http://www.blueraingallery.com The Artists from Blue Rain Gallery en-us http://www.blueraingallery.com/rss PHP webmaster@blueraingallery.com http://blueraingallery.com/artists/tony_abeyta/ Tony Abeyta is considered one of the finest young contemporary painters today. Abeyta explores a variety of mediums including oil, charcoal, and sand. Because he experiments with techniques and images so much, his creativity transcends any label that may be used to identify his work. Abeyta was commissioned to create the signature image of the National Museum of the American Indian‘s groundbreaking opening in Washington, DC. Many of Abeyta‘s highly original works are depictions of complex Navajo beliefs; they evoke the notion that there is power in everyone and everything. Avid collectors will consider their Abeyta piece to be a gift from a higher power. blueraingallery - 15 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/rik_allen/ These works have been in the form of space craft, rockets and scientific apparatus . In this way, art and technology share a symbiotic grace. Most of the current work is made primarily of glass and metal, which expresses a paradoxical symbiosis. The relationship between the rigid strength of metal with glass‘ apparent fragility creates an alluring tension. On the surface, these are interplanetary vessels – literally transportive and technologically designed to explore the rugged desolation of outer space. Vehicles that have a rough, worn exterior, suggests use, imperfection, and history. These craft contain elements bundled within their transparent bulkheads, the center of these vessels is an exposed nucleus, or core, that may be seen to represent incarnation of energy while representing both outer and inner spheres of exploration and curiosity. This series‘ theme of "futuristic antiquity" reflects my interest in the literary fictional worlds of Jules Vern, H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clark, and Isaac Asimov and their influence on the scientific world. Inspiration has also been from reading the accounts of early scientific pioneers of the nineteenth and twentieth century, such as Nicola Tesla, Robert Goddard, Wernher von Braun, and other great scientific minds. While many of my pieces have reference to my curiosity of science, it is also important to me to convey humor, and lighthearted fun that rockets and fiction embody. Presently, I am working toward exploring simple forms that lend a sculptural venue and provide a theater of the human condition, while also making work related to natural science and its parallels in our culture and the human condition, all wrapped up in the form of a rocket. How funny is that? ~Rik Allen RIK ALLEN Born: Providence, Rhode Island EDUCATION 1991 BA, Anthropology Franklin Pierce College, NH PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Present Sculptor Mixed media 2009 Board Member :Glass Art Society 2008 May/August Assistant Artistic Program Director Pilchuck Glass School 2007 Scholarship Juror, Glass Art Society 1995 to 2007 Engraving & Cold work William Morris, Sculptor 1994 Teaching Assistant Pilchuck Glass School 1995 to 2002 Studio & Cold Shop Coordinator Pilchuck Glass School 1993 to 1994 Studio Assistant James Watkins Glass Studio 1992 to 1994 Studio Assistant Michael Schiener Sculpture Studio 1991 to 1994 Studio Assistant Jonathon Bonner Sculpture Studio 1991 to 1992 Studio Assistant Daniel Clayman, Glass 1991 Studio apprentice, Ceramics Lee Segal SOLO EXHIBITIONS September 2009 Traver Gallery Tacoma, WA 2007-2008 "Innersphere: Sculptural Works of Rik Allen" Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame November 16, 2007 - April 28,2008 Seattle, WA 2007 Traver Gallery "Innersphere" Seattle, WA 2006 Thomas Riley Galleries Cleveland, OH 2003 "Vestiges of Galactic Craft", Vetri Gallery Seattle, WA 2001 R.Duane Reed Galleries- Solo Show St. Louis 2000 Foster White Gallery Solo Show Kirkland,WA 1998 Foster White Gallery - Solo Show Kirkland, WA SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2009 "Inspired by", Traver Gallery Tacoma, WA 2009 SOFA NY New York, NY 2008 SOFA Chicago Chicago, IL 2007 Palm Beach 3 West Palm Beach, FL Pratt Fine arts Center Seattle, WA 2006 SOFA Chicago Chicago, IL Palm Beach 3 West Palm Beach, FL LewAllen Contemporary Santa Fe, NM 2005 Thomas Riley Galleries Cleveland, OH SOFA Chicago Chicago, IL 2003 William Traver Gallery Seattle, WA "Looking North from Pilchuck" Group show Camano Island, WA 2002 Houston Center for Contemporary Craft Houston, TX Goldesberry Gallery Houston, TX Solomon Dubnick Gallery Sacramento, CA 2001 Holsten Gallery Stockbridge, MA Gallerie Dorita Atlanta, GA 2000 Baisden Gallery- Group Show Tampa, FL SOFA Chicago Chicago R. Duane Reed Gallery Group Show St. Louis/Chicago Gallerie Dortita! Group Exhibition Atlanta, GA 1999 R. Duane Reed Galleries Chicago / St. Louis Holsten Gallery Stockbridge, MA Gallerie Dorita! Atlanta, GA Gallerie Alegria Birmingham, AL Arts of Utah Gallery Salt Lake City, UT 1998 Port Angeles Fine Arts Center Port Angeles, WA Pilchuck Staff Exhibit Foster/White Gallery Seattle, WA 1997 William Traver Gallery Group Show Seattle, WA Poncho Juried Auction Seattle,WA Vetri International Glass Seattle, WA 1996 Jewish Federation Mennorah Show Seattle, WA History of the World Gallery Camano Is., WA BIBILIOGRAPHY 2009 Davison, Dave, "Emerging artists reveal their inspirations at Traver Gallery" May, Tacoma Weekly 2008 Simon, William. "Dreams Lift off at the Science Fiction Museum " July, Launch Magazine 2008 Hackett, Regina. "Innersphere: Sculptural Works by Rik Allen"; Seattle Post Intelligencer; April,25 2008 2008 Glowen, Ron "Innersphere: sculptural works by Rik Allen" Review March/April American Craft Magazine 2008 Wagoneer, Shawn; "Innersphere, Sculptural works by Rik Allen", March Art Glass Magazine. pp. 64-68 2008 Cass, Robin. "Innersphere; Sculptural Works by Rik Allen"; Critical Issues; Glass Art Society News, March 2007 Goffredo, Theresa. "Blast off into a world of space imagination", The Herald, Everett, WA 2007 Lintereur, Josh. "Space Sculptures-the Voyages of an Artist", Skagit Valley Herald, November 22, 2007, 2006 500 Glass Objects, pg. 384 Lark Publishing 2005 "Team Effort"Artisan Northwest Magazine Spring Issue pg.24 2002 Carol Duvall Show Aired May 23, 2002 "Marriage in Glass" Interviewed/filmed working in glass studio 2001 American Craft Magazine June/July Portfolios Section p76 TEACHING EXPERIENCE 2009 July Instructor- Sculpture Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA 2008 Instructor -Glass Penland Craft Center, Penland, NC 2007 Instructor- Sculpting techniques Toyama Institute of Glass Toyama, Japan 2006 Instructor – Sculpture Techniques International Glass Festival, Stourbridge, England 2006 Instructor –Surface + Sculpture Pittsburgh Center for Glass, SELECTED COLLECTIONS Boeing World Headquarters Chicago, IL Toyama Institute of Glass Toyama, Japan Paul Allen Family Foundation Collection Seattle, WA Betsy & Richard Ehrenberg Santa Fe, NM Flying Heritage Collection Everett, WA blueraingallery - 509 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/david_bradley/ blueraingallery - 490 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/nancy_callan/ Nancy Callan has been working as a glass artist in Seattle, Washington since receiving her BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1996. For the past twelve years, she has been a member of Lino Tagliapietra‘s glassblowing team and has traveled throughout the world as his assistant. Callan has built her skills working for many prominent glass artists including Flora Mace and Joey Kirkpatrick, Ginny Ruffner, and Josiah McElheny. Since 2001, she has focused on developing her artistic voice as a glass sculptor. Her work embodies the skill and finesse of the Venetian tradition, but combines this pedigree with the wit and aesthetic sensibility of a contemporary artist. Callan is highly influenced by pop culture, and references sources such as comic books ("Superhero Stingers"), children‘s toys ("Tops") and high fashion ("Plaid Winkles") in her ongoing series. Callan has exhibited her work nationally in major galleries and is preparing for the opening of an early-career survey at the Muskegon Museum of Art in Muskegon, Michigan February 26 – May 24, 2009. The exhibit is titled Seventh-Inning Stretch: Glass by Nancy Callan, and will later travel to the Pittsburgh Glass Center in July 2009. Blue Rain Gallery welcomes the artwork of Nancy Callan! blueraingallery - 505 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/william_c._davis/ William Davis paints with glass, his medium cut and fused to create painterly interpretations of southwest inspired landscapes. "Glass is female," states Davis. "It is seductive and addictive." This is precisely why the veteran ceramic and glass artist began to exclusively work with glass in 1990 after a fifteen year period of expression in both mediums. New works coming soon. blueraingallery - 486 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/sean_diediker/ Sean Diediker is a painter‘s painter. His sweeping, faceted brushstrokes and painterly surfaces generate works that reveal the artist‘s sensitivity to his medium and attention to the act of painting itself. Diediker assembles bold colors, chiascurro and a cutting-edge sense of design to create a highly original body of work that separates him from his contemporaries. His imagery captures biblical allegories, narratives and concepts and renders them contemporary. Classical iconography, in Diediker‘s hands, becomes a thoroughly modern symbolic language that is fresh, visually striking, and germane to our times. "To me," states Diediker, "they seem to represent timeless ideas and situations. I have made an attempt to take these biblical concepts and, through contemporary subject matter, bring them closer to the viewer." What the viewer is brought closer to are portraits, still-lives, landscapes and combinations of these forms that are balanced and timeless. All of Diediker‘s works are tied together by their solid sense of form and compositional structure. Whatever he paints, the same expressive vision and reaction to subject and medium are present. "I enjoy the whole creative process, taking an idea and constructing a painting around it," states Diediker, whose father is a general contractor, "I feel paint much in the same way that my father would erect a building. Much thought in planning, careful design, step by step and layer upon layer…until the work is done and standing on its own." The oldest of four brothers, Diediker is originally from Newbury Park, California. After his formal training in Fine Arts, he has lived and worked in the Rocky Mountains of Utah and has just recently returned from a year-long trek around the world. Travel and environment are important to the artist. "I enjoy using subjects that are tangible to me," states Diediker, "You might say that my work is directly affected by where I‘m living, the people, city, landscape—the things I see every day. I enjoy observing the stimulus and reaction of different human situations. Environment should affect and artist‘s work; If it doesn‘t, you‘re painting decorations." blueraingallery - 189 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/tammy_garcia/ The two-thousand-year-old tradition of southwestern ceramics has been infused with a new energy and enthusiasm that has surprised and excited collectors and artists alike. Thoughtful and demure on the outside, Tammy Garcia contains an inner fire to create pottery that crackles with a spirited vivacity original to the art form. Anyone who sees one of Tammys works is struck by her ability to stretch the boundaries of the clay to contain her vision. A potter's art is generally limited by the size and shape of the vessel he or she designs. In Tammys case, it is as if the clay itself attempts to expand to better convey her dramatic design work. Part of that sense stems from the amazing proportions of Tammy's pots. She thrills at self-imposed challenge, and this often leads her to create pottery of almost unheard-of size. The other part, however, comes from a true symbiosis between Tammy and her medium. Pottery has been an outlet of creative personal expression for two millennia; Tammy was brought up in a family steeped in the tradition, and is both respectful of, and thankful to, the powers that allow her to share her exquisite talents. In exchange, it seems she has been rewarded with clay and ash that yearn to hold the voluptuous shapes she molds and display her intensely animated designs. The artwork that Tammy produces is at once instantly recognizable, yet difficult to categorize. This is the mark of a true artist; her work is constantly changing and reinventing itself, pushing the envelope and altering the medium of pottery for all who follow. She took the pueblo tradition of carving bands of design into vessels and shattered the rigid format of her ancestors. Her designs come spilling out of her in such a rush that she eagerly uses the entire surface of her pots as her canvas, as opposed to etching motifs into a single band around the circumference, as had been the custom. She adapts and redefines cultural motifs into stylized structural carvings that explode across the surface of her works. Tammy may take a leaf pattern, reverse it, rotate it, and send it undulating along the façade of an urn until the dizzying theme covers the exterior. She might then offset this barely restrained chaos by completing her pot with an unadorned, fluted lip. This flexibility and embracing of extremes is a trademark of Tammys revolution. Her dynamic creations have set her squarely at the forefront of contemporary pottery. blueraingallery - 8 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/gustavo_victor_goler/ Gustavo Victor Goler was raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico, among a family of Latin American art conservators and restorers. Goler's early years were spent apprenticing in is family's conservation studios where he was taught to carve. This was the segue to his interest in saints. He attended the University of New Mexico and later earned a degree in Graphics and Advertising Design from the Colorado Institute of Art. Currently, he researches the works, techniques and history of New Mexican, European and Latin American carvers but devotes much of his time to exploring his own artistic pursuits. Victor's work is considered to be progressive and his increasing knowledge of iconography and religious themes as well as his growing ability to manipulate his medium have made him a popular sculptor. In addition to bultos and retablos, Goler has mastered other media including lithographs. His skills as a wood carver have elevated him to an award winning artist - including numerous First Place awards and two Grand Prize awards at Spanish Market in Santa Fe, NM. Goler has also consulted on and lectured about Santero techniques and history at notable venues including the Smithsonian Institution. His work can be found in publications, museum collections and churches across the country. Victor resides in Talpa, NM, with his wife Whitney and young daughters Margot and Grace. blueraingallery - 191 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/norma_howard/ Self-taught watercolorist Norma Howard touches the heart with poignant stories of her Choctaw and Chickasaw ancestors in Oklahoma. She transports you to an earlier time by capturing moments of everyday life - a grandmother stitching a star quilt on a porch, or a boy fishing with a cane pole at a cypress-filled lake. Her style recalls the pointillism of the Impressionists, but instead of dots, she painstakingly layers tiny, basket-weave brush strokes to produce a vibrant depth of color rarely seen with watercolors. Howard, who started by painting miniatures, has moved to larger canvases that demand countless strokes to achieve her trademark richness of color and detail. "These subjects about how people survived in hard times and in everyday life that every tribe can relate to, wherever they lived. People tell me it‘s the details that draw them into my paintings and capture their feelings. My inspiration will always be to tell my ancestors‘ story and honor the way they lived." Sys Howard. blueraingallery - 84 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/hyrum_joe/ blueraingallery - 175 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/randall_lagro/ "Down an ordinary alley off one of the busier streets in Taos is a shabby door in need of paint. Open it, and one enters a room full of fantastical paintings, monotypes, and panels, all awash in the clear northern light falling from a wall of windows. The work seem visions from Gothic fairytale, or half-remembered images from a haunting childhood fever dream. This is the studio of Randall LaGro, an artist and printmaker graced with the unusual talent of creating works that are often equal parts of the conscious and subconscious world. Hanging from every wall, leaning in corners, set on easels, and stacked on tables, LaGros pieces resonate with mystery and beauty. His works are peopled by the common and the extraordinary, the transcendent and the loathsome. As a viewer, one feels the images are disturbingly familiar. It is as if LaGro is able to paint the dreamscapes and nightmares of humanity, and they are all gathered together in this high-ceilinged Cathedral of the Soul. LaGro works most often with paintings and monotypes, two distinctly different methods that allow him great freedom in attempting his goals. ""I want to speak to the poets, artists, and philosophers, but I dont want to lose the guy on the tractor. Art has always been language to me - thats its power."" The power inherent in the paintings of LaGro is overwhelming. Using predominantly rich and somber tones on large-scale canvasses or wood panels, LaGro introduces viewers to figures of uncommon translucence, unsettling anguish, and uncertain perspective. There is a musician seen through a rain-washed window; the dim androgynous shape in a blurred field leaning toward a bright, clear cluster of flowers; the blind artist working in his dark room, only vaguely aware of the demon lurking behind him. Much of the power of these works is in the ethereal atmosphere surrounding even the most mundane of subjects. LaGro also plays with reflective surfaces, such as glass and water, at times forcing the viewer to re-evaluate what his eyes may be seeing. LaGros monotypes are arguably his most unique creations. First covering a Plexiglas plate with sepia-toned ink, he has four to six hours to swab, wipe and scratch at the surface, slowly removing ink to reveal shapes and images of each work. He then transfers the creation to paper by running the plate through an etching press. These works, more than LaGros others, are drawn from the subconscious. These are the monochromatic pieces that seem snippets of dreams, featuring the bare backs of women sprouting wings, pools of water thick with snakes, and strange reverse writing obscuring Venetian archways. There is great depth to these monotypes. Images are dynamic, coming into and sinking back out of focus as if momentarily bobbing to the surface. One of these monotypes was entered in the prestigious 16th National Biennial of the Los Angeles Printmaking Society. From a field of fourteen hundred entries, only seventy-five works were chosen for the show. LaGro won an award for excellence in the medium." blueraingallery - 99 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/jeremy_lepisto/ Portland based glass artist, Jeremy Lepisto, utilizes cast glass to "highlight the simple components and ordinary workings of everyday situations to capture the complex in the common." His planar forms are minimal and imbued with renderings of architectural structures, landscapes and people. Some of these works will focus on what the artist calls, "a detailed idea in juxtaposition to its general surrounding." Born Fort Belvoir, VA 1974 Currently Independent studio artist and co-owner of Studio Ramp LLC, Portland, OR EDUCATION 1993-1997 BFA with Honors (Majoring in Metals and Glass), New York College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Minors in Education and Art History, Alfred, NY 1996 Participant, Stephen Paul Day, Hot Glass Casting, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA EXPERIENCE 2009 Member of the Board of Diretors, Glass Art Society, USA Guest Lecturer, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK Instructor, "Lines and Layers" Master class, Warm Glass UK, Wrington, England, UK 2008 Member of the Board of Directors, Glass Art Society, USA Co-Chair for "Forming Frontiers", Glass Art Society Conference, Portland, OR Presenter, Ausglass "Open House" Conference, Canberra, Australia Co-Instructor, Post Ausglass Conference Kilnforming Workshop, Canberra Glassworks, Canberra, Australia 2007 Member of the Board of Directors, Glass Art Society, USA Co-Instructor, "Constructing Concepts", Session 4, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA Guest Lecturer, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY Teaching Assistant for Silvia Levinson, Northlands Creative Glass, Lybster, Scotland 2006 Member of the Board of Directors, Glass Art Society, USA Guest Lecturer, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY Guest Lecturer, Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL Guest Lecturer, Illinois Wesleyan University, IL Juror, "Emerge 2006", Bullseye Glass Resource Center, Portland, OR Instructor, "Imagery in Kiln formed Glass", Urban Glass, Brooklyn, NY Juror, "Working Glass: Employee Show", Bullseye Glass Resource Center, Portland, OR Guest Lecturer, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 2005 Member of the Board of Directors, Glass Art Society, USA Guest Lecturer, California College of Art, Oakland, CA Co-Instructor, "Concept to Construction", Session 4, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA Invited Juror, "Pilchuck 27th Annual Auction, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA Instructor, "In Depth Imagery", Bullseye Conference 2005, Portland, OR Guest Presenter, Bullseye Conference 2005, Portland, OR Instructor, "Imagery in Kiln formed Glass", Urban Glass, Brooklyn, NY 2004 Guest Lecturer, Personal Works, Lowe Art Museum, Miami, FL Instructor, "Basic Kilnforming Techniques", University of Miami, Miami, FL Studio Coordinator Session Four, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA Guest Lecturer, "Kilnforming; Exploration of Firing Techniques", Technical Resource Center, Glass Arts Society, New Orleans, LA Teaching Assistant for Deborah Horrell, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA Instructor, "Kilnforming with Mel George and Jeremy Lepisto", Canberra School of Art Summer School, Canberra, Australia 2003 Instructor, "Kilnforming Techniques", Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY Guest Presenter, "Artworks by Jeremy Lepisto", Los Angeles Glass Alliance, Los Angeles, CA Guest Presenter, "Painting with Light and Dark", Oregon Glass Guild, Eugene, OR Instructor, "In Depth Imagery" and "Slumping Demo" and "Coldworking Demo", Bullseye Conference, Portland, OR Studio Coordinator Session Three, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA Guest Presenter, "Thinking Outside the Glass Box-Panel Discussion", Oregon Glass Guild, Portland, OR 2002 Instructor, "Working Deeper and Thicker" and "Painting with Light", Warmglass.com Conference, Portland, OR Instructor, "Hot Glass Casting", Firehouse 12, Vancouver, WA Flatshop Coordinator Session Five, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA Campus Technician Session Two, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA Teaching Assistant for Steve Klein and Johnathan Schmuck, Firehouse 12, Vancouver, WA Instructor, Hot Glass Casting, Contemporary Glass Makers of Ireland, Fermanaugh, Ireland Guest Presenter, "Fusing with Bullseye Glass",Contemporary Glass Makers of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland Visiting Instructor, "Kilnforming Techniques", National College of Art and Design, Dublin, Ireland 2001 Co-Founder of Studio Ramp LLC, Portland, OR Lead Furnace Builder, Bullseye Glass Company, Portland, OR Teaching Assistant for Kelly McLain and Cathy Chase, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA Teaching Assistant for Henry Halem, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA 2000 Glass Technician Session Five, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA 1999 Research and Education Lead Technician (’99-‘01), Bullseye Glass Company, Portland, OR 1998 Instructor, "Assemble Your Thoughts: Building on the Punty", Hot Glass Casting Workshop, Pratt Fine Arts, Seattle, WA 1997 Production Manager Apprentice(’97-‘99) , Bullseye Glass Company, Portland, OR Studio Technician, Chimicum Glass Studio, Chimicum ,WA Production Assistant, River Dog Fine Arts Foundry, Chimicum ,WA 1995 Sales Representative (’95-’97), Libbey Glass Company, Toledo, OH Glass Blower (’95-’97), Tidal Wave Glass Studio, Toledo, OH SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2009 "New Work", Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa, OK "New Work", Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM 2007 "A Place In Between", William Traver Gallery, Tacoma, WA "New Work", D&A Fine Art, Studio City, California 2005 "Intersecting Lines", William Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA 2004 "New Work", Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA 2003 "Monuments to Moments", William Traver Gallery, Tacoma, WA GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2009 "Rising Stars", Museum of American Glass, Wheaton, NJ "Wheaton Glass Weekend", featured by Thomas Riley Galleries, Wheaton, NJ "Narratives from the Kiln", Columbia Art League, Coumbia, MO "Portland Presence", William Traver Gallery, Seattle WA "Vision Realized", Moragn Contemporary Glass Gallery, Pittburgh, PA "Inspired By", William Traver Gallery, Tacoma, WA "Glass Unexpected", Space 301, Mobile, AL 2008 SOFA Chicago 2008, with Thomas Riley Galleries, Chicago, IL "New Work", Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, NM "House Guests", Canberra Glassworks, Canberra, Australia "Repair and Replenish", Beaver Galleries, Canberra, Australia 2007 "Glass at Daniel Kany Gallery", Daniel Kany Gallery, Portland, ME SOFA Chicago 2007, with Thomas Riley Galleries, Chicago, IL "Architecture/Structure in Contemporary Craft", The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA "Young Glass 2007", Ebeltoft Museum, Ebeltoft, Denmark "Blend", Minthorne Gallery, Newberg, OR 2006 SOFA Chicago 2006, with Thomas Riley Galleries, Chicago, IL "Synthesis: Fusing and Kilnforming", Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA 2005 "Pilchuck Artists 2005", William Traver Gallery, Seattle, WA SOFA Chicago 2005, with Thomas Riley Galleries, Chicago, IL "20/20: Twenty Artists / Twenty Years", Bullseye Connection Gallery, Portland, OR "North West Visits The North East", Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA SOFA New York 2005, Thomas Riley Galleries, New York, NY "Emerging Artist ‘05 Exhibition", Parada Hall, Scottsdale, AZ 2004 "Contemporary Glass", Missoula Art Museum Missoula, Missoula, MT "New Gallery Artists", Andora Gallery, Carefree, AZ "Coefficients: A Selection of Contemporary Kiln-formed Glass", Contemporary Crafts Museum, Portland, OR "Seven Emerging Artists", Linda Greene Contemporary Glass, Dallas, TX 2003 "Legacy", Bullseye Connection Gallery, Portland, OR 2002 "Light and Line", Firehouse 12, Vancouver, WA "Pilchuck Summer Staff Show", History of the World Gallery, Camano Island, WA "Cast Glass", Firehouse 12, Vancouver, WA 2001 "Bullseye Employee Show", Bullseye Connections, Portland, OR 1997 "Monuments of Moments", New York College of Ceramics at Alfred University BFA Exhibition, Harder Hall, Alfred, NY 1996 "Three Walls and a Floor", Alfred University Student Gallery, Alfred, NY "Chosen Works", Fosdick-Nelson Gallery, Alfred, NY AWARDS/PUBLICATIONS 2009 New Glass Review 30, Neues Glass. Corning, NY "Glass Unexpected", Show Catalog, Mobile, AL 2008 Contemporary Glass", Black Dog Publishing, London, UK, pg. 38, 39 Pilchuck Glass School, 30th Annual Auction, Live Auction, Seattle, WA "Review Jeremy Lepisto", Glass Quarterly, Number 110, Spring 2008 Pg. 63 New Glass Review 29, Neues Glass., Corning, NY 2007 "Summer Hot Shop Artist Series Residency," Tacoma Glass Museum, Tacoma, WA Pilchuck Glass School, 29th Annual Auction, Live Auction, Seattle, WA "Young Glass 2007", Ebeltoft Museum, Ebeltoft, Denmark "Emerge 2006" Juror, Jurors Statements, Emerge 2006 Catalog, Bullseye Gallery, OR 2006 "Glass Notes: Fourth Edition", Kilnforming Basics by Jeremy Lepisto, Franklin Mills Press, OH "25 Years of The New Glass Review", The Corning Glass Museum, NY Pilchuck Glass School, 28th Annual Auction, Live Auction, Seattle, WA "500 Glass Objects", Lark Books, NY 2005 "Glass Breaks: Through the Art Ceiling" by Nancy Ruhling, Art and Antiques Magazine, Sept.05, pg. 84 "Bullseye Glass for Art and Architecture", Product Catalog 3, pg. 13 Pilchuck Glass School, 27th Annual Auction, Live Auction, Seattle, WA UrbanGlass 2005 Auction and Glassblowers Ball Hauberg Fellowship, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA 2004 "Kilnforming; Exploration of Firing Techniques" by Jeremy Lepisto, Glass Arts Society 2004 Journal New Orleans, pg. 78-79 "Kilnforming by Jeremy Lepisto", Gloine: The Journal of the Glass Society of Ireland, Number XXXVII, DEC 04, Ireland "Portfolio Jeremy Lepisto", American Craft Dec ’04/Jan ‘05 Issue, Pg. 54 Pilchuck Glass School, 26th Annual Auction, Live Auction, Seattle, WA "Glass Now 2004" Annual Auction, National Liberty Museum, Philadelphia, PA New Glass Review 25, Neues Glass, Corning, NY Salem Art Association, the Fifth Annual Clay Ball, Live Auction, Salem, OR 2003 Pilchuck Glass School, 25th Annual Auction, Live Auction, Seattle, WA 2002 Pilchuck Glass School, 24th Annual Auction, Live Auction, Seattle, WA 2001 Pilchuck Glass School, 23th Annual Auction, Silent Auction, Seattle, WA 1997 Alfred University Pilchuck Glass School Scholarship, New York College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY SELECTED COLLECTIONS/COMMISSIONS 2009 "Each Unto Its Own" Watertower Series, Museum of Glass, Tacoma "Shade of Support" Bridge Series, Knoxville Museum, Knoxville, TN 2007 "Coming Together" Building Block Series, Ebeltoft Museum, Ebeltoft, Denmark "Between Destinations" Building Block Series, collection of Lani McGregor and Dan Schwoerer, Portland, OR 2006 "Separate Views", commission, Stoel Rives LLC, Seattle, WA "Honor" and "Ernie" Awards, commission, Dance USA 2006 Conference, Portland, OR 2004 "Drawn Conclusion" Bridge Series, Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, WA blueraingallery - 489 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/orlando_gabby_leyba/ Orlando‘ Gabby Leyba‘s vibrant, contemporary canvases draw you in by twisting common perceptions. His unique juxtaposition of elements -- a blossoming flower with a stylized motorcycle tail light -- challenge you to look below the surface and find new beauty in unexpected places. The dichotomy extends throughout each multi-media canvas as Leyba balances bold hues with muted tones, smooth painted surfaces with carved plaster sections… all of it blending seamlessly into spellbinding art. blueraingallery - 492 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/arthur_lopez/ blueraingallery - 508 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/dante_marioni/ AWARDS 2002 1st Place - Reticello, Ebeltoft Museum, Denmark 1997 Outstanding Achievement in Glass, Urban Glass Award, New York, NY 1988 Young Americans, American Craft Museum, New York, NY 1987 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS American Museum of Art + Design, New York Birmingham Museum, Birmingham, AL Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA Cincinnati Museum of Art, Cincinnati, OH Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY Davis, Wright & Jones, Seattle and Bellevue, WA Ebeltoft Museum, Denmark Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX Hunter Museum, Chattanooga, TN Huntsville Museum, Huntsville, AL Japanese National Museum of Modern Art , Tokyo, Japan LIULIGONGFANG, LIULI CHINA Museum's Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA MCI, Washington, DC (promised gift to National Museum of American Art, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute) Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia National Museum of Art, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC National Museum of Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA New Zealand National Museum, Auckland Niijima Glass Museum, Niijima, Japan Powerhouse Museum, New South Wales, Australia Safeco Insurance Company, Seattle, WA Seattle Art Museum Security Pacific Bank, Seattle, WA The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA The Prescott Collection of Pilchuck Glass at the U.S. Bank Centre, Seattle, WA The White House Crafts Collection, Washington, DC University Art Museum, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ Vero Beach Museum, Vero Beach, FL Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan TEACHING EXPERIENCE 2008 Haystack School of Craft, Deer-Island, ME. 2006 Northlands Creative Glass, Lybster Scotland 2005 Canberrs School of Art, Canberrs Australia Nijima Glass Center, Nijima Japan 2004 Haystack School of Craft, Deer-Island, ME. 2003 Visiting artist, International Glass Workshop, Centro Studio Vetro, Venice, Italy Demonstration/Lecture, The Creative Glass Center of America, Wheaton Village, Millville, NJ Teaching with Kiki Smith, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA 2001 Northlands Creative Glass, Lybster Scotland 2000 Haystack School, Deer Isle, ME Miami University, Miami, FL 1999 CCAC, Oakland, CA Kent State, Cleveland, OH 1996 SUWA Glass Museum, Nagano, Japan. Instructor Haystack School, Deer Isle, ME. Co-taught with Lino Tagliapietra Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC 1993 New York Experimental Glass Workshop, Brooklyn, NY Rhode Island School of Design (winter session), Providence, RI Toyama Glass Art Institute, Toyama City, Japan Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA. Co-taught with Lino Tagliapietra 1992 Haystack School, Deer Isle, ME. Co-taught with Lino Tagliapietra New York Experimental Glass Workshop, Brooklyn, NY University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI. Visiting Artist with Richard Marquis 1991 Haystack School, Deer Isle, ME. Co-taught with Paul Marioni 1990 - 2003 Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA. Instructor 1990 Fujikawa Craft Park, Fujikawa, Japan 1989 - 92 Nijiima Glass Art Center, Nijiima, Japan. Instructor 1989 Wanganui Summer School, Wanganui, New Zealand 1988 Penland School of Crafts, Penland, NC 1987 Canberra School of Art, Canberra, Australia. Guest Instructor Haystack School, Deer Isle, ME. Assistant to Richard Marquis Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA. Assistant to Lino Tagliapietra and Benjamin Moore 1985 Pratt Fine Arts Center, Seattle, WA. Instructor, Advanced Glass blowing SELECTED PUBLICATIONS / ARTICLES Southwest Art; cover, December 2006 Seattle Post Intelligecer, May 2006 The Independent on Sunday, ( London England) December 2004 The Washington Post, February 2004 Western Interiors and Design, Glass Act, pp 15, June 2003 Architectual Digest, The Great Design Issue, pp 295, May 2003 Florida Design, Dante Marioni Glass Silhouettes, August 2000, pp 82, by Courtney Powers Curtiss Glass, Marioni Magic Cover pp 22 Summer 1998 by John Pereault Glass and Art, Winter 1997 No. 16, 'Dante Marioni, Seattle's Standard Bearer'. Cover and pp. 14-44. Town and Country Magazine, 'Hot Glass' December 1996, pp. 71. The White House Collection of American Crafts, Michael W. Monroe, 1995. Jacket cover and back and p. 44. Smithsonian Magazine, June 1995, Cover. Booklist, Vol. 92 No. 4, 10/15/95. American Library Association, Cover. Puget Sound Business Journal, Vol. 16 No. 30, Dec. 8-14, 1995. Front page and p. 39. American Craft, February/March 1994, Cover and pp. 34-37. 'Dante Marioni: Apprentice to Tradition', by Matthew Kangas. Glass Art, winter 1994, Cover and pp.4-8. 'Dante Marioni: Upholding the Vessel Tradition', by Shawn Waggoner. Glass and Art, spring 1993, Cover and pp. 25-35. 'Contemporary Art Glass Movement'. Clearly Art: Pilchuck's Glass Legacy, by Lloyd Herman for Whatcom Museum of History, Bellingham, WA 1992, pp. 46. Seattle Post Intelligencer, 'Father and Son Put Different Varieties of Pop into Glass Art', by Regina Hackett, May 1992. Elle Decor, December 1991/January 1992, p. 26. Out of the Fire: Contemporary Glass Artists and Their Work, by Bonnie Miller, 1991, Chronicle Books, pp. 60-63. Financial Executive, 'Art That Pulls Its' Weight at Safeco', November/December 1991. Gump's Since 1861: A San Francisco Legend, by Roseman, Birmingham and Saeks, 1991, Chronicle Books, pp. 72-73. Beauty of Contemporary Glass, Sekisho Shoji Company, Ltd., 1991. Glass Work, 'Interview with Rika Kuroki', January 1990, No. 4, pp. 60-61. American Craft, 'Young Americans 1988', by Lisa Hammell, December 1988/January 1989, pp. 42-49. Craft Arts, 'Anatomy of the Vessel', by Nola Anderson, October/December 1987, No. 10, pp. 71-74. Canberra Times, 'Anatomy of the Vessel', by Nola Anderson, March 15, 1987. Seattle Times, 'Dante Marioni', review by Dolores Tarzan, February 15, 1987. blueraingallery - 497 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/benjamin_mcpherson/ blueraingallery - 493 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/shelley_muzylowski_allen/ Animals such as horses and elephants occupy the artist‘s mind, surfacing in the work of Shelly Muzylowski Allen. With a fine art degree in painting, Allen never considered glass until a co-worker remarked that her paintings would translate well to the translucent and moldable medium. This inspired her to apply to the Pilchuck School of glass, where it quickly became evident that her co-worker was right. Her glass sculptures and paintings are adorned with rusted metals and hair, focusing on the strength as well as the stillness of animals. Muzylowski Allen‘s goal is to work flawlessly between the two mediums, mixing both painting and glass often in the same piece of artwork. New works coming soon. blueraingallery - 487 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/les_namingha/ Les Namingha credits his aunt, renowned Hopi potter Dextra Quotskuyva, for guiding him through the process of pottery making, which served as his artistic foundation. As a prolific contemporary artist, Namingha thrives on traditional motifs with modernist influences. Constantly manipulating form and design, every Namingha piece takes cultural symbols and brings them adeptly into present day, making the artist a true innovator bound only by his imagination. The painting on his pottery is unique in its small size and tight detail, the extent of which is rarely seen in the medium. Owning one of Namingha‘s works offers Native-inspired significance to any collection. blueraingallery - 22 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/jamie_okuma/ Jamie Okuma began working with beads at a very early age, inspired by the pow wows she attended. In high school, Okuma made her first miniature jingle dress, which she subsequently mounted on a doll figure. Historical authenticity, exemplary workmanship, and attention to every detail are the hallmarks of her dolls or "soft sculptures". Generally taking up to four months to complete a figure, Okuma‘s focus tends to be on the most elaborate garments and accoutrements that were part of the late 19th and early 20th-century classic ceremonial attire of Plains and Plateau people. A work by Okuma is much more than a traditional craft, but a piece of fine art for discriminating collectors. blueraingallery - 193 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/sandra_okuma/ blueraingallery - 496 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/sean_oneill/ A series of dots, ocular anatomy, or objects found in nature are often engraved into blown and slumped glass forms by artist, Sean O‘Neill. O‘Neill works with shades of gray, black and white. His forms are minimal, yet convey a great deal about patterns found in nature observed through the lens of daily life. With glass as his canvas and several cold-working techniques intended to reproduce the erosive effects of nature, the artist makes a subtle statement about the effects of time through his art—ultimately creating something aesthetically pleasing. blueraingallery - 488 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/_pahponee/ Pahponee‘s Kickapoo name, Pahponee translates into "Snow Woman." She is a self-taught clay artist who has re-learned the traditional pottery methods of her Woodland Culture as well as learning contemporary pottery making techniques. Pahponee‘s inspiration to learn about pottery making came from a life changing experience. "I was taken to see a White Buffalo mother and her White Buffalo calf. White Buffalo are sacred to Native people. It was an auspicious occasion to be in their presence." After their meeting, Pahponee had a dream about a White Buffalo pottery vessel. "I would keep dreaming this one specific pot and other beautiful pots, but I didn‘t know how to make them." Pahponee spent years experimenting with hand dug clay and commercial clay as well as primitive outdoor dung firing and contemporary kiln firing. "The first several years were rough, until I began to develop a better understanding of the rhythm of earth, water, fire and air." Her experimentation and research has resulted in technical excellence in clay properties, tools, hand building, and firing techniques. Mastering several pottery techniques has provided the platform for Pahponee to create distinctive pottery that expresses her own personal style and innovative spirit. "By working with clay from a variety of locations, I have learned that all clay is sacred and alive. Whether it is hand dug or purchased commercially, working with clay is a sacred activity for me. This involves personal interaction between clay, myself, and as Native people say, All My Relations." Her pottery continues to be inspired by her dreams, personal life experiences, and is still being guided by the White Buffalo. "When I work on my pots, the rest of the world falls away. It is like being in a dream where each pot tells me its story." Today, Pahponee is one of the top Native American potters. She is recognized by peers and continues to receive awards from nationally juried shows. She continues to experiment with new techniques always striving for excellence in her work. blueraingallery - 123 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/turid_pedersen/ Turid Pedersen is one of the nation‘s most respected still life artists. Ms. Pedersen was born in Oslo, Norway and received both a BA and an MAT in the History of World Art and Architecture at the University of Oslo. In the1970‘s, she settled near the Mimbres Valley in New Mexico due to a life-long interest in Archaeology and the plethora of ancient Native American artifacts found in that area. This coupled with her study of early Flemish and French still life painters has led to an extraordinary combination of art forms. She has this to say about her work: "I work from the original artifacts, either in the museums or in local private collections. I make numerous studies and notes, striving for accuracy in scale and appearance. However most important to me is to create a mood in my paintings that evokes the deeply mystical lives of the Mimbres people. It is tremendously moving to touch and handle their objects, to feel the ancient surfaces of the pots, molded, incised, chipped and worn--- to gaze in awe and wonder at the sophisticated designs created by fellow artists centuries ago". blueraingallery - 194 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/al_qoyawayma/ Nothing quite like Al's pottery has ever existed before. As with Native traditions, his pottery traditions run deep. Contemplative by nature, studiously quite at times, and at other times he is quite gregarious, especially when describing his passion for the clay and its heritage. As a descendent of the Coyote Clan, Qöyawayma (pronounced ko-YAH wy-mah) is a direct recipient of the Sikyatki tradition of ceramics which traces to 1400 A.D., and earlier. His style has its roots in the low shouldered forms of the Sikyatki culture; most likely of Keres speaking peoples, rather than Hopi. The Sikyatki tradition was first discovered by the Smithsonian in the early 1890s. That discovery became the inspiration for Nampeyos (Tewa) creative style and subsequently her influence on todays Tewa-Hopi pottery tradition. Al learned from his aunt Polingaysi Qöyawayma (aka Elizabeth Q. White) the aesthetics and philosophy of their ancient tradition. Another major influence in his artistic approach was his relative Charles Loloma, a major innovator in ceramics and jewelry, as well as Als father, Poliyumptewa, a painter. Collectors describe Als ceramics as timeless, sensuous, sublime, elegant and perfected, reflecting the hues and shadows of the high desert landscape. In his original sculptural/repousse technique Al describes himself as an experimentalist creating in an eclectic minimalist style. His goal is to reflect a timelessness in style, and the migrations and the origins myths in the americas. Perhaps best known of his work are the architectural series and large vases with dancing figures. More recently Al has added a new carved polychrome style. Feathers, dancers, insects and other symbols are carved in relief, incised, and sometimes on recessed planes. Thus, several individual surface plains and textures may be present in the same piece. In a new and unusual step some of the polychrome surfaces are painted and polished in a continuous gradient of many colors, such as might be obtained in oil painting techniques. Influenced by his Native culture Al sees little differentiation between culture, the arts, science and the spiritual worlds. His creations are diverse: They vary from patented high technology work to his innovative art. His education and interests are equally diverse. Al sees education as a key survival strategy for Native peoples. He has served a six year Presidential appointment as Vice-Chairman of the Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA). That was balanced by serving as the co-founder and first Chairman of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), a 25 year old international membership organization serving Native students and the new cadre of Native professionals. A current visual and written review of his work may be viewed at his art educational website: www.alqpottery.com blueraingallery - 14 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/deborah_rael-buckley/ Deborah Rael-Buckley was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1953. She finished her BA in the history of art and architecture with honors at the University of Illinois-Chicago in 1996. After a move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she began taking art studio courses and discovered a profound interest in ceramics. She completed her MFA in ceramic sculpture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2000, receiving awards and fellowships along the way. Her award winning narrative sculptures explore a blend of exciting architecturally informed shapes, culturally significant imagery, and richly textures surfaces. The dramatic open spaces, reveal the building process while creating negative spaces that interact with light and shadow. Rael-Buckley‘s sculptures are coil built without benefit of armatures or forms, and feature a vocabulary of imagery including branches, bones, ropes, text and culturally significant symbols to express her thoughts on family, culture, memory, and religion. blueraingallery - 480 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/mateo_romero/ blueraingallery - 192 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/yellowbird_samora/ Yellowbird, an avid skier and kayaker, is "attracted to water," he says, to "fluid, liquid forms." He works "the shapes of traditional Pueblo pottery into something totally contemporary, with less emphasis on design and pattern than on the elemental form of the pottery. I try to leave something to the viewer to interpret. People say it looks like human forms; other viewers see moving water. I want it to have an organic feel…something of Pueblo pottery and something of what the viewer brings to it." The future of his work, he says, will involve "the pottery dictating its own form. I am always developing a closer relationship with the clay; it‘s a constant process of patience, trial, and error." blueraingallery - 101 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/maria_samora/ Maria Samora describes her stunning compositions as natural forms made contemporary. Her jewelry designs, she says, arise independently, from nature. Although she has been invited to exhibit at the Smithsonian, among many other honors and awards, including first place in her Indian Market category, she feels that I am barely scratching the surface of what is possible in my work. blueraingallery - 136 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/russell_sanchez/ blueraingallery - 129 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/kevin_a._short/ Kevin a. Short boldly paints the point where the abstract and the real converge. His New Mexico landscapes serve as a portal to a magical place and moment "where something beautiful and odd happens, where the sky looks red and rocks look green." "I stitch the border between impressionism and expressionism," he explains, masterfully reconciling these opposing styles. He paints outdoors, recording an ephemeral moment and the transient effects of light and color in a familiar landscape. But his work expresses the emotional essence of a scene rather than a faithful rendering of it. "I focus on capturing the quirkiness of our life today - urban culture or mundane things, and I try to make them rich and beautiful without becoming too romantic. New Mexico is stunning canyons and high plateaus, but also broken-down fences and tourist traps. I paint the way the world is now, with Native Americans driving SUVs and using cell phones. I don't paint old visions of cowboys and Indians," Short says. Struggling to "get more paint on my brush," he applies oil paint thickly in big, blocky brushstrokes. Up close, an abstract storm of brushstrokes dominates your vision, but when you stand back and gaze at the image, the reality of the scene emerges. Just the perspective you would expect from someone whose first look at New Mexico was from 10,000 feet, as the pilot of a hot air balloon. "Whether I was gliding quietly over farmhouses or skimming pinons atop mesas, I was having a different interaction with the place than others, and developing a different eye. I am still drawn to painting at dawn or dusk, calm times that are best for ballooning," he explains. "I'm sure my penchant for having chaotic brushstrokes form harmony and order from a distance was born in ballooning." You don't learn the desert in a few days, says the California native, who moved to New Mexico in high school and stud- ied art at the University of New Mexico before graduating from the Art Center College of Design. "The light is completely different. Because the vistas are big, the sky is vast, and colors are subtle, New Mexico begs you to paint large. There's an elusive quality about the desert that draws you to paint the same subject over and over. A quiet voice that keeps calling you." Using a palette of warm and cool colors, but never black, he creates subtle tone changes within the same color. He fear-lessly brightens colors to reproduce "how the place felt." Because scenery changes constantly, he does numerous color studies of moments in nature and synthesizes them in the studio to create a single large painting. "I want to inspire an emotional connection with the viewer, not just to the place, but how they feel about that place. Collectors of my work often tell me that a painting has created a catch basin of memories for them about a place, even if they've never been there. I try to under paint, to leave details up to the viewer so that more of their imagination comes into it and they end up being a part of the piece," Short says. blueraingallery - 154 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/preston_singletary/ "Glass brings another dimension to Native American art. It‘s luminous quality and shadow effect are like a spirit that appears when this lighting is right" -Preston Singletary In a unique meeting of European glass-blowing tradition and Northwest Native design, Preston Singletary‘s artwork depicts cultural and historical images from his Tlingit ancestry in richly detailed, beautifully hued glass. By infusing traditional design with fresh energy through the use of modern materials, his work pays homage to his forefathers, who feel that the past, present and future are intertwined. Singletary entered the world of glass blowing as an assistant, learning to master the techniques of the European tradition as he worked alongside Seattle-area artists such as Benjamin Moore and Dante Marioni. He also had opportunities to learn the secrets of the Venetian glass masters while working with Italian legends Lino Tagliapietra, Pino Signoretto and others. In an early – and fortuitous – trip to Sweden to study Scandinavian design at Kosta Boda, Singletary met his future wife, who now resides in Seattle with him and their two children. Singletary grew up hearing his culture‘s traditional stories from his family – both of his great-grandparents were full-blooded Tlingit Indians — and many of those stories provide inspiration for his work. The formline design skills evident in so many of his pieces were acquired through study and collaboration with other prominent Northwest Coastal artists such as Steve Brown and Joe David. Singletary credits mentor Joe David for helping him to take his work to a new level, one that is more spiritually based and culturally expressive of the different Northwest Coast styles. With Northwest Native icons, supernatural beings, transformation themes, animal spirits, shamanism and basketry designs among his many inspirations, Singletary has transformed Northwest Native art and incited other Native artists to utilize the wonders of glass. Recognized internationally, Singletary‘s artworks are included in museum collections such as the National Museum of the American Indian (Washington DC), Museum of Fine Arts (Boston, MA), The Brooklyn Museum of Art (Brooklyn, NY) The Seattle Art Museum (Seattle, WA), the Corning Museum of Glass (Corning, NY), the Mint Museum of Art and Design (Charlotte, NC), the Heard Museum (Phoenix, AZ), and the Handelsbanken (Stockholm, Sweden). Singletary is a member of the Board of Trustees for Pilchuck Glass School and the Seattle Art Museum. blueraingallery - 16 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/richard_zane_smith/ blueraingallery - 35 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/justin_taylor/ blueraingallery - 495 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/felix_vigil/ Felix Vigil is a contemporary painter from the southwestern United States. He was born and raised on the Jemez Pueblo northwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Felix, who resides on Jemez Pueblo and is an active member of its community, relates, "Living at Jemez affords me the opportunity to live a very traditional life-style. The language is strong and the ceremonies are still a major part of our lives." Felix has displayed his work in many prestigious exhibitions throughout the country. He recently received a first place ribbon for painting at the 2000 Santa Fe Indian Market. A former instructor at the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, Felix Vigils paintings are mixed medium collage on canvas. His imagery is based on Native American mythology and themes. Over the years his work has become more esoteric in its symbolism and composition. In addition to the popular imagery of his southwest native culture, Felix has been incorporating motifs of Northwest Coast tribes into some of his paintings. Felix states: "There are many similarities in the philosophy of the designs between the Northwest Coast peoples and the Southwest. Paying homage to the animals is the central theme. The spirit of the animals is where our strength comes from. We emulate their character and pray that we can attain their powers. "Within the scheme of the design there is an interdependency and relationship that exists between each design element and symbol. This speaks of the relationship that is evident in the world around us. Each creature is dependent on another to live and survive. And we, as humans, depend on these creatures to live." From an early age Felix was exposed to the art of his father Francis, whom was a highly regarded Native American painter working in oils, watercolor and later in acrylics. When Felix reached his early twenties he attended the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated in 1980 with a BFA in painting. blueraingallery - 2 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/jim_vogel/ Jim Vogel deftly weaves color and emotion, detail and shape into paintings that reflect life and land in New Mexico. Vogel hails from a family of storytellers, so each of his works tells its own tale of the land, the culture, and the common man's struggle. Vogel's storytelling continues including paintings which depict New Mexican folklore and myths that have crossed cultures and been told for generations. "I'm trying to put images to these stories I've heard over and over from my mother and father," says the artist. Vogel is also well known for his paintings featuring New Mexican landscapes and rural life, many of which feature beautiful hand-made tin frames. blueraingallery - 155 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/doug_west/ "The Southwest is my rich pallet for creative inspiration. Time spent out on the land is where I feel most grounded. Watching the sky's changing light, with heroic cloud forms overhead . . . these feed my artist's eye. I love that the land here is exposed and wide open to long distant horizons. New Mexico resonates deeply with my spirit as an artist. I am most interested in capturing what speaks of the expanse and the connection that ties us to this place in a timeless, memorable way." – Doug West Doug West has been capturing the magical skies and environment of the great Southwest for over 20 years. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally with well over 50 one man shows, along with an extensive list of publications and thousands of serious art patrons who have collected his work. blueraingallery - 503 http://blueraingallery.com/artists/nancy_youngblood/ blueraingallery - 49