((Left) Flamenco, 34 x 34 x 24 bronze ed. 15. (Middle) Ebb & Flow, 17x21x10 bronze ed. 26. (Right) The Rooster, 24x16x11 bronze ed. 15)
Dan Chen Celebrates the Natural World through Sculpting & More
The renowned Mockingbird Gallery, an artistic and creative staple among the downtown Bend businesses, is hosting a unique showing that aims to celebrate our natural world in a variety of mediums.
From July 5 to July 31, the gallery will host Reflections & New Beginnings, a showing by the bronze sculptor Dan Chen.
Mockingbird Gallery was opened in 1990 by the woman who now owns the Rimrock Gallery in Prineville, Pamela Claflin. In 2007, Pamela sold the gallery to its current owners, the husband-and-wife-duo Jim and Nathalie Peterson.
“After spending 19 years learning the art business in Scottsdale, Arizona, we were very fortunate to receive the opportunity to bring that experience to Bend,” Jim said. “We’ve watched our children grow up in this amazing city and we’ve also expanded the business by opening the Peterson Contemporary Art Gallery in the Franklin Crossing building on Bond Street about seven years ago.”
Artist Dan Chen has been with the Mockingbird Gallery almost as long as Jim and Nathalie have owned it, “Dan started with Mockingbird about two years after we took ownership, so I believe we’ve worked together for 15 or 16 years now,” Jim said. “He is such an amazing person to work with. He has so much joy in what he does and manages to stay humble throughout the process.”
Jim said that Dan is one of the most celebrated artists at the gallery. What sets this showing apart is the fact that Dan is putting on a one-man show that involves a vast array of artistic mediums.
“Dan is very well known for his limited edition, lost wax bronze castings depicting wildlife and animal subjects. A lot of his sculpture collectors are not aware of how many other mediums he has mastered, so we have wanted to create a show focusing on the various mediums for quite some time,” Jim said. “Not only will we have a great variety of his bronze sculptures on display, but we will also have his watercolors on silk, pastel works, enamel on porcelain, raku pottery, fused glass and lucite engravings. It will be a fantastic celebration of all his many talents, together on display for the first time at Mockingbird Gallery.”
To Dan, this unique opportunity is not one he wanted to squander, “About two years ago Jim offered me this opportunity to have a one-person show. He basically gave me a blank canvas, it was up to me to do what I wanted with the show. That’s extremely unusual!” Dan said. “I am grateful for the opportunity to tell my story and the path I have walked as an artist. It’s not very often a gallery would allow an artist this kind of freedom! Most artists are working in many different mediums, but not too many have such a chance to be able to showcase them. I am extremely fortunate.”
The show will feature many pieces by Dan, including Springtime which is Chinese watercolor on silk. Dan said that this piece, and many others in the show, were made to represent different times in his life when each respective medium was his primary focus.
Dan says that behind every piece, he is driven by a deep love of nature and the natural world, drawing inspiration from the flora and fauna around him.
Jim said that while this show is part of a larger network of showings, there is a possibility that Bend will get another Dan Chen solo-show in the future. “We currently have 12 shows annually between our two downtown galleries that open on each First Friday, and with nearly 90 artists represented, we are fortunate to have many different features and themes to each exhibition,” Jim said. “We may end up creating another one-person show for Dan Chen in the future, but for now we are concentrating on building a strong series of exhibitions in 2025. We’ll see what the future holds!”
To witness some of Dan’s varied and unique work, stop by the Mockingbird Gallery in Downtown Bend from July 5 to July 31.