Meet the Artists on the Tour - #38 Lloyd Whannell

Lloyd Whannell
lwhannell@yahoo.com

1660 Roberta Ave. Freeland Wa.
Type of artwork – what medium, how is it classified? Mostly stone sculpture and some bronze sculpture, mostly figurative and some functional, ie.sinks, tables, water basins
How long have you been an artist? Stone sculpting for 16 years, ceramics for 3 years before that.
Artist’s Statement: I have been working in stone for about 16 years. My functional stone work includes sinks, tables, countertops, water basins, and fountains. My current figurative work is a tall figure series called “Silent Watchers,” which draws it’s inspiration from a 3rd century B.C. Etruscan bronze figurine called “Ombra della Sera” or Shadow of the Evening. This tall, thin figure series expresses the feelings of serenity and peacefulness, using a variety of different stones. A further evolution of the “Silent Watcher” series uses cast bronze coupled with stone. This combination of bronze and stone is also used in my newest series called “Silent Words…” This piece continues the expression of serenity and peacefulness coupled with the beauty, strength, and self assurance of the bare human head. This piece is the portrayal of the poem I wrote which inspired it:
Silent words
spoken to the night sky
reflected by the stars
and heard in the hearts
of those with silent minds
"Silent Words 3" has been purchased by the town of LaConner, and the local merchants have taken to dressing her in various flowing headscarves.
What is interesting and distinctive about you and your artwork? I am constantly trying new approaches with my sculpture, and combining limited edition bronze heads with my one of a kind stone bodies is my most recent endevor.
Why do you create? What are you passionate about? I enjoy the process of trying to create beautiful things, an elegance to a functional sink, or a feeling of silence in a figure. To constantly push my boundaries is my passion.
What projects are you currently working on? Any upcoming shows? I am currently working on several projects. A 9 foot tall figure as the next in my Silent Words series, a memorial monument, and ongoing granite countertop work.
What will guests see you doing at your studio during the Whidbey Island Open Studio Tour (OST)? I will probably still be sculpting on my new figure, doing the final assembly on the memorial, and show some of the larger tools in action.

Meet the Artists on the Tour - #80 Shirley Ashenbrenner

Shirley J Ashenbrenner
ashenbrenner5@aol.com

Ashenbrennerart.com
614 Indian Hill Road, Coupeville, WA 98239.

Type of artwork: I am a painter and mixed media artist. Most of my work is abstract/non-objective.

How long have you been an artist? Off and on since childhood. A long time-out occurred while raising a family and operating my own public relations business. I started moving back into art in the early 1990s and don’t plan to ever stop.

Artist’s statement: Following a meandering line, finding shapes where others see none, and bringing forth images from my mind’s eye have fascinated me since childhood. The child who still resides inside me cannot resist the color, smell, and feel of paint. For many years, the sensual richness of oils captivated me. Later, the fluidity and brilliance of acrylics lured me with its freedom. Then, I began painting with oils and acrylics, and incorporating collage, textures and found objects in my work. Today, my work is predominately mixed media. For several years, I explored a process combining collage with layer-upon-layer of poured acrylic washes to build color areas. This exploration led to my series of large paintings built around the theme of relationships and an ongoing series of smaller works. More recently my work includes a series of acrylic paintings based on the theme of “Collective Ancestry” and an environmental series called “Save Puget Sound.” The pieces in the Puget Sound series comprise beach trash--discarded manmade objects found during beach walks near my home. The series focuses on the individual’s personal responsibility to keep our beaches and waterways clean and our sea creatures safe.

What is interesting and distinctive about you and your artwork? Much of my work springs from an emotional base and is fairly large with vivid bold colors. I aim for a sense of energy and freedom in my artwork. The Save Puget Sound series is distinctive by its very content and intent---to get individuals to take responsibility for keeping the Sound and our beaches clean and safe.

Why do you create? What are you passionate about? I create because it’s a part of me. It makes me happy. I’m passionate about making art. I like to try new things, experiment with new processes and media--and push the limits of the materials. I think I threw out all the “rules” long ago. The process of painting or making other types of art puts me in touch with my real self. I am most my true self when working in the studio.

What projects are you currently working on? Any upcoming shows? The Save Puget Sound series is still in process. There currently are 10 pieces. Two more supports are ready in the studio, so there will at least 12 and likely more. One of my priorities now is to get the first 12 onto my website. I also have begun to work with encaustics and assemblage, which means my studio is piled high not only with trash from the beach, but lots of found objects and 3-D objects, boxes etc. I currently have an exhibit of mixed media work at Skagit Valley Medical Center. Three pieces from the Save Puget Sound series are in La Conner Seaside Gallery for the Puget Sound—I Love You exhibit. During the exhibit’s opening June 6 I received an award for Exceptional Creativity in Depicting the Mission of People for Puget Sound.

What will guests see you doing at your studio during the Whidbey Island Open Studio Tour (OST)? I’ll likely have canvases and materials out for the process of mixed media with paint. I’m not sure if I’ll demonstrate a trash piece. I might if I can think of a way to do it without all the mess it entails.

Choose a piece that you will have for sale on the OST and describe why you created it, your feelings when you created it, and the process you went through. “B3” from the Save Puget Sound Series. The series represents a serious cause. But emotionally, putting the pieces together is just plain fun and more fun. Each one is like working a puzzle. Which piece works with which? Which create a theme within the piece? What should go where? In B3 I wanted simplicity and striking contrast to bring the message to the viewers. The large horse feed sack in its entirety topped by roofing shakes and offset by the caution tape offer a warning of the havoc and destruction ordinary things can create in and along our waterways.

Meet the Artists on the Tour - #1 Beth Wyatt

Beth Wyatt
http://www.bethwyatt.com/
bjwyatt@whidbey.com
8186 Mossy Rock Road Clinton, Wa 98236
Richard Engstrom (husband) and I share a 2 story studio building on our property, which contains separate ceramics, metalsmithing, painting and photography studios.

Type of artwork – what medium, how is it classified? I work in metals and vitreous enameling, as well as ceramics and digital print & painted collage on paper. I will be featuring Art Jewelry in mixed metals and enameling for the tour, and my demonstration this year will include Collage work from digital print photos of the jewelry.

How long have you been an artist? I began as an art student at San Diego State University, in 1974. I set up my first studio, on Whidbey Island, in 1980. I feel my quality of mind has always defined to what extent I am an “artist”.

Artist’s Statement: I approach my jewelry as wearable art--intimate sculpture achieved primarily through fabrication, and celebrating the visual impact of organic form, structure and texture. Starting with raw materials in the form of sterling silver or gold sheet, wire and tubing, I dap, saw, bend and solder into being a unique population of metal components which lay ready in my studio, like old friends and potent actors, waiting to acquire their role in the play of design. I find this process delightfully addicting. With vitreous enameling, I play with incredible color, and encounter the element of surprise and the drama of unpredictability, as glass fuses to metal, in a glowing kiln, in under 4 minutes. It is a perfect balance to the sense of control these materials give to a designer.

What is interesting and distinctive about you and your artwork? I think my careful use of dynamic organic forms and complex textures adds interest and distinctiveness to my art jewelry. The over-firing techniques I employ with layered enameling which lead to agate-like patterns seem to have great appeal.

Why do you create? What are you passionate about? I love the design process and am addicted to losing myself within the intense dialogue between materials and experimental technique. Organic forms and textures continually entice me into new design directions.

What projects are you currently working on? Any upcoming shows? I have recently juried into "Metal-URGE", Tacoma, as the featured enamel jewelry artist in the Museum of Glass store, from July 13th to August 19th 2009. I was on hand for “Meet the Artist” day, on July 18th from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The City of Tacoma is presenting Metal-URGE from June 2- September 19, 2009. The event will bring dozens of artists and more than twenty venues ogether to showcase some of the Northwest's incredible metal art. This will coincide with two Tacoma Art Museum exhibitions, "Ornament as Art" and "Loud Bones". I’ve also received a repeat invitation to contribute art jewelry to the 8th annual "PONCHO Invitational Fine Art Auction", to be held at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel, October 3rd 2009.

What will guests see you doing at your studio during the Whidbey Island Open Studio Tour (OST)? I will have for viewing photo documentation of the design process of a piece of art jewelry, probably a complex, mixed metal necklace, which then becomes the digital design element of a mixed media collage. I will be using Photoshop to transform digital photos of the necklace into beginning design elements, to be used for a collage which will incorporate ink jet prints, acrylic painting, and a wide variety of other 2 dimensional materials applied to paper or board.

Meet the Artists on the Tour - #86 Bev McQuary

Bev McQuary
bevmcq@gmail.com
http://bevmcquary.coupdart.com/
Ann’s Coup d’Art, 902 Center, Coupeville

Type of artwork – what medium, how is it classified? I make lampworked glass beads and wire worked jewelry.

How long have you been an artist? 20 years. From 1988 to 1998 I was the Registrar at Pratt Fine Art Center in Seattle, surrounded by creative juices. Lampworking was a new medium to Pratt and when equipment was acquired, I had the opportunity to learn the process with some wonderful artists. I got my own torch and equipment and played at a hobby level until I retired and could focus full time on this fascinating discipline.

Artist’s Statement: In arts administration I was able to observe how the creative process affected artists. In creating glass beads, I experience the “left brain/right brain” transition in the creative process first-hand. Glass beadmaking involves melting colorful soda-lime glass rods around a mandrel with a propane/oxygen torch and then embellishing them. The combination of color and techniques, while maintaining control of hot glass, is an exciting dance on an incredibly small palette that takes me out of myself and into the moment.

What is interesting and distinctive about you and your artwork? I am a 68 year old artist. I get to play with fire, and it keeps me off the streets…

Why do you create? What are you passionate about? I love learning and keeping my head in the game of life. The scale of my work is so small, yet the possibilities of color combinations and embellishments are infinite. When I open the kiln after annealing the beads, it’s like Christmas morning, getting to see the actuality of my focus of attention. The process is a true meditation. Then the next step is to envision showcasing a stunning bead in a wire-worked design and making it so.

What projects are you currently working on? Any upcoming shows? Showing work at the Lavender & Wind Festival, August 8 & 9, 2009,
http://www.lavenderwind.com/events/LWartshow.html.
I also show my work at the Garry Oak Gallery, the artist co-operative in Oak Harbor, WA,
http://www.garryoakgallery.com/

What will guests see you doing at your studio during the Whidbey Island Open Studio Tour (OST)? I will demonstrate the glass beadmaking process on the torch, including forming, shaping, and embellishing beads with the use of stringers, silver leaf, and various tools. I can also show some wire-working techniques.

Choose a piece that you will have for sale on the OST and describe why you created it, your feelings when you created it, and the process you went through.
My piece, “Hangin’ ‘Round”, evolved from a bead made with dark ivory glass, lentil-shaped, and decorated with white, black and amber dots. I loved the result so I created a necklace made with fused fine silver circles and Byzantine weave chain. The bead hangs at the throat and I am thrilled with the totality of the creation.

Meet the Artists on the Tour - #70 James Moore

James Moore
james@jamesmooreartist.com

1088 Crockett Farm Road, Coupeville, WA

http://www.jamesmooreartist.com/

Type of artwork – what medium, how is it classified? Oil
How long have you been an artist? 10 years
Artist’s Statement: I paint because I like discovering something’s unique beauty, as I see it, and then capturing my feelings about it in paint.
What is interesting and distinctive about you and your artwork? I paint whatever strikes me as beauty, rather than being typecast as only painting one subject. If I am struck by the beauty in a carton of eggs, a picnic table, or a rock, then I will paint it. And what makes it unique, say my collectors, is that they can recognize from across the room, that James Moore painted it. The emotion is there and the brushwork is distinctive and varied.
Why do you create? What are you passionate about? I paint because I see a lot of beauty around me and I have something to say about it with paint. It is more about the process, the actual pushing paint around that is so enjoyable. I really am having fun in the act of picking up the paint, mixing it as little as possible, and then making the stroke. It is work, in the sense that you have to concentrate, and plan, but it is also fun.
What projects are you currently working on? Any upcoming shows? I just finished a series of ballerinas for the Pacific Northwest Ballet show. Then I did a series on “rhythm” for Gallery San Juan. Next I am painting a wine related series…I like wine, and my first wine painting in the series was a demonstration painting at Holmes Harbor Cellars which is now on display in their tasting room on Whidbey Island. September 8-12 I am competing in the 4th Annual Plein Air Painters' U.S. Open on Whidbey Island.
What will guests see you doing at your studio during the Whidbey Island Open Studio Tour (OST)? There will be a painting in progress and I will demonstrate how I approach my subject. I will paint and discuss the brushwork. Finished paintings will be shown as well where I will discuss what attracted me to the scene, why I wanted to paint it, and what I felt during the process, and any problems that had to be resolved to make the painting a success in my eyes.
Choose a piece that you will have for sale on the OST and describe why you created it, your feelings when you created it, and the process you went through.
I am a photographer for the Classic Car Club, and I really appreciate the beauty of some of these old cars. Recently, I was particularly struck by a yellow 1936 Packard. What first hit me was the yellow. Then I remembered that my wife has many times remarked about reading Nancy Drew books as a girl and hearing about Nancy Drew’s yellow Packard Roadster Convertible which she says was 1935-36.

Well, the car I saw was not a convertible, but it was gorgeous, and recently restored. It had a huge hood, massive round front fenders, exterior headlights, and side mounted spare tires. Swooping lines from the fenders down to the running board drew the eye from front to back. The car was so shiny, everything reflected in its paint. I painted it with great admiration for both the car and the owner who took such care in its restoration. The feeling I had was one of reverence and adoration for its classic beauty.

In terms of process, I had to make a change from my usual “jump right into the paint” style of painting. That is, I usually do NOT do a line drawing of the subject and then color it in with paint, the way a child would in a coloring book. But in this case, the drawing had to be precise, even though my brushwork is loose and soft edged. Without precise drawing, the proportions might not be just right and it would be obvious. Plus, once I got the drawing correct, then that was out of the way, and I could enjoy the act of painting, which is where the real fun is for me.