ANNIE MEYER ARTWORK GALLERY

In conjunction with the Photolucida convention this weekend the gallery will also be presenting recent digital photographs by Susan Dimitman. These abstract photos are from images taken a Fort Stevens, WA.

Photolucida will be hosting an Artwalk from 5-7 PM this Saturday April 20th. We will be featuring Heidi Kirkpatrick and Susan Dimitman’s photographic work.

Susan’s exhibition also includes body of monotypes created at Crow’s Shadow Print Studio this past year. We will be having a reception for her work on First Thursday, May 2nd from 6-9 pm. The exhibit will remain up till June 15th.
Susan writes about her recent work: “…When the light is right and the image isolated, there’s a breathless, heart-quickening moment as the camera shutter snaps and my vision is captured. It’s a thrill that beckons for more. Photography is my first love, but these days I get the same joy of anticipation from a monotype rolling off the press. There it is—a unique picture, born of some subconscious feeling at that moment in time.

I’ve been making photographs for over 40 years, starting with black and white silver gelatin prints and moving on to digital giclée color on textured paper. Recent work at Crow’s Shadow Center for the Arts near Pendleton provided the alchemy for my recent prints.”

As part of the Portland Photo Month in conjunction with Photolucida the gallery will be presenting recent photographs on found objects by Portland photographer Heidi Kirkpatrick.

Opening reception will be First Thursday April 4th from 6-9 pm.

The gallery is pleased to present a series of plein air oil paintings by Anton Pavlenko. Born in the Ukraine, Anton moved with his family to Portland when he was 4 years old. He taught himself to paint as a child, and has pursued painting as a career since 2007. This is his first gallery exhibit in Portland.

Anton’s artist statement:

‘My work is rooted in a deep appreciation for nature-just the way it is. I enjoy painting outdoors alone because it’s when I feel a strong connection to nature and especially to God the Creator. Approaching a landscape painting, I always strive to paint from a state of flow-when every stroke is swift and effortless. This happens when I am genuinely captivated by a scene and give an honest and intuitive response.”

Anton’s paintings will be exhibited through April 14th. A reception for the artist will be held First Thursday March 7th from 5-9 pm.

The gallery will be hosting a special Valentine evening First Thursday  with an assortment of Valentine related specials. We will be featuring Eric Boyer’s mesh figure sculptures, Annie’s Valentine monotypes for you or your sweetheart, K & M wine, and the special chocolatier  Vanessa from Smitten Truffles. She will bring her amazing yummy chocolate  truffles to sample and buy!   Come on down!

Thanks to all of you who visited the Gallery in the past year and we hope you enjoyed your holidays!

We will be closed for this first week in January, and will continue with the exhibit of the last month for the rest of the month. The gallery will reopen on January 9th.  Happy New Year!!!

For this Holiday Exhibit, I will present work from my September journeys to France, Portugal, and Eastern Oregon.  I spent time this year in Portugal, staring out on the Atlantic Ocean, musing about the people who sail away to other lands. There is a word in Portuguese, “saudade”, described as collective mood in the Portuguese people:  an unresolved longing or nostalgia-connected with the sea and the loss of their people either by accidents at sea or sailing away.   That word “Saudude” I will embrace as a term for my own moodiness and perhaps what it is I am aiming to say with my big sky paintings and the lonely but comforting sea.

The gallery is also pleased to present the jewelry of Ann Scott and charcoal drawings of April Coppini for our Holiday exhibit. We would be delighted to see you there!

You are Here is an exhibit of oil paintings by artist Shawn Demarest that portray Portland streets. Funded by a 2012 RACC (Regional Arts and Culture) project grant, this body of work is a continuation of Demarest’s exploration of city scenes  but at larger scales.  This body of work focuses on Portland street views from the vantage point of a pedestrian, motorist or cyclist.  Demarest chooses scenes that might seem mundane, yet the colors, lights, atmosphere, and handling of the paint make these modest views intimate and special. The paintings range from 24”x32” to 60”x60”. Demarest’s project request was fully funded and two paintings from her 2011 exhibit, Small in a Big Place, were purchased by RACC for their Portable Works Collection.

Shawn Demarest Statement:

My work is a response to my surroundings. Whether painting from observation or in the studio, my natural drive is to represent the visual world I find myself in. I study the way nature, through weather and light, affect the urban environment. Currently, as a resident of Portland, OR, I am painting neighborhood and industrial views. This work represents city streets I walk, bike, or drive on. All of my paintings, both studio and observation, begin as loose, gestural drawings. As they develop, my interest turns to more formal aspects of painting:  edge, contrast, and composition.

The scenes I choose to paint I happen upon unexpectedly.  They represent times when I am most in touch with my place in the world: the sun turning a wet street into a blinding field of white, a cobalt sky against a line of approaching headlights, or a hazy pink atmosphere cut by innumerable power lines. These moments become thresholds.  A door opens, and there is time to pause, before continuing to the next place. Time slows for a bit and I catch my spiritual breath.  In the studio I aim to re-enter that golden space and re-create the feeling of it through paint.

The Project Grant I received from The Regional Arts and Culture Council has provided funds to assist me in creating this body of new work. Specifically, I am exploring painting at a larger scale, experimenting with different types of pigments, and further developing the concepts behind my work.

The exhibit will run from Nov 1st-30th

Please join us for Shawn’s reception First Thursday Nov 1st from 5-9 pm. We will also be featuring wines by K&M Winery.

Eric Boyer’s  Wire Mesh Sculptures 

“The Spectral Body”  

First Thursday Reception Oct 4th,  5-9 pm

Exhibition Dates Oct 4-28th

The gallery is pleased to be presenting the recent wire mesh sculptures of nationally known sculptor Eric Boyer.

Eric started to experiment with wire mesh in the 1980′s, and was naturally attracted to this unusual medium’s propensity for optical illusion and sensual form. His sculptures interpreting the human form have attracted international attention as well as local acclaim. He maintains a studio in Southeast Portland where he lives with his wife, a couple teenagers, and a menagerie of pets.

The gallery will be exhibiting a collection of Larry McLaughlin’s recent sculptures and monotypes  this month. His work has been a part of my home, gallery and life for the last twenty years, and I have had the pleasure and the honor to be with him through the years as he makes his work, so am intimately familiar with the process of his assemblage.

Larry exhibits his work throughout United States, Canada, and Europe, and in public and private collections.  He resides half the year in Phoenix, AZ, and the other half of the year in France.

We will exhibit a series of monotypes on board,  figurative cement sculptures, and his brilliant hilarious family of Cochons.

Please join us for the opening reception First Thursday , September  6th from 5-9 pm.

The gallery is pleased to present the hand knit paper crochets paper sculptures of Viviana Santamarina for the month of August.

Viviana lives in California, and exhibits her work around the United States.   She crochets the paper sculptures with a pencil.

Viviana says about her work:  “About the knitting:  By turning humble tools like pencils into hooks and paper into strips allows me to leave graphite traces while the paper is being knitted, a deconstructed drawing of sorts. While the stitches grow interdependence grows as well. The tension that both elements generate a structural and narrative balance by circling what it is and giving edge to the void.  It is in the maze of symmetrical stitches that grow up by saturating the space and closing on itself.

It is through the need to create artifacts which fulfill the basic functions of everyday life, that humanity engraved the first traces of Culture, from knitted blankets and quilts to woven fishing nets, intertwining the threads of human experience that compromise the fabric of life.

Knitting men and women discovered, almost without  searching, the first manifestation of order, thought-structure, progressive rhythms as well as mathemetical and geometrical experiences while in the creative trance that knitting induces.”

Please join us for an opening reception with the artist this First Thursday , August 2nd from 6-9 pm.