((L-R) Pottery by Diane Miyauchi, Hager Mtn. Beauties by Dianne Lay, ceramic sunflower tray by Dori Kite and Ravens, woodcut by Wade Womack)
Artists at the Artists’ Gallery in the Village at Sunriver are helping bridge spring showers into summer sun with beautiful new art. Visitors and locals both will want to enjoy these new pieces provided by this month’s featured artists. With the relaxation of mask requirements, the Gallery is also celebrating the ability of visitors to more easily eat and drink “good stuff” while attending our Second Saturday Celebration. Saturday, June 11, 4-7pm should be marked on your calendar for a fun time at the Gallery. The Gallery is also moving to summer hours. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, we will be open from 10am to 7pm daily.
A relatively new addition to the Gallery is Sunriver local watercolor artist Diane Lay. Lay’s paintings are beautifully delicate. The many translucent layers of color work together to make her images colorful yet soft. The artist’s latest project highlights local Central Oregon scenery. Hager Mountain hiking locations supply irresistible wildflowers — especially the arrowroot balsamroot. In a series of pieces, Lay presents first an up close and personal view with one flower and a leaf. Next in the series is a step back to view a clump, and finally a mountainside landscape with the full display of flower masses. It is liquid sunshine.
Also featured this month is wood print artist Wade Womack. Because of the carving process used in the creation of his pieces, they seem to have a beautiful movement in them. One piece, titled l’agrume, presents a bowl of fruit. This art piece is a jig-saw relief prints and is made by cutting each color shape out and inking them separately, then fitting them back together to print the image. Then the artist carves a separate plate for the black line and prints it over top. Another piece, titled Bald Eagles, has been produced with a mono-print. The black outline is a carved work woodblock, inked and printed, then the color is hand-painted with watercolors. In Womack’s Ravens, the birds appear to be having a somewhat heated conversation!
Potter Dori Kite is known for her desire to continually try new glazes and techniques. One of her recent series is inspired by ravens behaving badly! These pieces required learning a new decorative technique that (as usual) she had never tried before. The artist experimented with masking tape, wax paper and was resist for the series entitled Jail Birds. Her latest series uses slip trailing to outline butterflies and sunflowers by using empty fabric paint tubes to squeeze a runny clay infused with black stain into lines.
Long-time Gallery favorite Diane Miyauchi produces some of the most popular pottery in Central Oregon. Visitors have been collecting her practical and beautiful bowls, plates, cups and serving pieces for years. In a nod to springtime, Miyauchi has added colorful pieces for use in your garden or to hang in the breeze on your patio.
Come to the Artists’ Gallery Sunriver this summer to enjoy these, and over 30 other artists. There’s always something for everyone to enjoy at the gallery. It is located in the Sunriver Village, along with a variety of other art stores, restaurants and many other fun shops.