Sumi ink & watercolor workshop May 30 & 31st
In the Exhibit Gallery:
The Nature of Things
Rae Belkin, Linda Jarvis, Ellen Reichart, & Kathleen Snow
Northwind Arts Center presents The Nature of Things, showcasing the work of four Northwest artists who draw their inspiration from their relationship to the world around them. Rae Belkin, Linda Jarvis, Ellen Reichart and Kathleen Snow work in a variety of media including painting, drawing, assemblage and printmaking. Their unique works range from the poetic to the humorous.
Observation Point #1 by Rae Belkin
Rae Belkin grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, looking forward to the Walter Foster drawing books she would receive as gifts from an aunt. For over 35 years, she has painted subjects as diverse as portraits to landscapes to chickens. A journey which started from art books, continued as an art major in college, led to her currently creating art using mixed media. From once capturing a moment in time with a photo-realistic approach, she now captures thoughts and concepts with a unique style incorporating handmade papers, paint, ink, and acrylic mediums on canvas and paper. Her work is held in private collections throughout the United States and in Europe. Rae has also participated in many invitational exhibitions and garnered numerous awards.
For “The Nature of Things”, Rae is continuing the theme of birds (mostly crows) in unusual landscapes. She likes the idea that they have other perches besides the ordinary tree. Just to liven things up a bit, she has also added to the mix a surprise appearance of a rabbit and some geckos.
Hay Ewe by Linda Jarvis
Linda Jarvis lives in a woodsy, rural area, and draws her inspiration from nature. “As an artist I have felt a personal responsibility to relay some sort of emotion by way of my work. My hope throughout my career has been to trigger an elemental awareness to our natural world, the delicate stability of our environment and the wildlife that live within,” she states. “It is this sense of interconnectedness that moves me to create work from observations of our natural surroundings.” Her fascination with animals, their interactions with each other, even with humans, their personal idiosyncrasies bring both beauty and humor to her painting, assemblage and sculpture. She works in mixed media, using acrylic, pastel, graphite and colored pencils, and gives new life to various collected found elements.
“I relish the opportunity to witness someone truly being pulled in, transfixed by a piece that perhaps portrays a crow manipulating an object in some way that bears witness to its amazing intelligence or, in a dream, the ability to grow wings and fly with avian creatures. If I’ve aroused laughter or thoughtfulness, I sense I have touched their center to pause in their imagination for just a moment.”
Tease 2 by Ellen Reichart
Ellen Reichart is a painter and printmaker whose inspiration comes from her reverence for nature, the impact of relationships, universal patterns that connect, and the constantly changing nuances and light patterns of the Pacific Northwest. Reichart works from memory and allows experimentation and dream images to guide her during the printmaking process. She enjoys the surprise each time she pulls the paper from the plate and a reversed image emerges. Though most her prints are monotypes (one time prints), she will often run the same paper through the press numerous times, adding or removing inks and shapes from the plate to create movement and texture. The artist is drawn to the challenge of merging inner and outer worlds. Her works are often described as haunting.
Crow - Moon II by Kathleen Snow
Kathleen Snow has worked in multiple media from fiber to polymer to painting, but her 30 year fascination with printmaking is her primary passion. “The endless variety of techniques from etching and lithograph to monoprints and relief printing provide constant challenge and stimulation.” Snow draws on inspiration from the life and landscape around her, images and forms evolving from realistic to abstract. Her current work reflects her continuing relationship to her neighborhood crows, cycles of growth, and her recent travels to Central America.
Northwind Reading Series
On Thursday, May 10 May 24, Northwind Reading Series features Jeannine Hall Gailey and Annette Spaulding-Convy.
Jeannine Hall Gailey is the Seattle-area author of Becoming the Villainess and She Returns to the Floating World, an Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal finalist for 2012. Her upcoming collaborative book of poetry and art, Unexplained Fevers, is forthcoming from Kitsune Books in 2013.
Annette Spaulding-Convy’s full length collection, In Broken Latin, will be published by the University of Arkansas Press in 2012 as a finalist for the Miller Williams Poetry Prize. Her chapbook, In The Convent We Become Clouds, won the 2006 Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
The complete description of this event is published here. These readings start at 7 p.m. in the Northwind Arts Center. For more information contact Bill Mawhinney 360-437-9081.
Northwind Arts Alliance is a non-profit community based art center featuring art, poetry readings, arts to elders, and special events, and is made possible with the help of over 100 volunteers.
