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Past Exhibit Highlights |
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Sept/Oct. 2007 Bonnie Zahn Griffith: A Hundred Mile Radius Doug Gisi: New Work |
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We were proud to partner with Hamley to bring two incredible exhibits to the Center. Bonnie Griffith’s pastels depicted the landscape surrounding the Pendleton and Walla Walla areas in vibrant color, showing off her mastery of the medium.
Doug Gisi transforms discarded farm implements and other found metal into surprisingly elegant and formal works. Gisi is definitely someone with a bright art career ahead of him. His impeccable craftsmanship and sophisticated eye come together to elevate these works into the realm of fine art. |
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Oct / Nov 2007 Mare Blocker: Palouse Narratives
Mare Blocker is a native of Washington, and divides her time between McCall, Idaho and Walla Walla, where she is a Visiting Professor at Whitman College.
She earned a BFA in ceramic sculpture at the University of Washington and an MFA at the University of Idaho. Mare has been publishing artist’s books since 1979, and founded The MKimberly Press in 1984. |
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Her work is included in over 65 public collections worldwide, including the Library of Congress, The Victoria and Albert, The Getty Museum and the University of Washington Special Collections.
Palouse Narratives
The ever changing landscape of the Palouse has enchanted me. With each season colors shift; what was once a square of green transforms to a circle of yellow, transforms to a square of brown and back to green again. We draw on the earth with our actions, the landscape our living canvas. We impose a grid on her curves. We scratch lines on her surface, some intentionally, some not so intentionally, many of them permanently transforming her skin with a sort of ritual scarification. Our actions have a beauty, sometimes a cruel beauty, but a beauty nonetheless. The Palouse Mosaic is an installation of numerous individual books which map our activity. The individual pages are relief printed, each pages has passed through the press multiple times, creating a layering of image and impression. I have a left a trace of my existence on the surface of the paper. Individual squares are hand stitched together, suturing the |
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landscape into a grid and fencing one square from the other at the same time. This process mimics our actions on the land.
The Beautiful Fields series, is a group of accordion books and prints, which I think of as individual event horizons, or documentations of my drives through the Palouse Fields. Driving through the landscape at high speeds is how most of us view the Palouse; the view from the side window differing greatly from the front. Some images make lasting impressions, some slide by, a blur of color and texture.
All of the work in this exhibit has been made since I have resided in the Palouse region of the inner northwest. The surfaces reference field markings, boundaries, repetition of actions, scarification, and my fascination with soils and geology. I see these works as a testament to the planet’s strength, our strength, and our folly as a species for imposing our will on the land. |
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Art of the Gift Holiday Exhibit November 16 - December 26, 2007 Sponsored by St. Anthony Hospital
We transformed our main gallery space into an enchanting holiday shopping experience featuring the best of fine craft from the northwest and beyond, and select artists by special arrangement with the Museum of Contemporary Craft.
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When the staff at the Pendleton Center for the Arts started opening packages sent by artists for this year’s Art of the Gift exhibit, it was clear that something was different. The work showed a definite urban flair, with materials and techniques that were new and very cutting-edge. The difference was the result of the Center’s cooperative agreement with the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland. The museum staff encouraged the fine craftspeople who exhibit in their sales gallery to participate in the Pendleton event, and many artists from across the country jumped at the opportunity.
“I love the idea of helping out an organization that provides art in a rural area”, said Melissa Stiles, an artist from Portland whose stainless steel and opaque resin jewelry will be part of the exhibit. “Plus, I know the audience is just as sophisticated as our Portland buyers, so I’m optimistic about sales opportunities.” |
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In addition to the guest artists, the exhibit featured some local favorites. Local woodworker Jeff Blackwood exhibited furniture that’s been finely crafted from cherry, walnut and sycamore, Lori Rohn showed a large selection of jewelry and Dawn Tubbs’ wood and paper mache figurines were a crowd favorite.
“While we love having the artist from outside the area participating, I’m constantly amazed at the quality and originality of the work done by artists and craftspeople from right here in Pendleton,” said Arts Center Director Roberta Lavadour. Additional Pendleton artists included Marlee Dickerson, Hiroko Cannon, Carole McCarty, Frank Janzen, Robin Harris, Linda Bisnett and Rosie MacDonald.
The exhibit was made possible through the support of St. Anthony Hospital. “We couldn’t put on a show of this caliber without the help of our sponsor,” said Lavadour. |
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Every nook of the space held great delights, from woodworks by Joel Bohling to handcrafted vegan soaps by Robin Harris. |
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January 25 - February 22, 2008 Margaret Jamison "Inner Circle: The Archetype as Tribal Elder"
Margaret Jamison has created a series of large painted "robes" to represent the cast of characters universal to the human psyche. From Healer, Teacher and Storyteller to Victim, Visionary and Addict, these pieces speak to - and from - the deep places within us which ultimately govern our decisions, behavior, and the way we live our lives. While some of the robes share a similar palette or medium, each is unique in its visual language and spirit and media include watercolor, acrylic, tempera, collage, oil pastel, and encaustic.
This exhibit is made possible through the support of Dr. Terry Templeman, Psychological Services of Pendleton, LLC |
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She has occupied a wide variety of creative and art-related jobs in the fields of advertising, book and magazine production, illustration, graphic design, writing, editing, and desktop publishing. She’s also had several sets of fine art silkscreen prints produced and marketed nationally.
In addition, she has dedicated much of her professional life to sharing her delight in creative exploration with students of all ages. As a certified art teacher, Jamison taught in private schools in Seattle for 10 years and has worked with adults through specialized retreats and workshops.
This body of work, entitled “Inner Circle: The Archetype as Tribal Elder” was inspired by a dance Jamison saw performed at a Friendship Dinner by a descendant of the Walla Walla Chief Peo Peo Mox Mox. She was profoundly moved by the dance, and the deep tradition that it was rooted in. As someone with no distinct cultural traditions of her own, the experience caused her to contemplate the idea of creating her own set of tribal elders to call on for wisdom.
“I started wondering what my tribal elders would wear,” Jamison said. “I wanted the garment to be the simplest suggestion of a robe shape. I enjoy the challenge of using a single form in as many ways as I can imagine until I exhaust either myself or the idea,” she added. “In this way, a series becomes like word game or anagram – how many ways can I use this shape to say something about my experience? How many visual “words” can I find?” Within this shape, she drew on some of the archetypes that Jung used to analyze personality. Archetypes can be thought of as the cast of characters universal to the human psyche.
Jamison has created a series of 15 “Tribal Elders”, each of which is 6 feet tall and four feet wide. From Healer, Teacher and Storyteller to Victim, Visionary and Addict, the pieces speak to – and from - the deep places within us which ultimately govern our decisions, behavior, and the way we live our lives. While some of the robes share a similar palette or medium, each is unique in its visual language, spirit and media including watercolor, acrylic, tempera, collage, oil pastel, and encaustic. |
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Margaret Jamison was born and raised in Walla Walla and graduated from Whitman College in 1974 with a degree in Art and Art History. She earned a Masters Degree in Art Education from Seattle University in 2000. After living in New York and Seattle she returned to Walla Walla after 30 years, in 2003, as Executive Director of Carnegie Art Center. She retired after three years in order to paint full time.
As a practicing artist, Jamison has developed technical dexterity and familiarity with a wide range of materials and art-making processes, including cut paper, painting with acrylics, tempera and watercolor, drawing with pencil, ink, Prismacolor and scratchboard, and hand-built ceramics with majolica glazes. |
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An exhibit of the prints that Poulsen-Jones has created as well as those by artists from across the country that she has traded her work with will be on display this month in the Pendleton Center for the Arts’ East Oregonian Gallery. “Printer’s Trifecta: Three Print Portfolios” opens on Friday, February 29th with a reception from 5:30 -7:00 pm and runs through March 28. The event is free and open to the public. |
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When MaLynda Poulsen-Jones was introduced to printmaking by an instructor at Boise State University, a whole new world of possibilities began to take shape. Her main interests were drawing and painting, but printmaking brought different processes and the idea of making multiples into play.
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Printer’s Trifecta: Three Print Portfolios |
