Friday, February 22, 2013

May 24th Featured Artist: Rod Giffels

Artist Statement: I have had a long and varied background in photography, dating back to childhood. But the seed really began to sprout sometime around 2003, when I found myself in the middle of a wild horse herd. I have always been around wildlife and animals but this was so different. I took pictures until I ran out of film. When I wasn't shooting, I was marveling at the beauty of the horses, watching the mares and foals, the way the stallions protected the families. I remember thinking that it would be nice to spend a week, following the herd and taking some pictures. Looking back, I think I had that confused with following the cows down the path to the pasture when I was a kid!! That thought stayed in the back of my mind as I worked and played for several years. I even thought about it occasionally in the middle of some long distance kayaking trips. About 5 years ago, I started dedicating most of my spare time to several herds of wild horses here in the Northwest. The focus has improved my skills and I cannot think of anything more enjoyable than tramping around the side of a mountain, spending as much time as possible near the Mustangs. When not working around the wild Mustangs, I spend time filming other available wildlife. When not working or chasing Mustangs, I try to spend time with my own horses on a ranch in eastern Washington. My work can be seen online at Fine Art America under my name, at Kriseanhorses.com and is presently displayed at the Proctor Art Gallery in Tacoma as well as the Florida headquarters of the Nature Conservancy. My hope is to share the beauty and grace of these magnificent animals


April 26th Featured Artist: Marquita Hunt

Artist Statement: I was born in Tacoma WA and grew up in Lakewood. I'm proud to say that I'm definitely a local artist. After attending California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, I returned home to marry and raise a family. For many years, I worked as an interior designer for Greenbaums in Bellevue, WA. I left to start my own decorative painting business called Illusions. Faux finishing, marbleizing, and murals of all kinds. Every job was entirely different from the previous one, requiring a lot of versatility which suited me just fine. At this time, I am spending my time in my studio creating work that is satisfying to me and exciting to others. I enjoy the non-objective or abstract pieces. They are original and exist no where until completed. I feel you must have the courage to follow your intuition. My work is currently at Proctor Art Gallery and Lakewood Art Gallery.

April 26th Featured: Grace Youn, Violin

Photo Courtesy of Consider Chromatic
"My name is Grace.  I was handed a violin at age 7 after being told I was too short to play the cello and started piano lessons shortly after.  Now 21, I'm finishing up my music degree at the University of Puget Sound, studying under Dr. Maria Sampen.
As a soloist, I have performed with the University of Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Percussion Ensemble, and String Orchestra, and the Tacoma Youth Symphony. I am currently concertmaster of the University of Puget Sound Symphony and am also a member of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra. I have attended summer music festivals, including The International Festival
Institute at Round Top, Brevard Music Center, Innsbrook Institute and Music Festival, Northwestern Summer Violin Institute, and the Icicle Creek International Chamber Music Festival.   I was a prizewinner at the Beatrice Herrmann Young Artist Competition and was a national finalist in the 2012 Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Competition. I have performed in master classes for Miriam Fried, Bill Preucil, Kenneth Goldsmith, Blair Milton, Robert Chen, Cyrus Forough, and Janet Sung.

I had always considered myself a classical musician, but all that changed when I was thrown headfirst into a singer/songwriter showcase, asked to improvise string parts on the fly. Since then, my life has never been the same.  I mange my own YouTube channel, graceyounviolin, where I explore various musical genres, combining classical traditions and techniques with other music traditions.  I have been incredibly blessed to have been able to work with and learn from some of today's greatest crossover artists, including The Dueling Fiddlers, Alex DePue, and Mike Block.  I won the 2012 Rockin' Fiddle Chalelnge hosted by Adam DeGraff of The Dueling Fiddlers with a cover of Journey's Don't Stop Believin' and had one of my covers featured in Katy Perry's documentary, Part of Me.

In the last few years, I have learned that "musician" merely scratches the surface in describing what I do.  I have learned more than scales, staples of the violin repertoire, the fundamentals of violin technique, styles of different music traditions, or even how to make my violin sound like an electric guitar on distortion.   Music is a language and I seek to be fluent in all of its dialects.  I hope to bring as much rock and roll to the Sibelius Violin Concerto as I do classical precision and refinement to a cover of The Black Keys.  Ultimately, I seek to become a genre-proof artist, someone who pushes boundaries and brings a high level of musical artistry and excellence to anything I do."

March 22nd Featured Artist: Carolyn Burt


“Versatile” describes Northwest artist, Carolyn Burt.  Her skills include work in a variety of mediums including watercolor, acrylic, ink, photography, and chalk pastels.  Carolyn studied art throughout school and received her B.A. from University of Puget Sound after spending a year studying French at the University of Rennes, France, and attending the Ecole Des Beaux Arts.  She continued her education at U.P.S. receiving her M.Ed. in administration.   She has taught art at all levels of education and after retiring from 24 years in education, fulfilled a dream of opening Proctor Art Gallery and re-entering the world of art after a hiatus.  Over the years, she has won numerous awards and recognition for her work.





Having been born and raised in Washington, Carolyn is inspired by the beauty of nature as well as the local architecture of the area.  Her renderings of buildings in and around Tacoma have a freeness and freshness, instead of the rigidness of contrived mechanical architectural drawing.  She incorporates tessellation patterns into her ink drawings and paintings that morph into realistic images. Often her paintings focus on lighting, textures, and patterns that create a mood or tell a story.  Visiting vintage car shows and the Le May Car Museum inspired her creations called “slices of history,”  paintings of cars, but focusing only on a part with its lines, angles, and reflections.

Photography is a recent addition to her repertoire.  She has already won a purchase award from Multicare Health Systems and an award at the Washington State Photographer’s Exhibition at the Puyallup Fair.  Carolyn uses her art background and knowledge of composition, color, texture, pattern in choosing and shooting her subjects.

A fairly new medium is chalk pastel.  Along with drawing landscapes, she has already been commissioned to do several pet portraits. However, her newest addition is that of Scratchboard Engraving.  Boards are prepared with a layer of white china clay covered with India ink.  Engraving tools are used to remove the black ink for the white to come through.  It is reminiscent of the scrimshaw engravings.
 
Carolyn believes “Art feeds the soul” and that mankind is born to create.  It is overcoming the fear of what someone else will think of your work and fear of rejection that is the difficult part of process.


Her work may be seen at Proctor Art Gallery and on line at CarolynBurtStudio.com.

March 22nd Featured Musical Group

Ivory Trio Performing at 7 pm in the Civic Building Atrium



The Ivory Winds Trio was established in 2007. The ensemble has performed at concerts throughout the Puget Sound. Rose Johnson (flute) is a freelance musician, ensemble coach with the Bellevue Youth Symphony, and has a private studio in Issaquah. John Halvorsen (horn) coaches with the Tacoma Youth Symphony and has performed with many bands and orchestras in the Puget Sound region. Robin Watson (piano) is an accompanist in the vocal department at Pacific Lutheran University and maintains a private studio in Tacoma.