Primavera: New Work for Spring opens on First Friday, April 1st, 2011, at the Columbia Art Gallery and extends through May 1st. The public is invited to the artist reception on Friday, April 1st from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.
Show curator Sally Reichmuth says; “As we welcome spring, we think of the exuberant and vernal energy of the natural world around us. Fourteen artists from the Gorge and from Portland strive to represent that energy in new works in “Primavera” at the Columbia Art Gallery this April.”
The show originated with a proposal from a group of watercolor artists “FLOW” from the greater Portland area. The vibrancy of color and transparency of the watercolor medium is expressive of the light of the season and the brightness of spring color.
Participating Artists
Artist Reception
You are cordially invited to participate in the artist reception on Friday, April 1st from 6 to 8pm.
The fourteen participating artists work in a range of media, including watercolor, jewelry, ceramics and glass, as follows.
Watercolor
- Beth Verheyden
- Bart DeGraaf
- Carol Manfredi
- Gina Lock
- Kara Pilcher
- Susie Schreiber
- Suzi Blaisdell
- Yvonne Knoll
Ceramics
Two ceramicists take nature’s inspiration but express it quite differently:
- Susannah Lints of Vancouver works with low-fire terra cotta in a majolica style with lyrical allusions to nature inspired by her garden.
- Michele Rigert, a Portland ceramicist, uses high-fire porcelain to create elegant vessels and plates which evoke the structure and texture of nature’s patterns of growth.
Jewelry
Jewelry is also featured in this show in the works of two artists who again use the natural world as the jumping off point for their creativity:
- Shawn Daughton casts jewelry that often has botanical themes, and is inspired by nature and by music
- Rebecca Bashara, who works with her collaborator, Scott McDonald, utilizes nature itself in the form of beautiful, smooth river rock, found locally, and elevated into beautifully tooled silver settings to make brooches, earrings and pendants.
Glass Sculpture
Finally, Laurel Marie Hagner an artist new to our area and owner of Glassometry, a glass studio in the upper Hood River valley, works in cast and blown glass to create dynamic lines and scale in her glass sculptures.
More Information
For more information, please call Columbia Center for the Arts at 541-387-8877 during Center hours: Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.