The Arts Center | Arts at the Center of Life

EXHIBITIONS

Artists @ Work

Dates: Jul 2, 2011 to Jul 27, 2011

Participating Artist(s):
[Jump to the exhibit description...]

Julia Lont, 'Jerry and Carol 2011'

Artists @ Work

Generally, the Main Gallery at The Arts Center is dedicated to artwork made far away from the visitors' eyes in a private studio, out in the field, or even in a classroom. For this 'exhibit,' we have broken with tradition by welcoming four artists to turn our main gallery into their studio, and open up their creative process to the public! During Artists @ Work, Gale Everett from Albany, Elaine Green and Julia Lont from Corvallis, and Kendal Hathaway from Phoenix AZ will set up temporary work spaces and create art while you watch -- the artists will be ON SITE from 12pm - 5pm, Tuesdays - Saturdays during the show (and extended hours during daVinci Days).

The four artists' work is diverse in techniques and inspiration. Elaine and Julia give a large role to photographs in their work, even though their finished work is not photography at all. For Elaine the photographs are a starting point, and Julia works them into her collage/transfers that are made using egg tempera. Gale and Kendal find their inspiration in nature: Gale emulates plant life while Kendal looks to the landscape.

In addition to stopping by the gallery to see the Artists @ Work, you can follow along online at two of the artists' blogs:

Elaine’s blog: http://blackthumbtales.wordpress.com/
Gale’s blog: http://sticksstonesnpaperstew.wordpress.com
Kendal's blog: http://blog.kendalhathaway.com/

Visitor Participation is Welcome!

All four artists have expressed an interest in a dialog with the public, so you are free to observe, ask questions, give feedback and even participate ANY TIME. In addition to 'free form' visitor participation, each of the artists has also set aside specific times & projects to work with visitors (see artist info below for more details):

Elaine Green: July 2nd, 2 -3 PM Blind drawing exercise: some basic materials will be provided, or bring your own (see About Elaine below for more info)
Julia Lont: ongoing during the exhibit, and outside The Arts Center during daVinci Days Festival (July 15, 16, 17). Memories on a Laundry Line project (see the Events Page for more in-depth information about participation). Contact Julia if you have questions about participating!
Gale Everett: July 23, noon – 4 PM, Make seedpods for the BLOOM installation (see About Gale below for more info)
Kendal Hathaway: tba

About the Artists @ Work:

Gale Everett is known to come up with imaginative designs such as structures covered in paper or gut. During Artists @ Work, she will create a large site-specific installation titled “BLOOM:” a canopy of branches spreading overhead with flowers, fruit and seedpods. The flowers, seedpods and blossoms will be made of handmade paper, decorated with block print techniques or natural days like tealeaves, coffee, herbs and flower blooms. Decaying blooms will be represented by wire forms covered in hog gut. Gale will create the handmade paper in the morning (outside!). She invites the public on Saturday July 23, noon – 4 PM to make seed pods from paper patterns; templates are available as a take-home.
Follow Gale's blog for updates during Artists @ Work:: http://sticksstonesnpaperstew.wordpress.com

Elaine Green has been working in charcoal for some time now. The human body has been a recurring subject of her work for the last decade. With life-sized charcoal drawings she has looked at how the naked body communicates through body position and gesture, and acts as a record of change. The series of drawings Elaine will be working on in Artists@Work continues this research, investigating group dynamics and the subject/object dichotomy with drawings based on overheard conversations. She will work from photographs, and will invite the visitor to pose for either a photograph (which is quick) or actually stay in the gallery for live drawing (which will take more time). Elaine starts her day with a blind drawing exercise, and will guide a session for the public’s participation on the first Saturday of the exhibit, June 2, 2- 3 PM. The Arts Center will supply basic materials (copy paper, pencil, fine-liner), but you can also bring your own sketchbook.
Elaine's website: www.blackthumbart.com & blog to follow during Artists @ Work: http://blackthumbtales.wordpress.com/

Kendal Hathaway from Phoenix AZ is a mosaic artist, working in glass in a contemporary, monumental style. Although her work is small, it feels big. Her landscapes have a high level of abstraction, to the extent that they seem non representational compositions. Kendal will respond to the Oregon landscape, specifically the Willamette valley, while letting her Southwest background be influential throughout the process. Each piece of glass is hand cut and each cut is intentional as she sculpts in a methodical process that is both intuitive and experimental.
To challenge herself as much as possible for this project Kendal will extend her material to what she can find at the OSU recycling center from the OSU Renewable Materials Program. She will be working with true site-specific material from a quintessential Northwest recycling culture.
Kendal will also push herself in size; her current work measures around 18x 12 inches, now she wants to go to 3x5 feet!
Kendal's website: www.kendalhathaway.com & blog to follow during Artists & Work: http://blog.kendalhathaway.com/

Julia Lont is an artist who welcomes interaction with people and the interaction between art and people. She hopes to work with her own memories as well as visitors' memories, using transfer techniques with snapshots – both her own and those that visitors provide -- incorporating them into collages, enhanced with egg tempera painting. Her themes will be 'shared memory,' 'growth,' 'passage' and 're-generation.' Julia likes using the very old egg tempera technique because of the luster and transparency. Besides, she keeps chickens, and if there is a thing a family of two with four chickens doesn’t lack, it’s eggs!
During da Vinci Days, Julia will expand a “Laundry Line of Memories”, outside to hang in the trees of the Arts Center Plaza. The transfers can be made on either paper or fabric; for the Laundry Line of Memories she will use fabric.
Julia will also welcome special commissions if you wish to bring snapshots, fill out a questionnaire, and talk to her about the people in the pictures. This depth of information will help her to create a meaningful art work. Contact Julia for more information about commissions.