This month we will be featuring Stan Peterson’s intimate and autobiographical carved and painted basswood sculptures in the exhibit “Observations”.

Stan has exhibited his wood sculptures in Portland for more than 30 years- he was one of the original artists represented by Jamison Thomas Gallery. He currently lives in Oakland, California.

Stan says about this Exhibition:

“I walk every day.   Often by water, I look at birds and dogs and let my mind wander.  This all started out Portland many years ago when I was a mail carrier in the Southeast.”

Stan will be in Portland at the gallery for our opening reception on First Thursday, May 3rd from 5-9 PM.

Please join us at the gallery for the opening reception!!

Jennifer Zika “Eastern Europe : Close Ups”

April 3rd-30th

In conjunction with Portland’s 2^nd Annual Photo Month the Annie Meyer Artwork Gallery will feature Jennifer Zika’s photographs

This body of work was photographed in 2006 during a whirlwind trip through several countries and cities in Eastern Europe with her family and relatives from Eastern Europe exploring their common roots.  The photographs focus on Bratislava, Slovakia.

Jennifer pursued photography with her uncle’s Yashika 35mm camera at Bowling Green State University because she was inspired by black and white photos taken of her family from the early 1900’s.   Jennifer’s photos are primarily inspired by the simple yet poignant discoveries in every day life, often while traveling to foreign places. Her strict study of straight photography has influenced an awareness of documenting unique visual findings, either by abstracting parts of the whole, by capturing the moment when the timing presents itself, or by attempting to show a scene in all its grandeur, without manipulation.  The old Yashika was stolen years ago. She now uses an old Nikon F and prefers the simplicity of the darkroom to the exponential offerings of the digital era.

Jennifer has participated in both group and solo shows in Portland, San Francisco, and Cleveland. She is the Director of the Portland Art Museum’s Rental Sales Gallery, and is well known and loved by many of us in the Portland Art Community!

Please come to our opening reception First Thursday, April 5th from 6-9 pm!

This month we are featuring Manya Shapiro’s sculptures in an exhibit entitled Grids. In this exhibit, Manya Shapiro explores the form of the grid as both a garment image and a basis for abstract sculpture. She considers her work a dialogue with materials and their transformation.

Shapiro says of her work:

“I like to juxtapose non-traditional, contemporary materials (wire, screen, and plastic) with traditional textile forms. For this show, I have taken the grid as a design element and basis for experimenting, using it as an inspiration for weaving, piecing and stitching.” Shapiro takes these unconventional materials and weaves them into dresses, quilts, and baskets that pay homage to women’s traditional craftwork through the ages. Shapiro is a well known member of the art community in Portland, and her work has been exhibited in Portland for the last 30 years. Shapiro’s wire sculpture dresses are in the permanent collection at The Nines Hotel.

Please join us for First Thursday on March 1, 2012, 5-9pm. The exhibit will run from March 1-31, 2012.

In February we will feature recent landscape paintings and monotypes by Mia Meyer. This will be her painting exhibition debut. Meyer is well known in Portland for her fused glass work. She also has strong ties with the art community as an art teacher in PPS Sunnyside Environmental School.

Artist’s Statement for Mia Meyer:
Mia Meyer was raised near the shores of Lake Superior in Northern Wisconsin. While this body of work is based on Eastern Oregon and Washington landscapes, she attributes the undulating patterns, shapes and colors in her work to childhood observations of the changing colors and shapes of the Great Lake of her childhood.

Be sure to join us for First Thursday, February 2, 6-9 p.m. This will be a great chance to meet Mia and learn more about her work. We always have wine tasting by K & M Winery, so come early and join the fun!

Image: Exhale, 12 x 12″, acrylic

Petits Trésors/Little Treasures

First Thursday, January 5, 2012, 6-9 p.m.
Exhibit runs: January 30, 2012

Gregg and Jaqueline will be exhibiting the latest in their beautiful “NaturaDesigns’: encaustic wax creations on metal with bits of nature incorporated in the design.  They live in Sequim, Washington, but will be here for the artist reception on First Thursday from 5-9pm.  They are known to many Portlanders as juried artists in Art in the Pearl Festival. They won Best of Show at the Festival in 2008.

In addition, Larry McLaughlin’s “Cochons” cement sculptures, and Natali Warren’s ceramics will be on exhibit.

I will be exhibiting my latest paintings from my 18th year of traveling to the Sancerre region of France for a September plein air painting sabbatical.  I focused this year on some single trees.  Small little acrylic/gouache paintings.  I have been expanding the work to some oil monotypes based on our beautiful fall colors this year in Portland. Both bodies of work will be available.

Gregg and Jaqueline will be exhibiting the latest in their beautiful “NaturaDesigns’: encaustic wax creations on metal with bits of nature incorporated in the design.  They live in Sequim , Washington, but will be here for the artist reception on First Thursday from 5-9pm.  They are known to many Portlanders as juried artists in Art In The Pearl Festival. They won Best of Show at the Festival in 2008.

I will be exhibiting my latest paintings from my 18th year of traveling to the Sancerre region of France for a September plein air painting sabbatical.  I focused this year on some single trees.  Small little acrylic/gouache paintings.  I have been expanding the work to some oil  monotypes based on our beautiful fall colors this year in Portland. Both bodies of work will be available.

Come down, have a glass of wine or cheer, and visit with us this first Thursday. The show will remain up through the month.

New Beginnings: A Celebration of Possibility
Featuring Raquel Edwards in November
Artist Reception, First Thursday, November 3, 6-9 p.m.

New Beginnings: A Celebration of Possibility is the result of a 2011 Regional Arts & Culture Commission Project Grant. “Created during a time of personal and creative transition, these works utilize the visual language of plant and animal forms to explore the promise, as well the fragility that accompanies starting all over again. They are inspired by hope, daring and the wonder found in nature’s little details.”

For the past decade, Raquel Edwards has been a silver gelatin printmaker, winning multiple awards and inclusion in numerous corporate and private collections. In 2009, after a long struggle with the environmental pollution and egregious water usage that the silver gelatin process requires, she began printing digitally. After a few months, her enthusiasm for the process waned. Missing the hands-on process of the darkroom, but not wanting to return to an environmentally harmful process, Edwards began to experiment with combining encaustic and photography. Made from natural materials (beeswax and tree sap), generating very little waste, free from solvents and chemicals—encaustic was the perfect solution. 

Image: Out on a Limb © Raquel Edwards

Come in Peep It, or How to Romanticize
in the 21st Century

First Thursday, October 6, 6-9 p.m.
Exhibit Shows October 1-31, 2011

Portland artist David Shratter will exhibit his pen and ink drawings during the month of October. Shratter’s urban Portland landscapes are drawn outside, directly from the sidewalk. Be sure to take in his interpretation of local urban scenes. Meet David Shratter and Annie Meyer and enjoy wine tasting by K&M Winery on First Thursday, October 6 from 6-9 p.m.

Born in Pittsburg, PA, David Shratter has been a popular Portland artist for over 20 years. Originally an oil painter, Shratter embraced pen and ink drawing in 2005. It was after painting his first landscape in Greece, that Shratter turned from still life to exploring the urban landscape of Portland. Shratter can be found sitting for hours on any given Portland sidewalk. Preferring to draw directly from observation, the noise, smells and passersby become integrated into the character of each piece. 

“Since 2005 I have worked exclusively in pen and ink on rice paper. Pen and ink lends itself to much detail and complexity which results in a wonderful expression of character. Unlike oil paints, pen and ink is a medium that challenges with an unforgiving attitude. Mistakes often mean starting over completely. The rewards, however, are immense. I am able to work with an immediacy and spontaneity that encourages intimacy and living in the moment. I have a great love for painting and drawing outside. In the end my work is about creating intimacy with the world around me”. 

Shratter’s work can be found in many public collections including the Tacoma Art Museum, Oregon Health Sciences University, and Regional Arts and Culture Council, Portable Works.

Preview: Wed., August 31, 2011 5-7pm
Opening Reception: First Thursday, September 1, 2011 5-9pm

In conjunction with Leo Michelson, Annie Meyer Artwork Gallery presents an exhibition featuring the unique works of 21 artists with fascinating cross sections of ideas in box assemblage from the Pacific Northwest. Michelson, a passionate art enthusiast and collector of over 100 assemblages, has been organizing shows since 1985. His enthusiasm for this art medium was cultured in the 1960s while visiting museums and galleries in New York and being introduced to the many works of American Artist Joseph Cornell.

An assemblage is an artistic process. In the visual arts, it consists of making three-dimensional artistic compositions / vignettes putting together found objects of various mediums shown in ‘boxes’.

Cornell is one of the pioneers and most celebrated exponents of assemblage. His most characteristic works were simple boxed assemblages created from found objects. The boxes were fronted with a glass plane in which he arranged surprising collections of photographs. The result combined the formal austerity of Constructivism with the living fantasy of Surrealism. Today, many artists continue to gain inspiration from his work.

Image: Heidi Kirkpatrick, Reveal

Annie Meyer Artwork Gallery
120 NW 9^th Avenue, Suite 102
Portland, Oregon 97209
www.anniemeyergallery.com
503.224.3150