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3 Over the River
October, 2010
More About the Artists:
Linden
Gail Duncan
Nancy Spaan
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For Immediate Release:
3 Over the River
As a tribute to the importance of the Columbia River in our lives here, RiverSea Gallery presents 3 Over the River, an exhibition of new ceramic sculpture, collage and painting from local artists Nancy Spaan, Gail Duncan and Linden. This show demonstrates the synergy created when three artists merge studio space overlooking the Columbia River with inspiration from their travels and love of nature.
Two events are scheduled to celebrate this cohesive and dynamic exhibition. The first is an opening night preview and artist talk, on Friday, October 8th from 6-8 pm. Those attending will meet the artists, learn the stories behind their work and the processes used to create it. A short presentation is set for 7:00, followed by an open question and answer period. Some of the artists’ tools and inspirational materials will be on display, and refreshments will be served. The gallery will also be open for the Second Saturday Artwalk, October 9th from 5 – 8 pm, with music provided by the local band, Swing Cats. 3 Over the River will remain on view through November 2nd.
An artist’s studio can become a sacred space; a place of reflection, intuition and creation. Defined by the individual artist, this personal space serves as a sanctuary from all external conflicts with the creative process. These three artists create synergy through sharing studio space. The women commune closely as each explores an anchored approach to their chosen medium, without overlapping in style or technique. Literally working over the river, surrounded by the sound, scent and sway of an old structure, Duncan, Spaan and Linden combine memories of foreign lands with the surrounding elements of their immediate space.
Gail Duncan offers a new series of acrylic paintings and mixed media collage inspired by her experience of nature in her travels, depicting places that are a vast departure from our own region. Within this group, Duncan explores foreign landscape from lands as far away as Ireland and India, and as the traveler, she brings her views home. Inspiration from afar is translated into rich compositions that quietly echo her definitive surroundings and the inescapable influence of the powerful Columbia River constantly surging past her while she’s painting. Duncan’s works show the greatest departure from literal influence of place, and possess elegance and sensual form that might emulate current or the rhythm of wave. When discussing her travels and how her experience of other landscape has shaped her work she states, “Each trip has moved me in unique ways, inspiring me to paint from an emotional and sensual response rather than from the intellect. When all is said and done, I hope to create a piece of work that evokes an individual response by the viewer that is at once felt, but continues to engage long after it has first been seen.”
Nancy Spaan contributes a new series of ceramic work, wood fired in an anagama kiln. Her free-form porcelain vessels and wall hung sculpture are playfully sophisticated with a strong sense of movement and expression; each slab-built piece carries its own story of origin. Spaan utilizes found objects, some directly taken from the studio building, to imprint a history of the space. “This group of hand-built wood-fired porcelain pieces has been directly influenced by my affinity for water. This past year I’ve collected oddities from the shores of the Columbia River to beaches in Baja to under the sea in Utila, Honduras to use in my work. I’ve pressed slabs of porcelain into old weathered timbers and piles of old netting, and then rolled seashells and pieces of coral across them. In some I’ve tried to capture the feeling of water in motion, the most peaceful thing I know of.”
Linden, known for her dynamic abstract compositions, succeeds again at executing a powerful and provocative series of fresh paintings and encaustic work. Her common and consistent theme of netting, or “web of life,” is the metaphor that serves as backdrop to complex composition. This also relates to the physical space that serves as studio. Inescapable from history and isolated from the contemporary world, Linden weaves each painting from an internal perspective, telling stories of connection from past to future. For this artist the force of the river is a powerful source of inspiration that works its way into each finished piece. Layer upon layer of color and form lead to underlying content and meaning which remains for each individual viewer to unravel.
These three women share decades of experience as practicing artists and an equally important understanding and respect for the natural world. Their work is bound to borrowed memories of shared and individual travels as well as the physical space in which they create. Each brings home experience that manifests itself within the studio. When considering their work, Spaan states, “The thread that unites Linden and Gail’s work to mine is not only a love of nature, but an underlying friendship that makes it a joy to share studio space with them. Whether we’re laughing or working in silence, we feel mutually supported in our endeavors and always aware of how much fun we’re having at ‘work.’”
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