Saturday, August 28, 2010

Julie Alpert: Between Corson and Carleton


Between Corson and Carleton, watercolor, 17 x 13 inches
  • MFA University of Washington
  • 2009 GAP Grant recipient
  • Video was selected for the upcoming 2010-11 4Culture e4c electronic media cycle
  • SOIL member, shown at SAM Gallery, OHGE Ltd, SOIL, and Grey Gallery
  • Installation at KAC and currently at the KAC store. Was one of the 5 REDUX finalists last year.
Since moving to Seattle from Washington, DC, 4 years ago, I have been obsessively recording the neighborhood architecture that is so endemic to the Northwest. This particular blue shed I came upon on a walk through a Georgetown alley has recently become a favorite subject for me to paint. I am interested in the way that the shed functions as a dilapidated structure around which to lean and pile rocks, junk, and other random detritus.

Sharon Arnold: 20 B/p/m [page 2]

20 B/p/m [page 2], ink, Rives Heavyweight, 26 x 40 inches
 2010 REDUX Studio Challenge Award Nominee
  • Seattle-based artist and writer. She studied sculpture and art history at Pratt Institute, NYC, finishing Magna Cum Laude at Cornish College of the Arts in 2006.
  • Founder of the art blog Dimensions Variable/LxWxH
  • Arnold's work stems from unique and repetitive applications of traditional and non-traditional uses of paper. The imagery manifests as fictional cartography or mythology; combining the idea of mapping with suggestions of de-coding, language, and rhythm.
Language, maps, and music are, simply put, architecture. They are the  foundation of a systematic and rhythmic code upon which we build our stories, our dreams, and our desires. This piece comes from a repetitive series of drawings where I pursue a place to become lost in my own devised moments. I am seeking solace in each little frame; I am seeking freedom through structure.

Zack Bent: Spillway


Spillway, archival inkjet, 16 x 20 inches
2010 REDUX Studio Challenge Award Nominee
  • Individual Artist Grant 4Culture 2010
  • MFA UW 2008
  • CityArtist Project Award from City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs 2010
  • Exhibited in KAC's False Proof, 2009
My undergraduate degree was in Architecture and social spatial concerns are always present in my work. Current projects have addressed architecture in relationship to play, survival and phenomenology often involving my family as performers. The photograph I have submitted for REDUX is the edge of new series of work that looks at the hidden interiors of architecture; forgotten and obscured spaces.

Dorothy Bonneau: Toscana Ricordata


Toscana Ricordata, acrylic, 30 x 24 inches
  • KAC member since 1996
  • Tampa University, artist in residence at Reinhart College, apprenticed 7 years with Chatovs of Atlanta
  • One of the founders of the Women’s Caucus for Art in the Tampa Bay area
  • Participant in Tacoma Art Museum’s Biannual
“Toscana Ricordata” follows my current trend of a more abstract/expressionist approach. These are remembrances of Old Town Perugia.  It seemed to us that the ancient city was still right there. Ghosts, still living, superimposed on our own reality.

Eric Chamberlain: Beach House Still Life


Beach House Still Life, oil on canvas, 18 x 24 inches
  • MFA SMU, BFA University of Washington
  • Teaches at Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle
  • Will be attending Vermont Studio Center in January 2011
I have working on imagined still lives in a non-discript area.  I used the theme “architecture” to place a still life in a specific area or structure; a beach house.

Tim Cross: Outpost

Outpost, ink and acrylic on canvas on panel, 24 x 26 inches
2010 REDUX Studio Challenge Award Nominee
  • Solo exhibition: "La La Land" at Edmonds Community College, 2010
  • Member, SOIL Gallery, Seattle
  • Neddy Award Nominee, 2009
  • Instructor at KAC
Outpost is inspired by the simple idea of creating a place from which to observe the world.  It is a architectural space created as a shelter from the elements, a place to dwell.  It is also a metaphorical space, a symbol for our viewpoint, a physical manifestation of our choices.  A subtler aspect of this work is the use of the structure of a dirigible that has landed and nested in this composition.  It was once a free flying airship capable of surveying the land  and now it has settled down into the landscape, earth bound.  Of course the potential for this ship to rise again and become a traveling vessel is my joy in this work, to be grounded and at peace but always with the option to fly again and move to another point of view. 

Mary Mac: Square Dancers


Square Dancers, monotype: shellac plate on wood, latex paint and nails, 20 x 30 inches
  • A studio printmaker at Kirkland Arts Center since 2003
  • BFA in Printmaking from Valdosta State University
  • Mary Mac’s narrative Monoprints focus on young ladies and their individual stories.
  • Exhibits work at Parklane Gallery, Kirkland
For REDUX I had to think about Architecture and its role in the lives of my young ladies.  My Husband and I love to go on back road driving trips; he loves the driving the curvy winding roads and I love the scenery in all the old towns.  The old clap-board houses with their years of repainting in of the colors popular to the time  inspired me for this project. I dreamed of the ladies who have lived in these houses in years past and what  they were like.

Rochelle Dammel: Rain or Shine

Rain or Shine, oil, 30 x 48 inches
  • Participation in 2009 REDUX
  • Forgotten Works 30 in 30, 2009
  • Studied art and life in France for 2 years from 2003-05
Northwest buildings allow the rain and sun to play upon the shine of their sides, resulting in a dripping combination of colors that changes as busy life passes and with the day’s fading light.  I’ve allowed the paint’s vertical path to me help choose where I construct my shapes. If a building can interact with its surroundings it becomes the perfect combination of art and science.

Curtis Erlinger: Sparrow Window

Sparrow Window, concrete, tile, acrylic, paper, beveled glass, c-print, 21 x 7 x 1.5 inches
  • Instructor at KAC (Beginning Acrylic and Continuing Acrylic).
  • Exhibition of new work at Punch Gallery (October 2010).
  • Member of SOIL Artist Collective (2010).
  • Instructor at Pratt (Teen Painting & Drawing).
Composed of found architectural elements (flooring and glass) gleaned from an abandoned house (in Buffalo, NY), Sparrow Window serves as a memorial for birds that stop short after flying into glass.

Justin Gibbens: Heavy Metal Thunder


Heavy Metal Thunder, watercolor, ink, gouache on paper, 16 x 20 inches
2010 REDUX Studio Challenge Award Nominee
  • 2008 Artist Trust Fellowship Award Recipient
  • 2006  Pollock-Krasner Award Recipient
  • Received a certificate in Scientific Illustration in 2003 from UW
  • Ran my first marathon this past Spring
Continuing with his signature brand of subversive natural history Gibbens has returned to creepy crawlers with this watercolor illustration of a life-sized barn spider. In considering natural architecture found within the animal kingdom, Gibbens depicts the geometry of the spider’s web, and in doing so tips his hat to E. B. White’s classic tale.

Cable Griffith: The Tower

The Tower, contact paper, turf paper, plexiglas, 12 x 12 inches

Not eligible for the REDUX Studio Challenge award
  • KAC Exhibitions Director 
  • Member, SOIL Gallery
  • 2009 PONCHO Merit Award Winner
  • 2008 4Culture Individual Project Award
The Tower is built from cut strips of faux wood contact paper, assembled and arranged on eight separate layers of Plexiglas.  The layers of Plexiglas act as a spatial foundation for the illusion of structure and form to be built upon.  The result is a combination of 2D collage and layered relief in an attempt to make flat space seem actual. The tower form is part of an ongoing reference in my work to man-made structures that are built with hierarchical intentions, be they physical, social, or personal.  This piece was made possible in part by a 2008 4Culture Individual Artist Project award.

Troy Gua: The Golden Archetype


The Golden Archetype, digital print, 13.75 x 16.75 inches
  • Second year participating in the REDUX Studio Challenge
  • Donated piece is in conjunction with REDUX MOmA wing
  • Several shows this year including ‘Monument’ at Fulcrum, Tacoma,‘Meet Greet Rinse Repeat’, at Monarch, Seattle, ‘Pop This’ with Mike Leavitt at Northwind Arts Center, Port Townsend ‘Friends For Sale’ at Canoe Social Club in November
  • Continued success with Seattle Art Museum Gallery
The Golden Archetype’ is a mock architectural blueprint of a building that combines my fascination with American mass culture with the most ancient and awesome of architectural achievements, the pyramid. My work continues to be informed by American mass culture, and nothing epitomizes that culture more than the cheeseburger, except for a giant, multi-stack cheeseburger.  With this piece, I’m alluding to the American attitude of anything you can do, we can do better’ as well as to our contemporary societal tendencies toward excess

Lois Harbaugh: Spirit House

Spirit House, light box with mixed media objects, 15 x 13.25 x 15.5 inches

  • Represented by Pacini Lubel Gallery in Pioneer Square.
  • Juried into Northwest Designer Craftsmen  
  • Featured in Lark Books and Ceramics Monthly
Spirit ... shelter... dwelling...

Barbara Hennig: San Giorgio Maggiore Floats in the Morning Mist

San Giorgio Maggiore Floats in the Morning Mist, photograph, 17 x 21 inches
  • BA & MA in Art History with a concentration in studio art as well.
  • I’ve enjoyed working in many artistic arenas such as museums, galleries and education institutions using my artistic skills in both fine and commercial art ventures.
  • Resident Ceramic Artist at Kirkland Art Center since 2006.
  • Docent at the Seattle Art Museum and the Bellevue Art Museum for many years.
I’ve always loved the camera as an artistic medium. In more recent years, it has become, in many ways my sketchbook. However, in this case the final product is the photo. I cannot imagine another art form giving this image as much justice. I took this photo in a mist so common to Venice, Italy. To me, the idea of architecture is one of something solid, weighty and lasting. This, of course, is represented well in the classical structure of San Giorgio Maggiore. What delights me about this image is the contrast between this massive building and how it floats on the water. The ephemeral quality of that comparison relates well with the narrative of much of my work.

Cynthia Hibbard: Cowiche

Cowiche, monotype and shellac-late print

  • KAC Member’s Exhibit 2010
  • Exhibited at Bowman Gallery in Anacortes in May 2010. 
  • Upcoming show at Allied Arts of Yakima Valley Sept 9-Oct. 28, juried by Gail Gibson.
  • Painting for 10 years and print-making for three. 
  • BA and Masters’ degrees in journalism and certificates in mystery writing and forensics.
This piece reflects one current focus of my work—paintings and print images of Yakima Canyon and 2,000-acre Cowiche Canyon Conservancy, supported by a 25-year-old non-profit group dedicated to preserving and enhancing the natural terrain of the Yakima Valley region.  This particular piece depicts the start of an 85-mile trail system the group is building between Cowiche Canyon and Mount Rainier in conjunction with the William O Douglas Trail foundation.

Christopher Martin Hoff: Northwest School Architecure

Northwest School Architecture, oil on linen, 20 x 16 inches

  • Awarded Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grants in 2003 and 2010 to document World Trade Center construction in Lower Manhattan through 2015.
  • Published in New American Paintings Magazine Issues: #73 (2008) and #85 (2010).
  • Represented by Linda Hodges Gallery since 2004.
For this year’s theme of Architecture I’ve chosen a slightly tongue-in-cheek approach, focusing on some of the juxtapositions (and influences) between the Northwest’s topography and the structures that have been built here. Compositionally, the low horizon line and big sky of the painting are meant to suggest 17th Century Dutch landscape painting. Instead of the swiftly moving clouds and rectilinear canals usually seen in paintings of Holland’s Lowlands, here I’ve depicted a clear Northwest Summer day and the curved fissures of I-5 as it cuts southward towards Mt Rainier.

Lyla Jacobsen: Red Roofed Community

 Red Roofed Community, watercolor on paper, 17 x 21 inches
  • Member, student and volunteer at KAC
  • Have been juried into many Puget Sound Art Shows
  • Several paintings chosen for exhibition posters, a Garden Tour poster, and cover of Daniel Smith Catalog, Winter 2009
  • Member of the Eastside Assoc. of Fine Art, NWWS, and  represented by Kaewyn Gallery in Bothell and Candler Gallery in Alberta.
“Red Roofed Community” represents to me the many old buildings I have seen on European travels. I like old buildings and especially red roofed ones. This painting of simple architecture developed after firstly, quickly painting a row of red roofs across my painting surface.

Jihee Kim: Beautiful Jewel House

Beautiful Jewel House, freshwater pearl, sterling silver, amethyst, carnelian, peridot & more
  • Kirkland Artists Studio Tour (KAST) 2010
  • Art Walk run by Kirkland Council 2010
  • MBA at George Washington University
“The beautiful jewel house” is made of all different colors and shapes of semi-precious stones such as carnelian, amethyst, peridot, freshwater pearl, lemon quartz, smoky quartz, Swiss blue topaz, and Citrine.  Crochet technique was used to build the body of house and stones were wire wrapped with sterling silver and copper wire.  The sterling silver chain was oxidized.

Jess Marie: Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home, watercolor and thread on paper, 11.75 x 15.75 inches

  • Exhibited in New York and Seattle
  • Upcoming show at Some Space Gallery, Seattle in May, 2011.
  • 2009 REDUX Installation Manager for Kirkland Arts Center
  • Bachelors of Arts from Seattle Pacific University
My work reflects on the relationship between place and identity through uses of map imagery, womanly craft, and family photographs.  Home Sweet Home is inspired by rural home decor and common symbols of domesticity. Using traditional watercolor and embroidery techniques, I've stitched a grid of old and new Bellevue onto a painted replica of a found print. This piece references the clash between what Bellevue is now and what I wished it had been, growing up there.

Kevin McCarthy: From the Ground Up

From the Ground Up, acrylic on paper, 24 x 18 inches
  • 2010, (Dec) OK Hotel, Science Won’t Save You
  • 2010, Twilight Artist Collective. Bad Words
  • 2009, Some Space, Two person exhibition with Robert Hardgrave
  • 2009, Art in Great Spaces / Project installation in Everett
I have always been visually drawn to objects with external references that imply an internal system or process, such as refineries, generators and the human figure. I see Architecture as an extension of our minds and bodies. The properties that describe the figure are interchangeable with the vocabulary of Architecture; structure, gesture, weight and displacement. I created my piece with the intention of representing and describing both physical and mental space.

Ryan Molenkamp: 95 Place

95 Place, oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inches
  • Exhibited at Vermillion, SOIL, Kirkland Arts Center, Tacoma Public Library
  • Curator of The Portrait Challenge at Bumbershoot 2010
  • Contributing writer for City Arts Magazine and City Arts Blog
  • Security Manager of the Frye Art Museum + 2 time Golden Ladle Chili Cook-Off winner.
The work I have done for the Place series has a great deal to do with structures built across landscape.  Man-made architecture is apparent in the lines and shapes that form of these works.  95 Place, which I created for this project, is no exception.   As I close out this series (100 Place will be the last one) I feel the works are becoming more about the shapes and way we parcel out our world in line and form.

David Repyak: Homestead

Homestead, acrylic, 7 x 21 inches.
  • K-8 Art Instructor with KAC
  • 2009 KAC Members' Exhibit
  • American Watercolor Society apprentice
  • Artwork inspired from Eastern Washington prairie
Looking through the window of an abandoned 1900’s homestead that is decaying back into Earth, I see a beautiful contrast of life continuing. At one time, this dwelling and its' inhabitants, were as vibrant as the prairie grass itself. My aim is to help people witness that life is unfolding in a wild – never ending cycle – indifferent to the physical remnants of a manmade world. We all have our moment in the sun, and we can all be re-born.

Joanne Shellan: KAC on Art

KAC on Art, oil on board, 24 x 18 inches
  • Winner of several awards: Strathmore Award, International Artist/ADG Award, Chuck Webster Award, and 1st Place in the Art of our Mothers exhibition
  • Awarded coveted Signature Membership with the Northwest Watercolor Society
  • Selected to design posters for the Eastside Association of Fine Art and Shoreline Arts Festival
  • Shellan is represented by five Pacific Northwest Galleries 
There are times in life we are given something so important that we need to continually pay homage to the source of that knowledge. I believe in honoring those origins. Although I’ve done art all my life and received a minor in art at university, I first learned to paint at the Kirkland Arts Center. Art changes lives and the KAC changed mine.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Al Slatin: Milano

Milano, watercolor, 15 X 19 inches
  • KAC Member
  • Participated in the 2009 REDUX Studio Challenge
I have always been fascinated by older buildings and how they reflect the society that created them. This Milanese doorway illustrates the inward looking nature of Italian society, with its ancient art theme and massive style, not to mention its mood.

Barbara Solomon: It Has to Be Green

 It Has to Be Green, monoprint, 24 x 18 inches
  •  This piece was printed at KAC in Kamla Kakaria's Continuing Printmaking.
  • Making monoprints since 2006.  Artwork has appeared in a number of juried shows including the 2010 Artists Trust of Washington Auction and the 2009 and 2010 KAC Members’ shows.
  • More of my images of birds are on display through November at Salon Lotus near Green Lake in Seattle and on blogspot/bsolomonprints.com.    
  • Note:  Female weaver finches will reject a nest which has begun to dry out and is no longer a shiny green color.
How would an architect create a nest for the weaver finches of Sub-Saharan Africa?  Starting from my observations of an actual weaver’s nest, I have described the solution as a human architect might in both words and images.  My architect has hung a nest in his office and decoded the actions of the weaver finches.  Birds contained and escaping have been the primary theme of my work for the last three years.

Whiting Tennis: Portrait of Frank Lloyd Wright


 Portrait of Frank Lloyd Wright, oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches

  • Schnitzer Prize in 2008
  • Neddy Award in 2006
  • Represented by Greg Kucera Gallery since 2005
Since just about everything I've made in the last five years relates at least remotely to architecture, making a portrait of America's most famous would both help me avoid deciding what kind of work to donate, and at the same time, simultaneously subvert and fulfill the genre selection (hopefully in a fun way). It also presents a challenge, since I'm very bad at painting portraits.

    Liz Tran: Home


     Home, paper, Ink, Acrylic, Graphite and Beeswax on Panel, 24” x 30”
    • Purchase Award, Seattle Public Utilities Portable Works Collection
    • Full Fellowship Award, Clowes Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
    • Recently completed a residencies at the Association of Icelandic Visual artists in Reykjavik, Iceland and The Marnay Art Centre in Marnay sur Seine, France.
    Home fits happily into the same world that the rest of my work resides in.  This world consists of rainbow trees, striped tents and pink and green spotted streets.  There is no grey and there definitely is no winter.

    Joey Veltkamp: They Dwell

     They Dwell, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 20 inches.
    2010 REDUX Studio Challenge Award Nominee
    • 2010 Neddy Nominee (painting)
    • Artist-in-Residence, Seattle University (2009)
    • Host of City Arts Best Of Art Walk Award & After Party
    By focusing on the architecture of tipis I am able to continue my biographical series of paintings that represent real and/or fictionalized narratives of important events in my life.  In They Dwell, I am addressing my prevalent childhood fantasy of being a reincarnated Indian (later to be “confirmed” by a palm reader in New Orleans).