Walking into the Kinsey Gallery with Kristina Hagman and seeing a wall of 30 different views of Mt Rainier was as awesome as suddenly seeing Mt Rainier as you drive, boat, walk, hike or move around Seattle and the Puget Sound….*SMAK*…and there they are! 

 

It was an impressive sight to finally see the entire body of work completed and on display in a single space. 

 

Kristina Hagman whose woodblock print “Night” is on the DANIEL SMITH 2009-2010 Reference Catalog has her entire suite of “36 Views of Mt Rainier” on display at the Kinsey Gallery at Seattle University.  Unfortunately I missed her Artist Reception, but Kristina was kind enough to meet at the Gallery and talk with me again about her work.

 

We met 6 months ago at her home/studio to talk about her “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Rainier” woodblock prints inspired by Hokusai and his series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji while she was still working on them.  You can read that interview here:  “An hour with Kristina Hagman, DANIEL SMITH Catalog Cover Artist, to chat about her Woodblock Print Series ‘Thirty-Six Views of Mount Rainier“.

The entry print is my favorite, “View from Georgetown“, then you come around the corner and there they are…you see 30 prints arranged “en masse” with 5 more prints opposite as you walk in.  Those 5 prints are of Mt Rainier alone…. almost as an abstraction…without the context of a foreground to provide a narrative.  Kristina described them as Mt Rainier as “Superstar” and to her, as if Mt Rainier was featured on the cover of “Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine”.  These are also named differently with titles like Big Rainier Opal” and “Dark Big Rainier“.

 

The narratives of the the other 31 one is as changeable as the mountain is, as unique as the Seattle neighborhood (or outlying location) from which that particular view of Mt Rainier is seen.  Sometimes it’s from a single persons point of view like “Diane’s View” or Axel’s View“.  In several you see strong forced perspective as a pink flowering Cherry Tree lined “Rainier Avenue South“ points to Mt Rainier or “View from Beacon Hill” with the Power Lines marching along towards Mt Rainier.  This print was one that Kristina was carving when I visited her studio, you can see a photo of her carving it here. 

 

While there is an identifiable point of view location to most of the prints, Kristina has edited and manipulated the images to suit her personal point of view of Mt Rainier, which is sometimes very surreal and dramatic as seen in “View from Date Night“, very urban views of Mt Rainier like “Amazon” and “View from Tacoma” which contrast to the more naturalized urban views in prints like “Blue Heron” and “View from Seward Park“  and the views of Mt Rainier in a landscape like”Reflection” and “Winter“. 

 

Living in Puget Sound means living in the presence of Mt Rainier and experiencing it from so many places, it’s something you always see, like the sky.  You are always seeing in framed by the foreground of where-you-are-right-now.  Sometimes Mt Rainier looms large, sometimes barely seen, sometimes rose colored with alpine glow from the rising or setting sun, sometimes obscured by clouds soon to be revealed and always there.  Kristina Hagman’s “36 Views of Mt Rainier” woodblock series captures 36 interpretive views that everyone in living in the shadow of the Mountain can recognize.  Wonderful body of work!

 

Every Day,  Express Yourself  with  ART….
 
~Deborah Burns

 

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The event will be from 6pm to 9pm at the Gage Academy of Art in the Steele Gallery, throughout the school hallways, and in the studios.  There will be a special “Vernissage” (”a reception at a gallery for an artist whose show is about to open to the public”) from 5pm to 6pm with Fine Wine for $50, please “Contact Katie Mosehauer at 206-323-4243 x16 for details”.

 

Rock Hushka, Tacoma Art Museum, Curator of Contemporary and Northwest Art will be Guest juror.  There will 7 categories: Beginner, Abstract, Figure, Portrait, Landscape, Sculpture, Still Life, and “Best in Show“.  A “People’s Choice Award” will be voted on that evening by everyone attending.  The Award Ceremony will be at 7:30pm for the announcement of the winning Artwork.

 

This year will be the first time that some of the work will be offered for sale.  This will be a One-Night-Gallery opportunity to add some Original Art priced between $100 and $1,000 with 50% to help support Gage Academy.  Besides the student artwork submitted for the “Best of Gage“, there will be additional student artwork and instructor artwork on display through out the school, some of which will also be for sale.

 

Should be a fun evening, I’ll be there!

 

 

~Deborah Burns 

The Alumni Show was by invitation for students who took classes from DANIEL SMITH Watercolor Workshop Instructors: Kathy Collins, Joan Archer, Kay Barnes, Elizabeth Kay, and Anne Olwin.  The Art Show opened May 1st and runs through June 30th so you have plenty of time to come by the Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store and check it out!

Last night was the Reception for the Artists, and Awards Presentation with DANIEL SMITH Prizes (whoo hoo!) in four categories:

There was also a yummy refreshment table set up for everyone to enjoy, and hang out and chat in between looking at all the wonderful Art on the Gallery walls.

And the Awards (drum roll please…..) went to:

“Best of Show”

“Halle”

“Best Use of Color/Composition”

“Manzanita”

Roster of all the invited Artists: Lois McIntosh, Rita Mair Nicoll, Eve McClure, Magall Lenarczak, Kathleen Ramsey, Jeff Bates, Ross Nicoll, Barbara Fenkner, and W.H. Dodge.

Please consider this Your Invitation to stop by the Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Store to see the Juried Alumni Show which runs through June 30th.  If you are not able too, then please enjoy seeing the Artist’s work in the slide show!

Thank you Jury members, the Bellevue DANIEL SMITH Team, and especially all the Artists!

Every Day,  Express Yourself with ART….

~Deborah Burns

When visiting each of the studios, John brought some DANIEL SMITH Art Supply goodies to give to the artists we visited, in the form of a fist full of tubes of DANIEL SMITH Extra Fine Watercolors!

A group of us from DANIEL SMITH car pooled with John Cogley (owner of DANIEL SMITH): Tina Leader (Human Resources Director), Jaren Balzer (Information Systems Manager), KT (Bellevue Store Manager) and Deborah Burns (me, the DANIEL SMITH Blogger!).

We left Seattle Saturday morning with John driving, for Camano Island and were able to visit 17 of the 32 studios and galleries before the end of the day. Because I was not the navigator (Jaren was our “navigator extraordinaire”) I may have lost count of how many places we went to and may have missed noting a few, my apologies if I missed you. Actually, I think is was probably very challenging focusing on the driving (John) and navigation (Jaren) considering all the laughing and fun we were having in vechicle!

While making our rounds of the Tour, we ran into others from DANIEL SMITH: Thom Wright (Purchasing Manager), Connie Cagley (Marketing Specialist, Society Relations) with her husband Guy, and Charlene Vogt (Catalog Sales Manager) who was also hosting a party (yummy meatballs and more!) at a friends cabin on the Island.

The studios and galleries showed a wide range of art work among them: Watercolor, Oil, Acrylic, Glass, Ceramic, Metal, Photography, and Jewelry. I took some photos of the work spaces of a few of the artists, unfortunately once I got home to review and label the photos I realized that I did not take nearly as many photos as it felt like, next year I will have to focus on taking more.

We visited: #27) Seagrass Gallery , #1) Bob Paczkowski Studio , #2) Rainchild Metal Works: Ben Rainchild , #5) Dan Bergsma Art Glass: Dan Bergsma #6) John Muhler Studio: John D. Muhler, Debbi Rhodes , #7) Jack Dorsey Studio: Jack Dorsey, Ann Cory , #8) Jack Gunter Art and Design Studio , #9) Janet Mitchell Studio , #10) Old Mabana Schoolhouse: Linda Demetre , #11) Betty , #12) Diane Hill Studio: Diane Hill, Jeanine Borree, Sue Uhrich , #13) Lee Beitz , #14) Matzke Fine Art Gallery , #15) Kathy Hastings Studio: Kathy Hastings, Marguerite Goff , #16) Thompson Art Studio: Susan Thompson Cohen , #17) Rays Through Art Glass: Ray Fossum , and #18) Camano Island Pottery: Roger Cocke .Dorotik

Some of the studios had breathtaking views of the Puget Sound, which of course made us each wonder how challenging it must be to focus on painting when there is a spectacular view outside the window!

Camano Island is such a beautiful location and having the opportunity to drive around the Island and see so much art was a wonderful way to spend the day. A few of us could not resist and went home with some original artwork and prints of original work…

…have to do our part to help support the Artists!

# 1: 2008 Poster for Camano Island Studio Tour by John Muhler.

# 2: Diane Hill Studio entrance.

# 3: Jeanine Borree and paintings at Diane Hill Studio

# 4: John Muhler Studio entrance, sculpture by Debbi Rhodes

# 5: Jack Gunter Studio entrance.

# 6: Diane Hill’s workspace with Sound View!

 

This April’s First Thursday, the DANIEL SMITH Seattle Store Manager (friends for years) and I went Gallery hopping to see the Art that was on display.

It was a nice mild evening (no rain!) so there were a lot of people in the galleries, walking in the streets and hanging out in Occidental Park. I saw my favorite painting of the evening at ArtForte , my friend saw hers at Linda Hodges and we both enjoyed the three artists whose prints were featured at the Davidson Gallery.