynamic oil paintings. She brings a powerful new collection, At the Beach: Mirrors & Reflections of the Subconscious, inspired by living on the water's edge and the simple yet profound power of beauty and introspect it provides. In our front gallery we are honored to present a third solo exhibition for photographer Deb Stoner. She brings Natural Wonders, a new series of photographic still life prints. Both shows open during Astoria’s Artwalk, Saturday, September 14th, 12 – 8 pm. Laura Hamje and Deb Stoner will both be at the gallery for the opening reception September 14th, 5 – 8 pm, please stop by and say hello. The exhibitions will remain on view through October 7th.
Laura Hamje’s latest series At the Beach: Mirrors & Reflections of the Subconscious is an exquisite collection of oil paintings of all scale. For this series, Hamje places primary focus on the sublime place where land meets sea. Having lived on the Puget Sound for the past couple of years, she spent countless hours studying the water’s edge, the play of light dancing across water’s surface, patterns of fractal wave movement, reverberating from wind meeting current. Hamje carefully depicts these elements, leaving the impression of sound and scent for the viewer. About this series she shares “Certain landscapes invoke specific states of mind. Images from the beach are meditations on the connection between matter and air – the line between sky and earth become blurred by ocean waters. It is a place with no divisions and the interconnectedness of all things is omnipresent.” Her signature gestural style of bold brush stroke adds dimension and drama to what is already sacredly profound.
Hamje has exhibited her work from New York to Los Angeles and many places in between. Her work has been juried into the Royal Nebeker Gallery’s Au Naturel: Nudes in the 21st Century exhibition where she was the recipient of a purchase award. She earned her BFA from the University of Washington, studied in Rome, Italy as well as the Chicago Art Institute. Her work is included in both corporate and private collections across the country.
We are also excited to welcome back Deb Stoner who brings a new series of still life photographs titled Natural Wonders. Stoner, known for her elegant botanical still life photography, reminiscent of the great Dutch master’s paintings, brings a new collection of dye sublimation on aluminum prints. Her photographs, rich in color, texture, and plant life along with the occasional insect or two tucked into composition showcase a vast array of plant life found in her own garden and the gardens of friends and colleagues. These close-up images bring an astonishing view of petal, leaf and velvety stipe inviting the viewer into the fantastical world of botany.
About this series she states: “As I work on each of the still life compositions I make, I’m most curious about finding the story that the flowers and bugs want to tell. There’s a connection between the gardens where I harvested my still life characters, the people who grew these plants or the place where they were found, and the connections between the bugs and butterflies and the flowers where they live (whether fiction or fact). My work as an artist is to find, or create those connections.
Deb Stoner holds an MFA in Applied Design from SDSU, a BS in Geology from UC Davis, and a decades long teaching career at the former Oregon College of Art and Craft. She has been a guest lecturer at the Portland Art Museum, and had her work selected from an international call for artists in 2019 to do a building wrap of the Palos Verdes Art Center in Los Angeles. Her botanical work enshrined the Center throughout 2020. Stoner has juried purchases in the permanent public art collections at University of Oregon, OHSU, PCC, and the Portland International Airport, and is the recipient of numerous grants and residencies while selling her work to enthusiastic collectors around the world.
Laura Hamje At the Beach: Mirrors & Reflections of the Subconscious
Deb Stoner Natural Wonders
September 14 – October 7
We are honored to present two exciting solo exhibitions in September. In our south gallery space, we welcome back Laura Hamje and her dynamic oil paintings. She brings a powerful new collection, At the Beach: Mirrors & Reflections of the Subconscious, inspired by living on the water's edge and the simple yet profound power of beauty and introspect it provides. In our front gallery we are honored to present a third solo exhibition for photographer Deb Stoner. She brings Natural Wonders, a new series of photographic still life prints. Both shows open during Astoria’s Artwalk, Saturday, September 14th, 12 – 8 pm. Laura Hamje and Deb Stoner will both be at the gallery for the opening reception September 14th, 5 – 8 pm, please stop by and say hello. The exhibitions will remain on view through October 7th.
Laura Hamje’s latest series At the Beach: Mirrors & Reflections of the Subconscious is an exquisite collection of oil paintings of all scale. For this series, Hamje places primary focus on the sublime place where land meets sea. Having lived on the Puget Sound for the past couple of years, she spent countless hours studying the water’s edge, the play of light dancing across water’s surface, patterns of fractal wave movement, reverberating from wind meeting current. Hamje carefully depicts these elements, leaving the impression of sound and scent for the viewer. About this series she shares “Certain landscapes invoke specific states of mind. Images from the beach are meditations on the connection between matter and air – the line between sky and earth become blurred by ocean waters. It is a place with no divisions and the interconnectedness of all things is omnipresent.” Her signature gestural style of bold brush stroke adds dimension and drama to what is already sacredly profound.
Hamje has exhibited her work from New York to Los Angeles and many places in between. Her work has been juried into the Royal Nebeker Gallery’s Au Naturel: Nudes in the 21st Century exhibition where she was the recipient of a purchase award. She earned her BFA from the University of Washington, studied in Rome, Italy as well as the Chicago Art Institute. Her work is included in both corporate and private collections across the country.
We are also excited to welcome back Deb Stoner who brings a new series of still life photographs titled Natural Wonders. Stoner, known for her elegant botanical still life photography, reminiscent of the great Dutch master’s paintings, brings a new collection of dye sublimation on aluminum prints. Her photographs, rich in color, texture, and plant life along with the occasional insect or two tucked into composition showcase a vast array of plant life found in her own garden and the gardens of friends and colleagues. These close-up images bring an astonishing view of petal, leaf and velvety stipe inviting the viewer into the fantastical world of botany.
About this series she states: “As I work on each of the still life compositions I make, I’m most curious about finding the story that the flowers and bugs want to tell. There’s a connection between the gardens where I harvested my still life characters, the people who grew these plants or the place where they were found, and the connections between the bugs and butterflies and the flowers where they live (whether fiction or fact). My work as an artist is to find, or create those connections.
Deb Stoner holds an MFA in Applied Design from SDSU, a BS in Geology from UC Davis, and a decades long teaching career at the former Oregon College of Art and Craft. She has been a guest lecturer at the Portland Art Museum, and had her work selected from an international call for artists in 2019 to do a building wrap of the Palos Verdes Art Center in Los Angeles. Her botanical work enshrined the Center throughout 2020. Stoner has juried purchases in the permanent public art collections at University of Oregon, OHSU, PCC, and the Portland International Airport, and is the recipient of numerous grants and residencies while selling her work to enthusiastic collectors around the world.
August 2024 Exhibition
Imogen Gallery
Matthew Dennison
Abducent Sea
August 10 – September 9, 2024
We are excited to host a second solo exhibition for artist Matthew Dennison and his latest series of paintings titled Abducent Sea. Known for his personality filled portraiture paintings of animals, Dennison shifts it up going back to his love of figurative painting. This current collection includes work that takes a strong narrative turn; each painting beckoning with a story waiting to be told. Dennison takes a serious look at our connection to place and our coexistence with the natural world. With a strong nod to nostalgia and a simpler time, he portrays the delicate balance of life on the edge. Stop in to meet Matthew, he’ll be present and available to answer questions about his work during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, Aug 10, 5 – 8 pm. The exhibition will be on view through September 9th.
Abducent Sea, Matthew Dennison’s latest series of oil paintings includes a strong sense of youthfulness and a sense of abandonment that for many might remind them of times long ago. Depictions of youth enjoying the abundance the great outdoors that the Pacific Northwest has to offer. Simple things like lounging in a rowboat, swimmers frolicking in a lake and enjoying the long days of summer in its simplest and purest form. The show title, Abducent Sea gives hints to Dennison’s thoughts about this series. The term abducent means pulling away, a movement controlled by muscle reaction and/or tension. Dennison describes this series as a place where he “seeks a sense of otherness, or perhaps a connection to a world fostered by place and history, a lost world where I memorialize what I find and form a visual text anchored around a larger idea about the paradox of orientation in the natural world and how it is threaded into our daily lives.” With saturated bright and energetic colors, Dennison conveys a sense of freedom and joie de vivre, living in the moment and untethered to realities of contemporary culture, perhaps with the intent of “pulling away” from technology and ideals of today.
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. Most recently his painting “North Cascades” (from the Abducent Sea series) was featured on the Spring edition cover of The Café Review, a quarterly poetry and visual art publication based in Portland, Maine. They also featured several other paintings by Dennison within the publication.
Imogen Gallery
Matthew Dennison
Abducent Sea
August 10 – September 9, 2024
We are excited to host a second solo exhibition for artist Matthew Dennison and his latest series of paintings titled Abducent Sea. Known for his personality filled portraiture paintings of animals, Dennison shifts it up going back to his love of figurative painting. This current collection includes work that takes a strong narrative turn; each painting beckoning with a story waiting to be told. Dennison takes a serious look at our connection to place and our coexistence with the natural world. With a strong nod to nostalgia and a simpler time, he portrays the delicate balance of life on the edge. Stop in to meet Matthew, he’ll be present and available to answer questions about his work during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, Aug 10, 5 – 8 pm. The exhibition will be on view through September 9th.
Abducent Sea, Matthew Dennison’s latest series of oil paintings includes a strong sense of youthfulness and a sense of abandonment that for many might remind them of times long ago. Depictions of youth enjoying the abundance the great outdoors that the Pacific Northwest has to offer. Simple things like lounging in a rowboat, swimmers frolicking in a lake and enjoying the long days of summer in its simplest and purest form. The show title, Abducent Sea gives hints to Dennison’s thoughts about this series. The term abducent means pulling away, a movement controlled by muscle reaction and/or tension. Dennison describes this series as a place where he “seeks a sense of otherness, or perhaps a connection to a world fostered by place and history, a lost world where I memorialize what I find and form a visual text anchored around a larger idea about the paradox of orientation in the natural world and how it is threaded into our daily lives.” With saturated bright and energetic colors, Dennison conveys a sense of freedom and joie de vivre, living in the moment and untethered to realities of contemporary culture, perhaps with the intent of “pulling away” from technology and ideals of today.
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. Most recently his painting “North Cascades” (from the Abducent Sea series) was featured on the Spring edition cover of The Café Review, a quarterly poetry and visual art publication based in Portland, Maine. They also featured several other paintings by Dennison within the publication.
July 2024 Exhibit
Tom Cramer
Electric Garden and More New Works
July 13 – August 5
We are thrilled to welcome back the renowned Portland artist Tom Cramer. He brings bold, complex, color saturated oil paintings along with carved and painted wood relief wall pieces, and wood burned oil paintings. This series, Electric Garden is a fresh and bold abstract series, exuding contagious, uplifting energy, of the enigmatic Tom Cramer, both in his paintings and his personality. Stop by and say hello to Tom who will be at the gallery 5 – 8 pm during artwalk. The exhibition will remain on view through August 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. 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 becomes a vessel of essence and/or spirituality.
Art critic, author and curator Richard Speer, who in 2019 curated a retrospective exhibition of Cramer’s for an exhibition at the Jorden Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon, recently had the opportunity to visit with Cramer and shared this about his visit: “I had a spirited studio visit with artist Tom Cramer, who definitely qualifies as a living legend of the Pacific Northwest art scene: someone with a bigger-than-life persona, a wide and loyal following, and a distinctive artistic style. I saw many of the pieces slated for that show: oil paintings on linen as well as mixed-media relief paintings on carved panel. The work is exuberant, jazzy, splashy, kicky, psychedelic, as we’ve come to expect from Tom. There’s a sensual, tropical vibe to several of the paintings and a bejeweled motif in others that puts me in mind of Gustav Klimt. Tom has always had a strong sense of line, which is why I find a stained-glass, Rouault-like quality to the abstract and biomorphic shapes in his oil paintings, however, in several of the new works the shapes jostle and float in undelineated space, as if held together by an unseen gravitational or magnetic force.”
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 “Electric Garden,” Cramer states: “I’m interested in Synesthesia- hearing color and seeing sound, a transference of senses. For example, when we hear Debussy we might see Monet and when we see Monet we might hear Debussy’s music…etc. For almost every piece of music, pictures form in the mind. The history of art and the history of music are one and the same- for every art movement- there is a corresponding music that goes with it. I’m interested in forming images in the viewers head enough so that the viewer is a participant in the content of the piece. Within this series, for example - more organic pieces seeming to elicit a feeling of organic plant life, not actual paintings of plants but the viewer may perceive them as such. In the same manner, the more rectilinear ones might suggest the human construct. That being said, I’m against interpretation and prefer for the viewer to decide what it all means for and to them, emotional content is the ultimate goal.
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.
Tom Cramer
Electric Garden and More New Works
July 13 – August 5
We are thrilled to welcome back the renowned Portland artist Tom Cramer. He brings bold, complex, color saturated oil paintings along with carved and painted wood relief wall pieces, and wood burned oil paintings. This series, Electric Garden is a fresh and bold abstract series, exuding contagious, uplifting energy, of the enigmatic Tom Cramer, both in his paintings and his personality. Stop by and say hello to Tom who will be at the gallery 5 – 8 pm during artwalk. The exhibition will remain on view through August 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. 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 becomes a vessel of essence and/or spirituality.
Art critic, author and curator Richard Speer, who in 2019 curated a retrospective exhibition of Cramer’s for an exhibition at the Jorden Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon, recently had the opportunity to visit with Cramer and shared this about his visit: “I had a spirited studio visit with artist Tom Cramer, who definitely qualifies as a living legend of the Pacific Northwest art scene: someone with a bigger-than-life persona, a wide and loyal following, and a distinctive artistic style. I saw many of the pieces slated for that show: oil paintings on linen as well as mixed-media relief paintings on carved panel. The work is exuberant, jazzy, splashy, kicky, psychedelic, as we’ve come to expect from Tom. There’s a sensual, tropical vibe to several of the paintings and a bejeweled motif in others that puts me in mind of Gustav Klimt. Tom has always had a strong sense of line, which is why I find a stained-glass, Rouault-like quality to the abstract and biomorphic shapes in his oil paintings, however, in several of the new works the shapes jostle and float in undelineated space, as if held together by an unseen gravitational or magnetic force.”
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 “Electric Garden,” Cramer states: “I’m interested in Synesthesia- hearing color and seeing sound, a transference of senses. For example, when we hear Debussy we might see Monet and when we see Monet we might hear Debussy’s music…etc. For almost every piece of music, pictures form in the mind. The history of art and the history of music are one and the same- for every art movement- there is a corresponding music that goes with it. I’m interested in forming images in the viewers head enough so that the viewer is a participant in the content of the piece. Within this series, for example - more organic pieces seeming to elicit a feeling of organic plant life, not actual paintings of plants but the viewer may perceive them as such. In the same manner, the more rectilinear ones might suggest the human construct. That being said, I’m against interpretation and prefer for the viewer to decide what it all means for and to them, emotional content is the ultimate goal.
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.
June 2024 Exhibit
Michelle Muldrow - Journey to the Setting Sun
Elise Wagner - Wonder Lands
June 8 – July 8
For the month of June we are excited to host two solo exhibitions by two highly respected Northwest artists. In our south gallery we present the second solo exhibition for Portland based artist Michelle Muldrow, bringing her newest series Journey to the Setting Sun. Her paintings are a conceptual exploration of the American landscape and identity. In our front gallery we are honored to present a new series of abstract encaustic paintings by Elise Wagner, Wonder Lands. Beginning this series during the pandemic, it reflects dramatic life changes for her personally, including a move to Astoria where her love and appreciation of the natural world merged into her exquisite art making practice.
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.
For Muldrow, this series is a continuation of past bodies of work, always considering man’s impact on an ever-changing landscape. Searching for visual cues or indication of economy, historic remnants offer clues of cultural identity of place. While creating this series Muldrow found herself thinking about the great painters of the Romanticism period, the epic paintings of Turner, Whistler, and Bierstadt. Each focusing on landscape, depicting the changing time due to industrialization, the fall of empires, changing philosophy of life itself in the midst of the Westward Expansion of America, a new world emerging. Specific to this series she states: “I have always been a hunter and gatherer of imagery defining America through landscape and its markers, iconography, conscious and unconscious. Finding myself making work for this show, I am ruminating - what does history teach us? Does history repeat itself? It feels like uncharted waters, yet I am fascinated by the elements that mirror the past, even as I am frightened with this inchoate feeling, looking out upon a horizon that I truly cannot see beyond.”
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.
Elise Wagner, known internationally for her innovative processes and work with encaustic, brings a new series, titled Wonder Lands. This series is her own self-described “love letter” to the Pacific Northwest. Wagner merges her incredible skills and knowledge of the ancient process of encaustic painting with abstraction, this time utilizing the inescapable and dramatic landscape we are fortunate to live within, as inspiration. Her work, always rooted in science, is still an exploration of topography and geology, but now finding anchor in horizon line, the mystical place where sky meets water and then its followed connection to land.
Beginning this series in 2020, it reflects the dramatic changes for her, including her move to the small river town on the banks of the Columbia River, Astoria, Oregon. Within this body of work that has slowly been coaxed from surface over four years, Wagner brings exciting, small-scale yet evocative pieces, leaning heavily into geography. Each gem-like piece evolved at its own pace with layers of sheer color applied, taken away and etched into with patience, by the hand of the artist to reveal a sense of mysticism and reverence for the land. A true “love letter” indeed.
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. Currently her work can be seen in established art galleries from Astoria, to New York and Seattle to Washington DC.
Michelle Muldrow - Journey to the Setting Sun
Elise Wagner - Wonder Lands
June 8 – July 8
For the month of June we are excited to host two solo exhibitions by two highly respected Northwest artists. In our south gallery we present the second solo exhibition for Portland based artist Michelle Muldrow, bringing her newest series Journey to the Setting Sun. Her paintings are a conceptual exploration of the American landscape and identity. In our front gallery we are honored to present a new series of abstract encaustic paintings by Elise Wagner, Wonder Lands. Beginning this series during the pandemic, it reflects dramatic life changes for her personally, including a move to Astoria where her love and appreciation of the natural world merged into her exquisite art making practice.
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.
For Muldrow, this series is a continuation of past bodies of work, always considering man’s impact on an ever-changing landscape. Searching for visual cues or indication of economy, historic remnants offer clues of cultural identity of place. While creating this series Muldrow found herself thinking about the great painters of the Romanticism period, the epic paintings of Turner, Whistler, and Bierstadt. Each focusing on landscape, depicting the changing time due to industrialization, the fall of empires, changing philosophy of life itself in the midst of the Westward Expansion of America, a new world emerging. Specific to this series she states: “I have always been a hunter and gatherer of imagery defining America through landscape and its markers, iconography, conscious and unconscious. Finding myself making work for this show, I am ruminating - what does history teach us? Does history repeat itself? It feels like uncharted waters, yet I am fascinated by the elements that mirror the past, even as I am frightened with this inchoate feeling, looking out upon a horizon that I truly cannot see beyond.”
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.
Elise Wagner, known internationally for her innovative processes and work with encaustic, brings a new series, titled Wonder Lands. This series is her own self-described “love letter” to the Pacific Northwest. Wagner merges her incredible skills and knowledge of the ancient process of encaustic painting with abstraction, this time utilizing the inescapable and dramatic landscape we are fortunate to live within, as inspiration. Her work, always rooted in science, is still an exploration of topography and geology, but now finding anchor in horizon line, the mystical place where sky meets water and then its followed connection to land.
Beginning this series in 2020, it reflects the dramatic changes for her, including her move to the small river town on the banks of the Columbia River, Astoria, Oregon. Within this body of work that has slowly been coaxed from surface over four years, Wagner brings exciting, small-scale yet evocative pieces, leaning heavily into geography. Each gem-like piece evolved at its own pace with layers of sheer color applied, taken away and etched into with patience, by the hand of the artist to reveal a sense of mysticism and reverence for the land. A true “love letter” indeed.
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. Currently her work can be seen in established art galleries from Astoria, to New York and Seattle to Washington DC.
May 2024 News
April Coppini
The Pond
We are thrilled to welcome back April Coppini with a new series of charcoal drawings. Known for her passionate interest in all creatures and their importance to place, she brings a much-anticipated series of gorgeously rendered charcoal (with an occasional punch of pastel) drawings; her first solo show in over two years. Through elegant and expressive mark making she portrays the wild, unseen, and unexpected in her depictions of flora and fauna. This series began its inception from stolen moments of quiet meditation along the banks of a pond. Coppini took solace watching the wildlife within their habitat, finding peace in the rhythm of life from a pond’s edge. The exhibition opens May 11 during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, from 12 – 8 pm and will remain on display through June 3.
After a forced creative hiatus due to circumstances beyond her control, Coppini delivers a new series of expressive and animated drawings. Known for her passionate interest in all creatures and their importance to place, she portrays a focused record in her subject matter, the simple struggle of existence. 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 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.
This current series began while Coppini was in New York with her eldest child, awaiting a complicated surgery and during the long days of recovery, post op. Coppini had/has little down time where she can focus on her career, the career that supports her and her 3 children. It is through her own tenacity that she was able to create this series of work, having had to cancel multiple exhibitions over the past two years. This body of work echoes the tenacity of life at the side of a pond within a city, the delicate balance of the natural world versus manmade. Within that balance there is still room for nature to thrive, Coppini depicts the quiet beauty that helped keep her grounded during a difficult time.
About this series, The Pond, Coppini candidly brings honesty and reality and shares the tribulations of balancing her career with the challenges of life. She states: “In Rockville Centre, Long Island NY there is a good-sized pond, called Smith Pond, right there in the middle of things- it’s barely separated (on one side) from busy Merrick road- by a few feet of earth, a cement divider and chain link fence. It’s a 5-minute walk from the Hampton hotel, where my 21 year old and I waited out the neurosurgical consult and then their actual neurosurgery; a Cranio-cervical fusion that would hopefully save their life (or at least some quality of life).
For more than two months, being able to walk(or run) to that pond held me together- and was where I processed our losses and gains, all the medical trauma, where I caught a breath from all the heaviness of caregiving somebody so very sick and bedbound …and where I made friends (mostly plants and animals).”
Along with the many creatures Coppini incorporates into her artwork, she has a special interest in the rapid disappearance of honeybees, also known as “colony collapse disorder.” As a result, she has created over 1000 drawings of bees. Her hope 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 Coppini
The Pond
We are thrilled to welcome back April Coppini with a new series of charcoal drawings. Known for her passionate interest in all creatures and their importance to place, she brings a much-anticipated series of gorgeously rendered charcoal (with an occasional punch of pastel) drawings; her first solo show in over two years. Through elegant and expressive mark making she portrays the wild, unseen, and unexpected in her depictions of flora and fauna. This series began its inception from stolen moments of quiet meditation along the banks of a pond. Coppini took solace watching the wildlife within their habitat, finding peace in the rhythm of life from a pond’s edge. The exhibition opens May 11 during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, from 12 – 8 pm and will remain on display through June 3.
After a forced creative hiatus due to circumstances beyond her control, Coppini delivers a new series of expressive and animated drawings. Known for her passionate interest in all creatures and their importance to place, she portrays a focused record in her subject matter, the simple struggle of existence. 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 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.
This current series began while Coppini was in New York with her eldest child, awaiting a complicated surgery and during the long days of recovery, post op. Coppini had/has little down time where she can focus on her career, the career that supports her and her 3 children. It is through her own tenacity that she was able to create this series of work, having had to cancel multiple exhibitions over the past two years. This body of work echoes the tenacity of life at the side of a pond within a city, the delicate balance of the natural world versus manmade. Within that balance there is still room for nature to thrive, Coppini depicts the quiet beauty that helped keep her grounded during a difficult time.
About this series, The Pond, Coppini candidly brings honesty and reality and shares the tribulations of balancing her career with the challenges of life. She states: “In Rockville Centre, Long Island NY there is a good-sized pond, called Smith Pond, right there in the middle of things- it’s barely separated (on one side) from busy Merrick road- by a few feet of earth, a cement divider and chain link fence. It’s a 5-minute walk from the Hampton hotel, where my 21 year old and I waited out the neurosurgical consult and then their actual neurosurgery; a Cranio-cervical fusion that would hopefully save their life (or at least some quality of life).
For more than two months, being able to walk(or run) to that pond held me together- and was where I processed our losses and gains, all the medical trauma, where I caught a breath from all the heaviness of caregiving somebody so very sick and bedbound …and where I made friends (mostly plants and animals).”
Along with the many creatures Coppini incorporates into her artwork, she has a special interest in the rapid disappearance of honeybees, also known as “colony collapse disorder.” As a result, she has created over 1000 drawings of bees. Her hope 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 2024 Exhibit
Don Frank
Inky Daydreams
April 13 - May 6
We are delighted to welcome back local photographer Don Frank with a new series of photographic prints focusing on the moody and mysterious elements of the region, specifically during the “off season.” For many the winter months are a time of rejuvenation and contemplation. The days are short, weather is strong and endless grey days melt into darkness. For some it’s a time to reconnect to the natural world in a meditative way, preparing for the busyness of the long days of summer. Frank, with his keen eye of observation, brings the beauty of the subtle and the sublime in both his sense of composition and subject matter. Join us for Astoria’s artwalk 12 – 8, Saturday, April 13. Frank will be at the gallery 5 – 8 pm that evening and available to answer questions about his work. The exhibition will remain on view through May 6.
Known regionally for his compelling imagery, Frank 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 makes for a thought-provoking series, providing contemplative space to consider the quiet beauty of the natural world while also acknowledging the relationship to mankind. His latest series Inky Daydreams is indicative of his approach with sharp focus on minute detail, fading into a subdued palette of soft and obscured background. This intentional delineation of foreground to background forces the importance of what caught his artistic attention. Within each photograph is nuance of nature, a study of texture and color culminating ultimately in elegant beauty.
About this series, Frank states: “The long nights and wet days of Winter in the Northwest can lead to a slowing of the senses that thrive at all other times. But not this year. Instead, this project led to searching for serene still-lifes in the grassy dunes, windy beaches, flowing rivers, and snow-covered forests of this place we call home. These strolls didn’t just result in moody photographs, but were a thoughtful exercise in listening, remembering, and may have included a little trespassing. To top off these wanderings, the images were made with an old medium-format Hasselblad camera and shot on film. The slowness that this process requires was a jolting reminder of how key it is to live in the moment and fondly remember what got us here.”
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.
Don Frank
Inky Daydreams
April 13 - May 6
We are delighted to welcome back local photographer Don Frank with a new series of photographic prints focusing on the moody and mysterious elements of the region, specifically during the “off season.” For many the winter months are a time of rejuvenation and contemplation. The days are short, weather is strong and endless grey days melt into darkness. For some it’s a time to reconnect to the natural world in a meditative way, preparing for the busyness of the long days of summer. Frank, with his keen eye of observation, brings the beauty of the subtle and the sublime in both his sense of composition and subject matter. Join us for Astoria’s artwalk 12 – 8, Saturday, April 13. Frank will be at the gallery 5 – 8 pm that evening and available to answer questions about his work. The exhibition will remain on view through May 6.
Known regionally for his compelling imagery, Frank 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 makes for a thought-provoking series, providing contemplative space to consider the quiet beauty of the natural world while also acknowledging the relationship to mankind. His latest series Inky Daydreams is indicative of his approach with sharp focus on minute detail, fading into a subdued palette of soft and obscured background. This intentional delineation of foreground to background forces the importance of what caught his artistic attention. Within each photograph is nuance of nature, a study of texture and color culminating ultimately in elegant beauty.
About this series, Frank states: “The long nights and wet days of Winter in the Northwest can lead to a slowing of the senses that thrive at all other times. But not this year. Instead, this project led to searching for serene still-lifes in the grassy dunes, windy beaches, flowing rivers, and snow-covered forests of this place we call home. These strolls didn’t just result in moody photographs, but were a thoughtful exercise in listening, remembering, and may have included a little trespassing. To top off these wanderings, the images were made with an old medium-format Hasselblad camera and shot on film. The slowness that this process requires was a jolting reminder of how key it is to live in the moment and fondly remember what got us here.”
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.
March 2024 Press Release
Artic Dreams by: Linden
Places Far and Near by: Miki'ala Souza
Miki’ala Souza Sky Lines
And
Linden Play As You Go
March 9 – April 8
We are delighted to be jumping into spring with distinct solo exhibitions by two dynamic female artists, both place focus on sense of place through state of mind. Miki’ala Souza, a native Hawaiian artist who now calls Astoria home brings a new series of monotype prints titled Sky Lines. Linden, an Astoria born artist who now lives in Woodburn, Oregon brings her latest series of mixed medium paintings titled Play As You Go. Both exhibitions open during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, March 9, all are invited to come meet the artists from 5 – 8 pm that evening. The exhibitions will remain on view through April 8.
In our South Gallery, we are excited to welcome back printmaker Miki’ala Souza, for her third exhibition at Imogen. Within this series Souza’s imagery draws on her own native culture combined with a strong interest in other native communities, placing focus on practice and repetition of pattern and line making. Her imagery is complex yet subdued with sheer layers of color and sometimes texture emulating landscape as backbone to her composition. Through the intrinsic layering process of printmaking, she brings dramatic imagery utilizing rich and saturated color. Incorporating bold swathes of layered sheer inks to act as current, rhythmic patterns wind over the page creating story of cultural connection. The very process of printmaking is a perfect metaphor for this transference of cultural identity that Souza meticulously depicts in each composition, weaving layers of color to create an imprint of movement while referencing indigenous art forms and symbols. An added element of texture is included, through chine colle, another printmaking technique, incorporating pressure to fuse printed imagery together through collage.
About this series Souza states, “I create landscapes that observe a world in motion. My prints focus on natural rhythms and patterns including currents, wind, clouds, and wave swells. This artwork is contemporary while recognizing traditions of printmakers and patternmakers from Hawaii and across the Pacific who came before me. The compositions of my designs are inspired by the movement, lines, and use of space I see in traditional Hawaiian artforms. While my imagery doesn’t portray people, it strives to create spaces that are full of life by referencing the interconnectedness between us and the environment. This might include fishing, canoes, voyaging, and recognizing native species. I see myself as intricately connected to these landscapes, and my subjects as cross-cultural. As a Native Hawaiian artist, the history, culture, and places I am a part of are also highly influential to my work and mixed into the layers of these prints.”
Souza is both a practicing artist and educator, teaching art to all ages. She currently teaches at the high school level and spent several years teaching printmaking at Clatsop Community College. She has always had a strong love of travel, exploring the world to deepen her own knowledge of sense of place. Her prints include bits and pieces of all the places that have touched her through experience and memory. Souza’s exploration of other cultures includes six months study at Parsons School of Design in Paris, three months in the Solomon Islands studying art practices in a small village as well as multiple trips to New Zealand including one visit granted by the Oregon Arts Commission for residency and exhibitions of indigenous artists.
In our Front Gallery we present a new series of mixed media paintings on paper by Linden. Known for her evocative abstraction, she brings her fourth solo show to Imogen. “Play As You Go”, as the show title implies, is all about bringing out a healthy sense of play. Her imaginative compositions lend to storytelling with the goal of embracing playfulness and looking back to a time of the unburdened innocence of childhood. Linden’s paintings, while filled with whimsy and perhaps a secret look into her self-created world, is far from simple with sophisticated use of color and line defining each composition. All are invited to step into her mythological world of play and beauty.
As an artist, Linden relies on the visual language to convey thought and idea, allowing herself the freedom to explore by reducing known forms to a mere suggestion. Her goal is to allow the viewer to participate in her process of analogy and perception while keeping it lighthearted and upbeat. Specific to this series she states, “Around the ages of 8-12, we decide we aren't and don't want to be kids anymore. We begin to see life more and more as serious and complicated. We sometimes leave the world of our playful imagination, leave art all together or jump to a time of copying the current art fad. The underlying presumption of this body of work is my need to get back to finding the carefree time of childhood play.”
Beginning her studies at Clatsop Community College, Linden sites instructors Royal Nebeker and Roy Garrison as instrumental in her development as a fine artist. She continued her studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Art degree, focusing both on painting and sculpture. Relocating to the Bay Area in the late ‘90’s, Linden continued her career while also teaching. Living in Benicia, California she founded a school dedicated to the education of all fine art practices for all ages, opening the school under the premise that “the innate creativity that we have as children isn’t ever really lost, it just needs to be fed so it can blossom.” The Linden Tree is still in operation today with the same mission.
Linden has exhibited her work throughout the Northwest and beyond. She began her local career here in Astoria at the former Ricciardi Art Gallery in 1996. Some of her accomplishments include a Juror’s Award for sculpture from the 2003 Journey’s End International Art Exhibition held at the Clatsop County Heritage Museum, selection to be included to the Around Oregon Annual exhibition at the Corvallis Art Center, juried by Martha Lee the owner/director of Russa Lee Gallery in Portland. Her work is also included to the permanent collection of Clatsop Community College, Pacific Northwest College of Art and the Astoria Public Library.
Imogen Gallery is located at 240 11th Street, on the vibrant block shared with Cargo (now located across the street) and Astoria Coffeehouse & Bistro. Current business hours are Thursday through Monday 11:00 to 5:00 and Sunday 11– 4, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information about Imogen Gallery or its represented artists please call 503.468.0620 or stop by in person to see what is new. Imogen Gallery can also be found on the internet via Facebook, Instagram or at www.imogengallery.com .
Artic Dreams by: Linden
Places Far and Near by: Miki'ala Souza
Miki’ala Souza Sky Lines
And
Linden Play As You Go
March 9 – April 8
We are delighted to be jumping into spring with distinct solo exhibitions by two dynamic female artists, both place focus on sense of place through state of mind. Miki’ala Souza, a native Hawaiian artist who now calls Astoria home brings a new series of monotype prints titled Sky Lines. Linden, an Astoria born artist who now lives in Woodburn, Oregon brings her latest series of mixed medium paintings titled Play As You Go. Both exhibitions open during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, March 9, all are invited to come meet the artists from 5 – 8 pm that evening. The exhibitions will remain on view through April 8.
In our South Gallery, we are excited to welcome back printmaker Miki’ala Souza, for her third exhibition at Imogen. Within this series Souza’s imagery draws on her own native culture combined with a strong interest in other native communities, placing focus on practice and repetition of pattern and line making. Her imagery is complex yet subdued with sheer layers of color and sometimes texture emulating landscape as backbone to her composition. Through the intrinsic layering process of printmaking, she brings dramatic imagery utilizing rich and saturated color. Incorporating bold swathes of layered sheer inks to act as current, rhythmic patterns wind over the page creating story of cultural connection. The very process of printmaking is a perfect metaphor for this transference of cultural identity that Souza meticulously depicts in each composition, weaving layers of color to create an imprint of movement while referencing indigenous art forms and symbols. An added element of texture is included, through chine colle, another printmaking technique, incorporating pressure to fuse printed imagery together through collage.
About this series Souza states, “I create landscapes that observe a world in motion. My prints focus on natural rhythms and patterns including currents, wind, clouds, and wave swells. This artwork is contemporary while recognizing traditions of printmakers and patternmakers from Hawaii and across the Pacific who came before me. The compositions of my designs are inspired by the movement, lines, and use of space I see in traditional Hawaiian artforms. While my imagery doesn’t portray people, it strives to create spaces that are full of life by referencing the interconnectedness between us and the environment. This might include fishing, canoes, voyaging, and recognizing native species. I see myself as intricately connected to these landscapes, and my subjects as cross-cultural. As a Native Hawaiian artist, the history, culture, and places I am a part of are also highly influential to my work and mixed into the layers of these prints.”
Souza is both a practicing artist and educator, teaching art to all ages. She currently teaches at the high school level and spent several years teaching printmaking at Clatsop Community College. She has always had a strong love of travel, exploring the world to deepen her own knowledge of sense of place. Her prints include bits and pieces of all the places that have touched her through experience and memory. Souza’s exploration of other cultures includes six months study at Parsons School of Design in Paris, three months in the Solomon Islands studying art practices in a small village as well as multiple trips to New Zealand including one visit granted by the Oregon Arts Commission for residency and exhibitions of indigenous artists.
In our Front Gallery we present a new series of mixed media paintings on paper by Linden. Known for her evocative abstraction, she brings her fourth solo show to Imogen. “Play As You Go”, as the show title implies, is all about bringing out a healthy sense of play. Her imaginative compositions lend to storytelling with the goal of embracing playfulness and looking back to a time of the unburdened innocence of childhood. Linden’s paintings, while filled with whimsy and perhaps a secret look into her self-created world, is far from simple with sophisticated use of color and line defining each composition. All are invited to step into her mythological world of play and beauty.
As an artist, Linden relies on the visual language to convey thought and idea, allowing herself the freedom to explore by reducing known forms to a mere suggestion. Her goal is to allow the viewer to participate in her process of analogy and perception while keeping it lighthearted and upbeat. Specific to this series she states, “Around the ages of 8-12, we decide we aren't and don't want to be kids anymore. We begin to see life more and more as serious and complicated. We sometimes leave the world of our playful imagination, leave art all together or jump to a time of copying the current art fad. The underlying presumption of this body of work is my need to get back to finding the carefree time of childhood play.”
Beginning her studies at Clatsop Community College, Linden sites instructors Royal Nebeker and Roy Garrison as instrumental in her development as a fine artist. She continued her studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Art degree, focusing both on painting and sculpture. Relocating to the Bay Area in the late ‘90’s, Linden continued her career while also teaching. Living in Benicia, California she founded a school dedicated to the education of all fine art practices for all ages, opening the school under the premise that “the innate creativity that we have as children isn’t ever really lost, it just needs to be fed so it can blossom.” The Linden Tree is still in operation today with the same mission.
Linden has exhibited her work throughout the Northwest and beyond. She began her local career here in Astoria at the former Ricciardi Art Gallery in 1996. Some of her accomplishments include a Juror’s Award for sculpture from the 2003 Journey’s End International Art Exhibition held at the Clatsop County Heritage Museum, selection to be included to the Around Oregon Annual exhibition at the Corvallis Art Center, juried by Martha Lee the owner/director of Russa Lee Gallery in Portland. Her work is also included to the permanent collection of Clatsop Community College, Pacific Northwest College of Art and the Astoria Public Library.
Imogen Gallery is located at 240 11th Street, on the vibrant block shared with Cargo (now located across the street) and Astoria Coffeehouse & Bistro. Current business hours are Thursday through Monday 11:00 to 5:00 and Sunday 11– 4, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information about Imogen Gallery or its represented artists please call 503.468.0620 or stop by in person to see what is new. Imogen Gallery can also be found on the internet via Facebook, Instagram or at www.imogengallery.com .
February 2024 Exhibit
Corey Arnold
Far From Home
February 10 – March 4
In conjunction with the annual FisherPoets Gathering and in honor of the importance of the maritime industry to our region, we are proud to present the powerful photographic work of commercial fisherman and artist Corey Arnold. Arnold brings an incredible collection of large-scale photographic prints, narrating his work experiences in Alaska, both on the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay. His up close and intimate look at the working environment is an inspiration with a solid nod of respect to those who depend on the sea for livelihood. Far From Home opens during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk 12 – 8 pm, February 10 and will remain on view through March 4th.
Known for his high drama photographic imagery, Arnold has enjoyed a dual career, merging his love of the sea with his art. Respected internationally, he has fished, photographed, and exhibited his work around the world. His love of the sea and fishing began as a child, about the same time he first picked up a camera. What began as weekend family adventures quickly became a permanent part of life. Arnold began fishing commercially in 1995 as a deckhand aboard various vessels and skiffs in Alaska. His career as a fine art photographer and fisherman has taken him far, both documenting and fishing the world’s oceans. Despite his international success as a photographer, Arnold returns every summer to Bristol Bay, Alaska where he captains a skiff, fishing for salmon.
Arnold’s work is without doubt a celebration of the lifestyle of the fisherman. Through his lens he captures the raw and rugged reality of hard work, with brutal and honest images that depict both danger and beauty, sometimes in the same moment. Arnold is not one, however, to overly romanticize, he is critically aware of the struggle of a rapidly changing global fishing industry. His photographic work runs deeper than capturing a way of life, he tackles environmental issues, food production and man’s complex relationship to the natural world, all on a global level. Within this series, Far From Home, he considers the sacrifice that comes with the career, leading to days, weeks even months away from home and loved ones.
About his work, he states: “During my seasonal adventures at sea, there was plenty of down time to reconsider one’s place in the world. This seasonal escape from the “real world” has its meditative benefits but, not without a certain feeling of loss, especially being far from those we love. While we are not alone on these boats or distant islands, a shared experience of loneliness, the vulnerability of longing bonds us with our fellow crew. Photography has always been my way of sharing my life at sea with my friends and family back on shore, a way of connecting distant worlds. This exhibition is a collection of images I have made over many years, moments of reflection, suffering, adventure, storms, and unlikely beauty far from home.”
Arnold, who graduated from the University of Art Academy in San Francisco has enjoyed a diverse and exciting career. His series Fish-Work was launched after receiving a commission from the PEW Charitable Foundation, taking him to Europe and photographing from aboard fishing vessels in eight European countries. He has also been awarded an American Scandinavian Foundation grant which led to the documentation of the work of fishermen in Northern Norway. His work has been exhibited in Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York as well as numerous other venues worldwide, and published in Harpers, The New Yorker, New York Times LENS, Art Ltd, Rolling Stone, Time, Outside, National Geographic, Mare, and The Paris Review, among others. He is a Hallie Ford Foundation Fellow as well as a National Geographic Explorer, and the recipient of multiple awards including the 2023 Wildlife and Nature Professional Category of Sony World Photography Awards and first-place in the Nature Category of World Press Photo Awards in 2018. Arnold has published two books of photography by Nazraeli Press including Fish-Work: The Bering Sea, and Fishing with My Dad and his work can be found in the permanent collection of the Portland Art Museum as well as many other private, corporate, and public collections.
Corey Arnold
Far From Home
February 10 – March 4
In conjunction with the annual FisherPoets Gathering and in honor of the importance of the maritime industry to our region, we are proud to present the powerful photographic work of commercial fisherman and artist Corey Arnold. Arnold brings an incredible collection of large-scale photographic prints, narrating his work experiences in Alaska, both on the Bering Sea and Bristol Bay. His up close and intimate look at the working environment is an inspiration with a solid nod of respect to those who depend on the sea for livelihood. Far From Home opens during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk 12 – 8 pm, February 10 and will remain on view through March 4th.
Known for his high drama photographic imagery, Arnold has enjoyed a dual career, merging his love of the sea with his art. Respected internationally, he has fished, photographed, and exhibited his work around the world. His love of the sea and fishing began as a child, about the same time he first picked up a camera. What began as weekend family adventures quickly became a permanent part of life. Arnold began fishing commercially in 1995 as a deckhand aboard various vessels and skiffs in Alaska. His career as a fine art photographer and fisherman has taken him far, both documenting and fishing the world’s oceans. Despite his international success as a photographer, Arnold returns every summer to Bristol Bay, Alaska where he captains a skiff, fishing for salmon.
Arnold’s work is without doubt a celebration of the lifestyle of the fisherman. Through his lens he captures the raw and rugged reality of hard work, with brutal and honest images that depict both danger and beauty, sometimes in the same moment. Arnold is not one, however, to overly romanticize, he is critically aware of the struggle of a rapidly changing global fishing industry. His photographic work runs deeper than capturing a way of life, he tackles environmental issues, food production and man’s complex relationship to the natural world, all on a global level. Within this series, Far From Home, he considers the sacrifice that comes with the career, leading to days, weeks even months away from home and loved ones.
About his work, he states: “During my seasonal adventures at sea, there was plenty of down time to reconsider one’s place in the world. This seasonal escape from the “real world” has its meditative benefits but, not without a certain feeling of loss, especially being far from those we love. While we are not alone on these boats or distant islands, a shared experience of loneliness, the vulnerability of longing bonds us with our fellow crew. Photography has always been my way of sharing my life at sea with my friends and family back on shore, a way of connecting distant worlds. This exhibition is a collection of images I have made over many years, moments of reflection, suffering, adventure, storms, and unlikely beauty far from home.”
Arnold, who graduated from the University of Art Academy in San Francisco has enjoyed a diverse and exciting career. His series Fish-Work was launched after receiving a commission from the PEW Charitable Foundation, taking him to Europe and photographing from aboard fishing vessels in eight European countries. He has also been awarded an American Scandinavian Foundation grant which led to the documentation of the work of fishermen in Northern Norway. His work has been exhibited in Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York as well as numerous other venues worldwide, and published in Harpers, The New Yorker, New York Times LENS, Art Ltd, Rolling Stone, Time, Outside, National Geographic, Mare, and The Paris Review, among others. He is a Hallie Ford Foundation Fellow as well as a National Geographic Explorer, and the recipient of multiple awards including the 2023 Wildlife and Nature Professional Category of Sony World Photography Awards and first-place in the Nature Category of World Press Photo Awards in 2018. Arnold has published two books of photography by Nazraeli Press including Fish-Work: The Bering Sea, and Fishing with My Dad and his work can be found in the permanent collection of the Portland Art Museum as well as many other private, corporate, and public collections.
January 2024 Exhibit
Nicholas Knapton
Conversations with Gavi
We are excited to be presenting a long-awaited exhibition for Nicholas Knapton, a Pacific Northwest artist who has been balancing his career between Astoria, Oregon and Berlin, Germany for nearly three decades. This series, Conversations with Gavi encompasses years of connection to a long-time friend, despite distance, via artistic expression. Knapton brings paintings, drawings and silk screen prints for his solo exhibition that opens during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, January 13. Knapton will be at the gallery Saturday, January 13, 5 – 8 pm, come say hello and learn more about him and his diverse career. The exhibition will be on view through February 5.
Knapton, born in York, England and raised in Astoria has a fascinating story. His sense of connection to home is strong, regardless of how far away he found himself and with the ever present need to immerse himself in other cultures, studying other languages and always gathering knowledge from wherever he landed to then imbue into his artwork. Back in his Astoria studio he has been creating new paintings, considering conversations with a longtime friend in Berlin. These conversations may feel insignificant in the moment but sometimes lead to the framing of one's identity. This exhibition is about personal connections, enjoying years of shared philosophy over tea and ultimately exploring what may seem mundane, to the life altering profound. He also includes drawings done while still in Berlin, the bridge from here to there.
Knapton continues with his recognizable direct and edgy abstract style, however within this series he brings brighter color to his palette. Gone is the moody darkness inspired by old gritty Astoria and war-torn East Berlin, instead turning to a more playful upbeat pallet, perhaps reflecting a hopeful future that we all look towards. His style still contains reference to the avant garde German Expressionist movement, an inescapable influence from his years living in Berlin within the rebellious counterculture, after the Wall came down and the unification of the country.
About this series he states: These painting relate to the conversations I would have with my Scottish friend Gavi who still lives in Berlin. They are quite indulgent in color and abstraction similar to what Gavi would talk about. They are not difficult or demanding but simple and entertaining, but also with some deep, stimulating intellectual meaning behind them. These conversations would always get me through hard times, but also just to pass some time, almost like reading a book or indulging in a fascinating film documentary. Many people have asked me why I moved to Berlin, which I did in 1994 at the age of twenty-three, and then again in 2011 when I was aged forty. The question is always difficult to answer because Berlin especially East Berlin is a place where people stereotypically escape from, but strangely enough people of my ilk, artists, rebels, political activists, musicians, and people who basically did not fit in to wherever they had come from fled to. These people were basically people from everywhere, congregating in Berlin in the 1990’s after the Fall of the Berlin Wall. And Gavi and I were a couple of the people amongst thousands who just ended up there. These years were extremely formative for me and have basically shaped my personality and my work as an artist.
Knapton, who began his art studies at Clatsop Community College under the tutelage of Royal Nebeker and Richard Rowland has balanced a career that has taken him back and forth between two very distinctive art communities, exhibiting his work here in Astoria, Portland to the other side of the Atlantic in Berlin, Paris, Estonia, and other European art houses. This dual career is what inspires him, allowing him to participate in an epicenter to creative thought while also bringing it home to a quieter village lifestyle. It is living here, in a more rural setting, that gives him space to contemplate his broader experiences, shaping and defining his focus. His experience in both communities translates to a bold painterly style where both dynamic layers of energy and spontaneity find spaces of open calm and dynamic use of color.
Knapton’s flexibility in lifestyle has allowed him experiences few will encounter. After finishing studies at Clatsop Community College, he headed to Portland where he attended Portland State University, studying under Northwest notables such as Mel Katz, Linda Wysong and Susan Harlan. With a strong core of knowledge, Knapton then jumped into the then burgeoning Berlin art scene. While in Europe he assisted with the restorations of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, London, and participated in the Wrapped-Reichstag project by famed installation artists Christo and Jeanne Claude in Berlin. Back home, his figurative work has been juried into the annual Au Naturel International Juried Exhibition multiple times by acclaimed art professionals, including an awarded purchase prize from the college. He continues to exhibit his work both in the Northwest as well as Berlin.
Nicholas Knapton
Conversations with Gavi
We are excited to be presenting a long-awaited exhibition for Nicholas Knapton, a Pacific Northwest artist who has been balancing his career between Astoria, Oregon and Berlin, Germany for nearly three decades. This series, Conversations with Gavi encompasses years of connection to a long-time friend, despite distance, via artistic expression. Knapton brings paintings, drawings and silk screen prints for his solo exhibition that opens during Astoria’s Second Saturday Artwalk, January 13. Knapton will be at the gallery Saturday, January 13, 5 – 8 pm, come say hello and learn more about him and his diverse career. The exhibition will be on view through February 5.
Knapton, born in York, England and raised in Astoria has a fascinating story. His sense of connection to home is strong, regardless of how far away he found himself and with the ever present need to immerse himself in other cultures, studying other languages and always gathering knowledge from wherever he landed to then imbue into his artwork. Back in his Astoria studio he has been creating new paintings, considering conversations with a longtime friend in Berlin. These conversations may feel insignificant in the moment but sometimes lead to the framing of one's identity. This exhibition is about personal connections, enjoying years of shared philosophy over tea and ultimately exploring what may seem mundane, to the life altering profound. He also includes drawings done while still in Berlin, the bridge from here to there.
Knapton continues with his recognizable direct and edgy abstract style, however within this series he brings brighter color to his palette. Gone is the moody darkness inspired by old gritty Astoria and war-torn East Berlin, instead turning to a more playful upbeat pallet, perhaps reflecting a hopeful future that we all look towards. His style still contains reference to the avant garde German Expressionist movement, an inescapable influence from his years living in Berlin within the rebellious counterculture, after the Wall came down and the unification of the country.
About this series he states: These painting relate to the conversations I would have with my Scottish friend Gavi who still lives in Berlin. They are quite indulgent in color and abstraction similar to what Gavi would talk about. They are not difficult or demanding but simple and entertaining, but also with some deep, stimulating intellectual meaning behind them. These conversations would always get me through hard times, but also just to pass some time, almost like reading a book or indulging in a fascinating film documentary. Many people have asked me why I moved to Berlin, which I did in 1994 at the age of twenty-three, and then again in 2011 when I was aged forty. The question is always difficult to answer because Berlin especially East Berlin is a place where people stereotypically escape from, but strangely enough people of my ilk, artists, rebels, political activists, musicians, and people who basically did not fit in to wherever they had come from fled to. These people were basically people from everywhere, congregating in Berlin in the 1990’s after the Fall of the Berlin Wall. And Gavi and I were a couple of the people amongst thousands who just ended up there. These years were extremely formative for me and have basically shaped my personality and my work as an artist.
Knapton, who began his art studies at Clatsop Community College under the tutelage of Royal Nebeker and Richard Rowland has balanced a career that has taken him back and forth between two very distinctive art communities, exhibiting his work here in Astoria, Portland to the other side of the Atlantic in Berlin, Paris, Estonia, and other European art houses. This dual career is what inspires him, allowing him to participate in an epicenter to creative thought while also bringing it home to a quieter village lifestyle. It is living here, in a more rural setting, that gives him space to contemplate his broader experiences, shaping and defining his focus. His experience in both communities translates to a bold painterly style where both dynamic layers of energy and spontaneity find spaces of open calm and dynamic use of color.
Knapton’s flexibility in lifestyle has allowed him experiences few will encounter. After finishing studies at Clatsop Community College, he headed to Portland where he attended Portland State University, studying under Northwest notables such as Mel Katz, Linda Wysong and Susan Harlan. With a strong core of knowledge, Knapton then jumped into the then burgeoning Berlin art scene. While in Europe he assisted with the restorations of the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, London, and participated in the Wrapped-Reichstag project by famed installation artists Christo and Jeanne Claude in Berlin. Back home, his figurative work has been juried into the annual Au Naturel International Juried Exhibition multiple times by acclaimed art professionals, including an awarded purchase prize from the college. He continues to exhibit his work both in the Northwest as well as Berlin.
