The Raven by Shawnee Chadwick

Shawnee Chadwick is in high school and has dedicated herself 100% to art. For as long as she can remember, she’s always been interested in  art, starting with crayons at an early age and working her way up to pencil. She started taking painting lessons with Susy Halverson  and has seen a lot of  improvement over the years

She also takes charcoal classes with Lorena Birk, who has helped her learn to place the right shadows and detail to really make portraits come alive.

Music helps Shawnee’s imagination run wild. Whenever she hears a song that presents an image or story, she has to write it down so she can create a story of image from it. She knows if she doesn’t make it as an artist, she’ll be able to fall back into writing and illustrating stories. We think she has fantastic potential as an artist, and as a writer!

China Painting by Irene Bacon

Irene Bacon has been painting since 2001 and her china painting has delicate, old-world class. She paints regularly with a group of painters working with Marie Geisler.

China painting is an ancient art form requiring a soft touch and patience. She finds it very satisfying to create beautiful, yet functional art art objects. Floral motifs are her most common subjects, but she sometimes incorporates other art interests of landscape and calligraphy.

We are excited to present these two talented artists’ works, along with Michael Tolleson and Beth Bailey, during the month of February.

Please join us for our First Thursday opening reception  on Thursday, February 2 at 5:30 pm where you can meet the artists. We hope to see you there!

Artwork by Shawnee Chadwick

China Painting by Irene Bacon

Falling from Seattle by Shawnee Chadwick

China Painting by Irene Bacon

The Crow and the Butterfly by Shawnee Chadwick

China Painting by Irene Bacon

Dracula's Bride by Shawnee Chadwick

China Painting by Irene Bacon

Pirates of the Caribbean by Shawnee Chadwick

China Painting by Irene Bacon

Howling at the Moon by Shawnee Chadwick

China Painting by Irene Bacon

Full Moon Bloom by Shawnee Chadwick

Through the Windshield by Mia Schulte

In January the gallery will showcase Mia Schulte’s paintings, Margo Westfall and Don Lovett’s steel botanicals and the annual fiber exhibit.

We are excited to start the New Year with such talented artists.

Please join us for our First Thursday opening, Thursday January 5 at 5:30 pm, featuring music by John Crocker, snacks, wine tasting and friends. It’s a chance to meet the artists and see all of the gallery artwork.

Mia Schulte – Paintings

Art has been a part of Mia Schulte’s life for as long as she can remember. She grew up in a family where art was appreciated and she travelled and lived in several countries such as Turkey, Holland and Germany, providing her the opportunity to visit museums and develop an early appreciation of art.

Twists and Turns by Mia Schulte

Her series of paintings reflects a year-long quest to capture the essence of a bridge between nature and significant moments in her life. The inspiration came from time spent on Whidbey Island and along the Columbia River Gorge this past summer, as well as explorations of life drawing.

She works primarily in soft pastels and ink which allow her to explore the complexities of color and truly feel the medium.

Drifting by Mia Schulte

Nature and the human form are often merged in her paintings. She sees an intimate connection between the human body and our natural habitat. She looks to nature, the human form, a book/poem, memory, and reflection for inspiration, and says the objective of her paintings is to tweak reality with emotional intent in abstract fashion. “What I see and feel melds together into an abstract statement the viewer can connect with,” she explains.

Mia took art classes in college, worked in the Design industry for years, and later entered the field of Art Education. Currently, she’s devoting herself to being a full-time artist. Visit her website at http://www.mia-artist.com/

Margo Westfall and Don Lovett – Metal Sculptures

Steel sculpture by Margo Westall and Don Lovett

Margo Westfall and Don Lovett’s Line, Shape and Form exhibit features small-works sculpture. A departure from their large public art sculptures, this home/business-scaled collection is a unique blend of painting and steel sculpture that primarily features botanicals.

For Westfall and Lovett, the recurrent theme of transformation influences and motivates their work. The artists see steel as a metaphor for transformation, as nearly all steel has been recycled or transformed.

“Steel also serves as a metaphor for people in our lives,” Westfall noted, “that is due in part to their shared traits: inherent strength, resilience, unpredictability. Like people, steel transforms and develops a unique patina over time.”

Described by noted artist Gail Ramsay Wharton as, “out of the box yet approachable,” their balanced and detail-driven style is heavily influenced by the contemporary Sogetsu School of Ikebana – Japanese flower arranging. Westfall and Lovett hope their love of steel as an art medium will be infectious, and that their steel works will broaden the common conception of, and appreciation for metal sculpture.

Steel sculpture by Margo Westfall and Don Lovett

Margo Westfall and Don Lovett have been working together in steel and other metals since 2004, selling their work from their Olympia, Washington workshop to clients throughout the Pacific Northwest, California, Arizona, Massachusetts, and beyond.

Margo has been involved in art and media much of her life. She hails from a musical family and has worked as a writer, television and radio producer and director of art and music video documentaries. She is an accomplished glass artist and welder, and is a professional steel sculptor with a critical eye for detail.

Don is a licensed professional land surveyor and consultant, amateur Northwest historian, wood carver, and self-trained artist-craftsperson whose mathematics and critical thinking skills complement the duo’s creations in metal.

Together Westfall and Lovett produce large steel sculptures for international sculpture exhibitions, one-of-a-kind corporate and residential sculptures, and a line of rustic indoor and outdoor sculptures for galleries throughout Puget Sound. They have served as shop assistants for the South Puget Sound Community College’s welding program, and are members of Arts Olympia.

Fingerless Gloves by Jane Gerdon - $20

Communities acrosss the country are banding together to encourage people to shop local. Why? Because supporting local business gives back to the community, helps dollars stay in the community, and helps jobs stay in the community. We like that idea!

The American Express credit card company even created Small Business Saturday encouraging people to do their holiday shopping locally on Saturday, November 26. Over 2 million people have joined a Facebook page called Shop Small.

We know the big retailers really put out the glitz for holiday dollars, with Black Friday, Friday/Saturday specials and Cyber Monday.

We also know that our gallery is full of unique gifts made by the hands of artists who live right here in our community, who have homes and families and children who go to school here, not by someone in China or India.

So we think it’s the perfect time of year to share the unique gift items you can find in our gallery, all under $50 and many under $25.

Shopping local will make a difference to each and every one of our gallery artists, we guarantee it!

Don’t forget Santa’s Workshop on December 6, 8, 13, 15 from  3:30 to 5:30 pm. The cost is just $20!

Hand-made Boxes by Audrey Hoffman - $15

Knitted Hats by Di Morgan, $25 - $40

Earrings by Susy Halverson, $15 - $25

Painted Silk Scarves by Jan Lea - $30

Ceramic Figurines by Lorena Birk - $10

Wheel Carved Pottery by Robin Rudolph Rodenberger, $25 - $50

Hand-made Boxes by Diane Springer - $17

Quilted Fabric Handbag by Peggy Bodle - $65

Gourd Necklaces by Diane Springer - $28

Painted Silk Scarves by Jan Lea - $30

Scarves in Every Color of the Rainbow by Susy Halverson - $24

Ceramic Figurines by Lorena Birk - $10

Hand-made Boxes by Diane Springer - $17

Miniature Paintings of Horses by Lorena Birk - $99

First Thursday ~ November 3
5:30 – 7:30 pm
Music by John Crocker

Featured Artists
Scott McRae and Debby Neely (paintings) | Marisa Mercure  (painted tile)
Don Quackenbush (stained glass) | Jane Gerdon (felting & purses)

Cobalt Moon, Glass Work by Don Quackenbush

“The ability to stir the imagination is intriguing, exciting and fascinating in both stained glass and digital art compositions.” ~ Don Quackenbush

Don has always been visually oriented; he loves to sketch and doodle and finds a pencil and pad of paper to be very relaxing and almost therapeutic.

Now retired, he is able to devote much of his time to exploring the passion for design and creativity that led him into architecture. His compositions are typically abstract and stem from the pencil explorations which he terms generated-doodles. These generated doodles are at times simple, at times complex, and serve as the springboard for his stained glass patterns as well as his explorations into digital artwork.

Also featured in November are Scott McRae’s paintings and Marisa Mercure’s paintings on tile (below),

Dolphins, Glass Work by Don Quackenbush

Bandelier, Glass Work by Don Quackenbush

Foyer Entry, Glass Work by Don Quackenbush

Hand-painted Tile by Marisa Mercure

Hand-painted Tile by Marisa Mercure

Pumpkin Flowers by Scott McRae

Geraniums by Scott McRae

First Thursday ~ October 6
5:30 – 7:30 pm
Music by Dian Norman

Mask Show Best of Show award and prize (gift certificate for The Broadway Gallery) will be announced at the First Thursday reception on October 6, 5:30-7:30.

Featured Artists
Susy Halverson (paintings) | Lee Boone (sculpture) | Donna Patching (paintings) | Dan Sheridan (pottery)

Suzy Halverson Painting Sea Lion Cave Back Door

Susy’s love for teaching art is obvious. She’s been teaching oil painting classes for 20 years, and has been a member of the gallery for 22. In fact, she says her best teachers have always been her students!

“They always test my skills with new challenges,” she says.

It’s easy to see why she learns from her students. Susy lets her students paint the subjects of their choice, and during any class, she may be problem-solving on as many as 12 different paintings at one time.

Susy’s first experience with art came at 12 years old. She visited her aunt in Olympia who introduced her to the esteemed northwest watercolor artist Charles Mulvey. When she shared some of her artwork with him, he encouraged her aunt to find a painting teacher for her.

Susy began oil painting in Frances Bond’s studio in Spokane that same year. She continued with her for three years until moving to Kelso, and she continues to take part in many workshops and college courses and think of herself always as a student, the true mark of a teacher.

Palouse Summer

Susy prefer to paint landscapes of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

“These are the places where I like to vacation and travel as much as possible. I’m never as content as when I am painting in the mountains while my husband and I are traveling,” she says.

If she’s not painting while traveling, she’s taking photos to use as study material for future paintings, both for herself and her students. She prefers to paint actual places so people can identify with them and remember the good times they had at that place or see how beautiful a place is and want to go there. It gives her a great feeling when someone identifies a place in one of her paintings!

Susy uses water miscible oil paints for classes and in her own paintings. These are nontoxic paints with low odor, which makes them ideal for classroom use. They also age as well as regular oil paint when sealed correctly. She uses a combination of bristle brushes, sable detail brushes, palette knives and even her bare hands.

If you are interested in taking a class by Susy, you can get the schedule on the Classes page.

Susy also knits and makes jewelry and you can learn more about her on her Artist page.

Featured Artists
Judy Vandermaten (photography) | Bob Farr (photography) | Mary Huels (pottery) | Ruth Doumit

Horsehair Raku Vase

Mary Huels ~ Potter

It’s not every day you meet a firefighter/artist-potter! Mary Huels fights fires, and when the fires are quiet she heads for her studio to dig into clay.

Not surprising, Mary loves trees, as you can see from the designs on her pots. She experiments with horsehair raku and aluminum foil saggar firings to obtain unique burnished surfaces.

Interestingly, horesehair raku uses…horsehair! The hairs are burned onto the pot’s surface to create lines. As hair is laid upon glowing hot pots straight from the kiln, they sear onto the pot’s surface and leave carbon markings.

Here’s some information about horsehair raku.

Maryalso creates porcelain pots with food safe glazes that are safe for dishwasher and microwave.

“I expect my pots to be used”, she says!

You can see Mary’s beautiful pots, together with photography by Judy Vandermaten and Bob Farr, and artwork by Ruth Doumit during the month of September.

Tree Vase

Small Red and White Vase

Salsa Bowls

Red and White Vase with Neck

Horsehair Raku Vase

Aluminum Saggar Bowl

Hosting arts events are an important part of economic revitalization in our community. For residents and visitors alike, they communicate important small town lifestyles and values.”

On Saturday August 20 the Columbian Artists Association and the City of Longview Parks and Recreation offered a summertime Art in the Park festival at Lake Sacajawea.

This year’s festival was beautiful, due in part to the wonderful sunshine we’ve been having, but mostly due to the efforts of the volunteer organizers and the outstanding group of participating artists.

This year more than 50 booths featured local artworks including photography, fused glas, stained glass, china painting, iron art, fabric art, woodworking, jewelry, sculpture, watercolor, oils, acrylics and prints. There was even a booth for children to create their own artwork!

Several of our gallery artists participated, including Carol Boudreau, Scott McRae and Marisa Mercure. Carol generously gave her time to help organize the event.

Hosting arts events like these are an important part of economic revitalization in our community. For residents and visitors alike, they communicate important small town lifestyles and values. Hollywood often mythologizes these values in “feel-good” movies, but the underlying truth is that small towns and cities are often in dire economic straights, with city and county budgets strained to the limit.

Yet the ability to support the arts can have a dramatic impact on economic opportunities. Visitors form opinions about communities based upon their ability to provide art and culture, which translates into an attractive location for businesses with many employees. It’s also an incentive for arts professionals and artists in search of small town safety, affordability and a sense of community connectedness.

Today visual artists and art gallery owners have found it possible to make a living in places that had never been widely known for supporting the arts. They have found small towns and cities to be welcoming, if not always lucrative, places to pursue their career goals.

We can’t help but think that Art in the Park helps support our community, as much as it helps support artists. Special thanks to the Columbian Artists Association and the City of Longview for supporting the arts. You are helping to bring arts-supportive people to our community in areas where they have not always been visible in previous years!

Here’s some sights from this year’s festival! We hope to see everyone again next year!

Red Paper Mache Mobile

If you haven’t seen Diane Springers colorful gourds or whimsical origami, you simply must! It will make you smile. And who doesn’t enjoy that?

“Art gives my life harmony. Along with my family and their constant love and encouragement, and with my outside activities that give me balance, art gives me an outlet for creativity and for the profound excitement that comes with each new project.” ~ Diane Springer.

You can meet Diane, along with all our August Featured Artists, at our First Thursday opening, August 4, from 5:30 to 7:30. Summer is a wonderful time at the gallery, with music wafting through the downtown area and friendly people enjoying each others company.  We’ll also be announcing the winners of our Miniatures show!

We hope you can make it!

Here’s a sneak peak at Diane’s artwork:

> See more of Diane’s Artwork on her gallery page.

This year’s Miniature Show includes over 65 pieces of miniature artwork!

“Dozens of works, including tiny paintings, ceramic animals, delicate paper art  and carved waterfowl, demonstrate the skill of artists working in small spaces.”

Miniature art is a genre that focuses on art (especially painting, engraving and sculpture) in much-smaller-than-usual sizes. An often-used definition is that a piece of miniature art is capable of being held in the palm of the hand.

Miniature art has been made for over 1000 years and is prized by collectors. The US White House and the Smithsonian American Art Museum have collections of miniature art.

That’s why we’re so excited to have such an incredible showing of miniature art in our gallery this month. As you can see, the pieces are diverse, colorful and eclectic, each a miniature gem of artistic expression.

Vote for your favorite. The winner will be announced at August First Thursday. Read more about the show, Miniatures in spotlight at The Broadway Gallery, The Daily News, July 6.

Goat Rock by Marisa Mercure

Marisa Mercure’s paintings are featured in July, along with, Alice Beckstrom’s stained glass works, and the Lower Columbia Woodcarvers.

You can meet the artists at First Thursday on July 7, 5:30 – 7:30. Don’t forget to vote for your favorite miniature in our annual Miniatures Show, and enter the monthly door prize drawing for an original artwork!

Here’s the news article: Miniatures in spotlight at Broadway Gallery for First Thursday, The Daily News, July 7, 2011

Marisa’s painting style is best described as realistic. She tries to show things as they would appear if captured in one moment of time. She also isn’t afraid to try subjects many artists would shy away from. Whether she’s painting an elephant on the African plain, or a baby reaching for it’s father’s arms, she renders them with a distinct and unique painterlyness.

Her childhood and early adult years were spent in Argentina, where she trained to be an elementary school teacher, but was never able to teach due to unstable government conditions. That didn’t keep her from creating art though, she’s loved it all her life, although the responsiblities of raising a family kept her busy for many years.

Loving Gentleness by Marisa Mercure

After her children were grown she chose Kalama as her retirement destination and loves the community. The small town and friendly people warm her heart and make her feel welcome. Hiking with friends from the Mount St. Helen’s Hiking Club through the scenic areas in southwest Washington and Oregon is one of her favorite pastimes. It gives her lots of inspiration for her paintings!

Marisa doesn’t restrict herself to any specific medium, preferring instead to let the inspiration guide her. She paints in watercolor, acrylic or oil. She works on canvas, board and even tile. She’s shown her work in many local places, including right next door at Lord & McCord Artworks.

It’s not often you find an artist as versatile as Marisa. She loves art and it shows in everything she does. We are so glad she’s one of our member artists!

Below is a sampling of paintings Marisa will have on display in July. More of her work can bee seen on her artist page at Marisa Mercure, For the Love of Tile, and Paintings on Tile.

Waiting to be Served by Marisa Mercure

Up High in the Sky by Marisa Mercure

September in Montana by Marisa Mercure

Nisqually River by Marisa Mercure

Blue Lake by Marisa Mercure