Foster/White Gallery is pleased to present the work of 5 sculptors who are new to the gallery. The artists work in an intriguing range of techniques and materials, from glazed medite and sintra to stone carvings with needle felted wool, and from stitched, salvaged neoprene to slip cast and assembled ceramics. This collection of works runs the gamut from the most simple to the most complex combinations of shape, color and form.
Steven Nederveen’s artwork has long been grounded in the artist’s meditation practice and influenced by the calming effect of immersion in his favorite places. The artist creates oceanic coastlines, panoramic landscapes, and tree compositions using heightened colors and an almost magical, high contrast golden light. The world becomes a place of wonder and mystery as we recognize what is familiar and discover what we are invited to perceive.
The artwork included in The Curve of Time series by Tom Burrows are named after bodies of water and landmarks from the Inside Passage (Puget Sound near Seattle up to Alaska). The Curve of Time by Wylie Blanchet is inspiration for the series and it takes place in the Inside Passage. This book recounts Blanchet's summer sailing adventures with her five children and dog in the 1930s and 40s.
The colorful curls and wisps of smoke in Carol Inez Charney’s newest series are sophisticated and elegant while being rich with metaphor. The series, Secondhand Smoke, highlights the dangers of cultural censorship, the limiting of individualism and artistic expression. Book burnings and the destruction of artwork have been an all too common practice in both modern and historic eras, public demonstrations meant to show the power of authoritarian governments. However, the pieces in Secondhand Smoke seem to remind us that such censorship can sneak in; can whisper and spread like rumors, creeping in around the edges, as smoke can.
Bratsa Bonifacho’s work has gone through a drastic range of articulations during his long career as a painter. Continuing to site some of his earliest memories of surviving World War II as inspiration, Bonifacho’s work for many years was a direct representation of his process of moving through trauma. The weight and darkness of his experiences was evident in content, style, and palette and exists now in striking contrast to his current work.
The second of four group exhibitions grounded by the elements, Elements: Fire opens at Foster/White Gallery on November 4, 2021. A wide range of interpretations, the artwork in this grouping includes explorations of the increasing frequency of forest fires and their implications, the raw violence of fire, and the beauty of a flame; we are reminded of water's power against an inferno, given images of death and rebirth, of natural cycles, and of the devastation left in a fire's wake. And, despite the impact of that devastation, many of us have deeply cherished memories attached to fire - it can represent gathering with loved ones, staring into embers beneath starry skies, learning to make a s'more for the first time, or warming cold hands after hours in the snow.
Julie Himel’s work explores the space between our connection with and distance from the natural world. Her first solo exhibition at Foster/White Gallery, Broken Beautiful is an exploration driven by the artists close ties with the natural world; favored places become recognizable to us as the artist returns to them, perhaps in different seasons, capturing changes in light, emotion, and growth. Himel also invites us into imagined places, using color and contrast to draw us into the dreamlike spaces she creates.
Eva Isaksen’s newest body of work carries a deep sense of gravitas, a level of self-assurance communicated through the simplification of the abstract. Continuing her explorations in collage, Isaksen incorporates physical elements of significance from her life; personal textiles, letters, and clippings of favorite texts are layered within steady forms and a sophisticated palette. Describing the works as reflecting her search for the unknown, there is yet a grounded calm in her quest.
Back by popular demand, the Seattle Deconstructed Art Fair returns for the month of August, celebrating the resilience of visual arts in Seattle with over 40 galleries, art institutions and non-profit organizations participating in this month-long event. Last year’s community-driven efforts drew the attention of over 13,000 unique website visitors and brought crowds safely back into the galleries to view artwork over the course of the month. Through the collaborative efforts of the gallery community, the SDAF returns, continuing with the hybrid format of online and in-person exhibitions, with an added calendar of in-person events.
Tom Burrows’ resin pieces are laboriously created through a unique and highly variable process. Burrows’ artistic career has included a myriad of explorations in sculptural materials, ranging from performative, site-specific installation work to two-dimensional pieces. Often with an element of research focused on social issues such as homelessness and housing, he has been a significant part of the arts community of British Columbia since the early 1960s.
Achieving warmth and softness with unforgiving stone, Will Robinson breathes life into each of his pieces, revealing the innate qualities of the natural medium he works with. His sculptures are as much about discovery as they are reflections of the artist’s intuition.
Painter Robert Marchessault has long been inspired by the resilience of trees, but in 2020, their fortitude took on a new level of meaning. As we globally faced the rise of one of the most devastating pandemics of modern time, Marchessault turned again to subjects that represent adaptation in the face of struggle, growth amid challenge, and longevity against all odds. The trees he has painted for his new exhibition Grow / Re-Grow are striking reminders of the perseverance not only of the living things he so poetically renders, but of our own.