Studio #2
Studio #2 is a First Look Friday participant!
NOTE: Parking is best along Andrews Road by the school yard; Please reserve driveway for Handicap Permitees.
Tom Willing
Tom Willing designs and turns original pieces using mostly native hardwood species. His art focuses on the interplay between light, form, and material. Much of his material he salvages from the urban landscape. His work reveals the visual magic within each piece of wood he uses. In addition to sculptural pieces like his “Fire Salvage” series, he designs pieces that combine the aesthetic and functional. Willing finishes his work elegantly on the lathe with walnut oil and wax, which he then buffs to bring out the character of the wood.
Mary Burgess
Mary Burgess creates her paintings using multiple layers of transparent watercolor which results in rich, varied color, value and depth. A lifetime, signature member of the Watercolor Society of Oregon, she focuses on this fresh medium to convey her love of people, nature and travel. Burgess also shows with Rain Spark Gallery, the Chehalem Mountain Art Affair and the Lake Oswego Reads art show among others. Her studio is open by appointment year round.
Shelly Durica-Laiche
Shelly Durica-Laiche designs and builds decorative and functional metal sculpture in Portland, Oregon. This can result in trellises, freestanding sculpture, furniture, wall art and landscape elements.
Salvaged steel is her preferred material for creating her diverse body of work. She also includes non-ferrous metal accents such as brass, stainless, aluminum and copper. She collects all her material from steelyards, the side of the road, by donation or through her travels.
“I’m inspired by the unique shapes of these found treasures. Scrap metal has an embedded history and character that folds into each design. Sometimes I know right away what I want to build while other times it takes years of contemplation. I’m driven by the design challenge of transforming these recognizable objects into assemblages with a new voice. I seek for the viewer to be surprised by how a material is used in an unconventional way, far removed from its past life. The process is magic to me.”
Virginia Parks
As an archaeologist by day, I was first drawn to encaustic painting by its antiquity. Originating in Greece and Egypt over three millennia ago, the medium combines melted beeswax, pigment, and resin painted on a hard surface. The fun —and the challenge—of encaustic is its flexibility, so I incorporate other media such as watercolor and paper collage into the layers of wax on wood. I love to paint everyday objects that often go overlooked, an empty bow or a lone pear, a chair or a stack of books. The natural world is also a profound source of inspiration, especially seed pods and other phases of plant life that may not be perfect but are infinitely interesting.