The ANKA GALLERY of contemporary fine art

presents

Praxis

Curated by Anna Solcaniova King

Chad Glass

Paintings by:

Nancy Elizabeth Comstock

Process Painting with:

Kathleen Marie Quigley

 

 

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Chad brings his vast experience in Hollywood visual storytelling to the world of fine art. Commercial storyboarding and drafting has required that drawing be his primary medium of expression. He contends “to capture the fleeting nature of the subconscious mind requires that the capacity for drawing be summoned at a moment’s notice, as if it were like breathing or running."

“Without commitment to the craft the artist is nothing, talent isn’t enough: What discipline I lacked as a child artist has been forced upon myself into adulthood by being among unforgiving situations, where the expectation to perform is perpetual. This is both like a hell and a release and  surrender.”

Raised in television in the 1970s and 80s, Chad Glass comes from a creative family of art directors, painters, inventors, and clowns. Chad remarks: “My dad’s side of the family came from a vaudevillian-carney-esque sort of lifestyle: puppeteering, musical instrument-playing, clowning, juggling, sign painting – very unconventional even for the time. However my dad went into the broadcasting industry as an art director where he would take me with him to work and I’d draw by his side. This permanently shaped my personality as it exists today. I tend to see myself as a living time capsule of the child that came into the world using color, line, and x-acto knives.”

Chad learned through “osmosis” by observing his father and being within the art departments in television stations. Chad continues: “My dad would design logos, news sets, build stuff in the shop, set type, build models, go on locations where commercials were being shot - I was raised in a family of creative work and stimulation artistically. I’m glad because during my critical periods as a child I was able to develop my intuitive sense of creativity. In this way I tend to see everything in terms of metaphors and symbols, the world experienced in a non-linear way. I’m also left-handed; maybe that has something to do with it.”

Along with Graylan and Anna King, Chad Glass is a founding partner in the Anka Gallery.

Nancy Elizabeth Comstock

Nancy's earliest years were spent as an apprentice in a family owned, in home, silk screen printing business. She learned the fine detail work of camera ready graphic art during her high school years which led to a twenty five year career as a commercial artist and mural painter. Seven years ago, transitioning from the commercial field, Nancy began to paint with pastels, as well as oil on canvas. It was the “beginning of the great unwind”, learning to free herself from a life of perfecting art within the lines. She traveled the NW painting in plein-aire, chasing the late afternoon display of light and color across the landscape of her canvas. “I can lose myself painting wildly as I try to capture the dance of light and flood of colors that are rapidly changing before my eyes. It is there that I experience a deep sense of peace and connection.” In the last few years Nancy has been deepening her creative journey through process painting, both as a student and through learning to facilitate this journey for others. The experience has changed her life, challenging her to further embrace the fullness of her creative potential.

Process Painting with Kathleen Marie Quigley

To stand alone before a blank paper, with no plan, is to face the unknown, and moment by moment to participate in the unfolding of color, shapes, and images as they appear before you. It is to trust that in the surrender to this "not knowing" place of creation, that intuition will arise to guide your hand.  It is to respond to what unfolds on the paper with respect, curiosity, and yes, even awe.. This is the journey and mystery of process, or intuitive painting, and of the creative process.   Kathy Quigley is celebrating her 10th anniversary this Fall facilitating intuitive painting classes and workshops at her studio, artspace, in SE Portland.   "It has been an amazing journey to participate and bear witness to the blossoming of creativity in so many, through the softening of their critical voices and shared risk taking and vulnerability."
Process painting is a journey of deep connection with self, and with others. It is learning to be in relationship with what unfolds on the paper, whether yours alone, or in concert with others.  "I have come to be passionate about this concept of being 'In relationship with' as I look around and feel the angst of the world that enfolds me."  The process paintings, prose, and interactive experience are dedicated to remembering the interwoven tapestry of a shared destiny.

Come down to our First Thursday Opening at Anka Gallery August 5th and you can process paint with us live. All ages are welcome to participate in this unique experience.

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Thanks to our sponsors:

Anka Gallery
325 NW 6th Ave
Portland, Or 97209
Show is closing August 27th
ankagallery.com

The ANKA GALLERY of contemporary fine art

presents

An Anna Solcaniova King curation

ilibrium

Striking a balance between the fragments of limitless possibility and the reality that resides just outside our perception.

Scott Parry

Paintings by:
Edward King

Innovative Wall Glass Sculptures by:
Lawrence Morrell

Furniture Design by:
Jason Andrew Hernandez

Jewelry by:
Andy Lifschutz

Kinetic Mobiles by:
David Gustafson

 

 

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Scott Parry
Scott studied at PSU. His current work examines Limitless Potential and the possibilities it implies as an extrinsic motivator within our personal and macro world. Using imagery from the 1960's a period thought to hold Limitless Potential he highlights the ability and inability it has as a rule changer for society. Linking emergence theory to the drawings and paintings that play with our inability to escape the hidden order of communities and separation from natural world. Scott Parry lives in Portland.

 

Edward King
"I begin by looking at images from history, mythology, personal photographs and newspapers, then integrating them into my personal lexicon. I use painting to tell broken stories, like a book missing its ending or a question gone unanswered, exploiting and changing the meaning of the images along the way.  I am influenced by poetics, politics, hope & hopelessness, by absurdity, ethics, the violence of nature & the sublime beauty of light at sunrise and set. The fluid open-ended quality of fragmented language, visual, written or spoken, has always interested me. A fragment spurs a wide range of associative connections. The fragment draws one in, accessing it by imagining its place in the whole. The paintings are born out of the process of coming to terms with these personal and social issues and remain a continuing thread for connected investigations." Edward currently lives and works in Portland. He received a Bachelors of Fine Arts from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2004. Edward King is represented by Mark Woolley.

Lawrence Morrell
Lawrence Morrell’s art works are inspired from science and nature and the subtle, minute textures that surround us but are invisible to the naked eye. Throughout Morrell's professional life, he has created images and textures in glass using innovative techniques to create sculptures that are inspired by scientific research.
Morrell initially studied fine art at the University of Oregon before moving to New York city for 15 years. He collaborated with architects and other artists to create the NY Vietnam War Memorial, a 40 foot long illuminated etched glass wall in lower Manhattan near Wall st. Morrell was interviewed on Public Television in the McNeil/Lehrer News hour about the experience. He also collaborated on a two storey high sculpture for facade of The Millennium Hotel near Times Square in Manhattan as well as creating sculptures for Sak's 5th avenue and Cartier's in New York and California. In 1994, Morrell returned to his home town of Portland, Oregon and has continued to devote his life to his art. He has created commissioned works including sculptures for The Port of Portland and the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. He has exhibited in shows across the country including SOFA Chicago with the Jane Sauer Gallery from Santa Fe, NM and The Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland Oregon.

Jason Andrew Hernandez
Jason is a 2 year graduate of the world renowned College of the Redwoods fine woodworking program. Studying under the master craftsman James Krenov, refined his talent for furniture design. Jason incorporates CAD drafting and 3-D rendering into design process. Jason Andrew Design is a award wining custom furniture design studio located in Portland, combining contemporary design with superior craftsmanship.

Andy Lifschutz
Jewelry Designer Andy Lifschutz combines traditional metalsmithing techniques with elements such as reclaimed metal, scrap leather, and items of antiquity. The jewelry creates an appeal not solely focused on aesthetic value, but based heavily upon the spirit of powerful organic forms. From multi-functional adornments to fashionable and thought provoking ornamentation, Andy creates pieces that symbolize the force that is the natural world while speaking of a balance between old and new. Andy's exploration into metalwork began in Brooklyn with renowned designer Kristin Hanson, where his natural inclination for design and bursting expression finally found its discipline. While having gained further experience in Portland, Oregon with Gunnar Adamovics, it was under the tutelage of William ("Billy") Thomas King at the Sterling Quest School of Jewelry Design and Creation (San Miguel De Allende, Mexico) that Andy made his greatest strides in metallurgy, graduating in 2008. From his youth, Andy has approached history with imagination, romanticism, and caring, owing to the colorful and incredible stories of his own family. His tireless search for unique and meaningful items with which to make art is as much a characteristic of his work as the pieces themselves. It is this appreciation and awareness of the histories of his materials that enhance their efficacy as personal pieces of art.

Anka Gallery
325 NW 6th Ave
Portland, Or 97209
Show is closing June 25th

ankagallery.com

Anka Gallery

presents,

RESILIRE

A Lush Experiance...
Curated by Anna Solcaniova King

First Thursday Opening
May 6-th,  6-10pm

Bamboo sculptures by
Charissa Brock

Shiboried silked wall sculptures by
Nanette Davis

Paintings by
Aimee Dieterle

Wooden wall mosaics by
Nicholas Shepherd

Light fixtures by
Namuh Design



Charissa Brock
"My work stems from an interest in the complex structure of bamboo and its unlimited potential as an art material.  Bamboo is a remarkably versatile material.   It can be cut, layered, glued, and sanded like wood, or it can be split, bent, and woven, incorporating basketry techniques.  Bamboo’s repetition of nodes, its hollow structure, and its flexibility create a challenge and versatility I enjoy working with."  She discovered bamboo as an art material in 1999 while earning her MFA at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA.  Her work has been exhibited widely in the United States and is included in the Arizona State University Museum.

 

Nanette Davis
"As a mixed-media artist whose roots reside in fiber arts, pushing through the traditional boundaries of fiber art with non-traditional materials and techniques has been an integral part of my journey as an artist. For over 20 years I have been painting/dyeing silk with the shibori method and finding new ways to incorporate it in my work. My recent investigation into the basketry technique; plaiting, heralded a shift from my large shiboried silk wall sculptures of 18 years to smaller table sized sculptures."  She has M.F.A. in Textiles and B.A. in Applied Art from San Diego State University. She is a published artist showing her works nationwide.

 

Aimee Dieterle
"Merging traditional elements such as line, color, and form with the natural textures of wood grains, my aim is to integrate these varying components in order to create sound compositions. My finished works reflect an intimate relationship between color, shape and surface. The distinctive visual style I have created is the result of a willingness to experiment with surprising color combinations and unplanned line movements.The inception of each new piece begins by selecting a subject with both visual appeal and strong design features. In my most recent body of work I explore a re-interpretation of depth and color in order to find solutions to the challenges of organizing space, texture, and push/pull. I believe that the process, the subtraction and addition of facets and forms, is an essential part of any artist’s work and finding the perfect juxtaposition between the geometric and organic portions of each painting is a critical factor in my own creative approach."

 

Nicholas Cin Shepherd
Cin Shepherd studied animation in Minneapolis, leaving him relentlessly amused with the terribly exciting dynamics of objects floating, moving, reshape in space. For the past six years, he’s been mostly happily amused in Portland. These wooden mosaics may demonstrate the outcome of expansion after a build-up of small things.  They inhabit a place of kinetic throbbing.  A small place, growing.

 

 

Namuh
Namuh Design is a Portland-based lighting company offering a distinctive line of custom lighting products. Sustainably minded, locally supportive, Namuh Design extracts modernist philosophies and pairs them with today's design archetypes in creating iconic lighting. New Century Modern Craft Design.


Special thanks to our sponsors:

Bamboo Garden Nursery
Bamboo Garden has been growing since1980. "Now, with over 300 bamboo varieties at our 16 acre farm near Portland, Oregon, we maintain perhaps the most diverse collection in the United States. We provide bamboo for many commercial and residential landscapes throughout the United States. Our largest project to date is the Asia Trail for the National Zoo in Washington DC as designed by The Smithsonian." Ned Jaquith, Bamboo Garden owner, was elected in 2006, as vice president of the ABS (American Bamboo Society) and has been awarded Honorary Lifetime Membership due to over 25 years of whole-hearted efforts and generous bamboo knowledge. The nursery is managed by Noah Bell, with over twelve years experience working closely with bamboo in the landscape and nursery trade. http://www.bamboogarden.com/

Ninkasi Brewing Company
Is located in Eugene, OR, and has been brewing high quality beers, in the Northwest style, since 2006.
Ninkasi is named for the Sumerian Goddess of fermentation. The first recorded brewers were the Sumerians, who gave up their nomadic way of life to become agrarian to produce barley to make bread and beer. They were the first to write, have schools, laws and many other firsts including organized beer production. This fermented beer was able to nourish the settled people and provide potable water. It is our goal to educate the world that beer has played a significant role in the cultivation of civilization.
http://www.ninkasibrewing.com/

Show is closing May 28th 2010

Anka Gallery
325 NW 6th Ave
Portland, Or 97209

503-224 5721
ankagallery.com

April 2010

Anka Gallery in collaboration with Jason Ball Interiors is pleased to present

The Interiors New Clothes

First Thursday Opening
April 1st  6-10pm
Closing April 30th

Anka Gallery
325 NW 6th Ave
Portland, Or 97209

Showcasing a group of highly creative designers, the Anka Gallery is melding the interior and clothing design worlds. Couture dresses, sculptural hat wear, well-crafted jewelry and other accessories are seamlessly integrated into an interior setting. Working with local furniture showrooms, glass and lighting designers, Jason Ball, of Jason Ball Interiors and Anna Solcaniova King, of the Anka Gallery are bringing these two worlds together in an unusual way, causing viewers to pause and contemplate the traditional conventions of design in both worlds.

Curated by Anna Solcaniova King and Jason Ball
ankagallery.com
jasonballinteriors.com

Artwear by:

Dayna Pinkham
Emily Ryan
Judee Moonbeam
Staci Stevens
Jeanne Bjorn
Bonnie Meltzer
Julia GaRey
Jennifer Hackett
Kate Troyer
Helen Hiebert

Dayna Pinkham
Has devoted herself to the art of creating hats for over 20 years, combining her extensive training in the traditional style of European millinery with her commitment to quality and innovation. "The right hat will take an element of your personality and magnify it beautifully," says Pinkham. "It can add mystery, glamour, authority, or a touch of whimsy."  Pinkham designs and constructs hats for men and women in her downtown studio/boutique. The shop is a unique fixture within Portland, as it is the only operating millinery in the city.

Emily Ryan
Is an independent designer who has been part of Portland's artistic fashion community since 2001. She designs custom and retail pieces and has participated in many fashion shows over the years. Currently, she produces two small collections per year as well as avant-garde one-of-a-kind pieces. Emily loves modern sculptural designs that explore texture and shape, as well as artistic, comfortable, and cozy designs. She is continually inspired by 1920's couture, science fiction, architecture, and Japanese fashions.

Judee Moonbeam
Jude Cornwell aka Judee Moonbeam, earned her degree in apparel design from Bassist College (precursor to Portland Art Institute). Judee creates her signature collage of pieceworked fabrics--a myriad of colors and textures, many repurposed-- sprinkling the end result with her collection of cultural silkscreen motifs, designing a body of work that appears, delightfully, as though it had been whisked from a netherworldly suq, yet functions beautifully as contemporary, functional wearable art.

Staci Stevens
After over 7 years working in various fashion arenas Staci was ready to design her own business. Believing that every retailer has a brand story and unique shopping experience to offer their customers she launched Mapel. She created a niche in the retail boutique market by offering customers signature chocolate truffles, daily retail happy hours and an interactive and engaging shopping experience. Staci’s most recent endeavor Champagne Lace strives to create timeless lovelies for every woman. With an emphasis on thoughtfully chosen vintage trims and artful embellishments Champagne Lace lends sophisticated sparkle to your everyday wardrobe.

Jeanne Bjorn
Has been designing and constructing clothing, millinery, and costumes professionally since 1980. Having a degree in Textiles and Fabric Design, and having studied Flat Pattern Design and Draping as well as professional experience at various manufacturers such as Ellen Tracy and Perry Ellis. She worked on Broadway productions of The Secret Garden and Phantom of the Opera, as well as films, including Hook, and the Oscar Awarded The Age of Innocence. Over the past ten years, she has taught Millinery Design at The Colorado Institute of Art, D'Leas Fabric & Button Studio, The Oregon College of Art and Craft, and at her studio in Portland, Oregon. In 2000, she studied shoemaking with Gaza Bowen and now teaches shoemaking in her studio in Portland, Oregon.

Bonnie Meltzer
Sculptor Bonnie Meltzer thinks of jewelry as sculpture to wear. Whether she is making large pieces or the wearable variety her sculpture marries crocheted wire with computer parts. The wire can make light and airy lace that lets your clothes, skin or the wall show through but it can also be so dense that it can "stand up" by itself. Using the computer parts, especially memory boards or storage disks as pendants make the pieces more elegant, engaging and amusing at the same time. For decades Meltzer has exhibited her crocheted wire with computer parts in Portland and across the country. Her work is in private and public collections including The National Science Foundation, The University of Washington-Executive MBA Education Center, the city of Portland and Pavelcomm.  Both her sculpture and jewelry are featured in Arline Fisch’s books, Textile Techniques in Metal and Crocheted Wire Jewelry as well as numerous other art crochet books.

Julia GaRey
Attended Oregon State University where she graduated with honors in Apparel Design and Merchandise Management. Wanting to learn how to make clothing that fit real women, not the ideal, or the “average” that most companies mass produce for, she went to work in bridal alterations, where Julia learned fitting techniques and observed real body proportions. Working with wedding dresses, she have acquired professional construction techniques from some of the greatest designers. Instead of a fashion designer, Julia would consider herself more as a clothing engineer. Julia GaRey apparel is about high quality, classic silhouettes that flatter and fit perfectly. "Clothing should make you feel more beautiful and more confident. With all of my designs, I strive to achieve this philosophy"

Jennifer Hackett
Jewelry designer Jennifer Hackett is a native New Yorker who has lived in Portland for the last 5 years. Working primarily in leather she is inspired by it's toughness, her designs boldly combine color and texture. Her hand crafted stacked leather necklaces simultaneously evoke a modern and retro feel.

Kate Troyer
Artist and Designer, Kate Troyer grew up in the Midwest and moved to the Portland area upon finishing her MFA in Textile art and Design from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  She is an active fiber artist, apparel designer, and educator.  Troyer has exhibited both nationally and internationally and sells select apparel designs at a couple Portland area boutiques.  Kate also currently teaches evening Fibers courses at OCAC and PNCA.

Helen Hiebert
Helen Hiebert is a Portland, Oregon artist who constructs installations, sculptures, films, and artist books using handmade paper, thread, and light. She is interested in creating transcendent experiences that alter viewers’ perceptions of time, space, and form. She teaches and lectures about papermaking and lamp-making internationally, and serves as an adjunct faculty member at Oregon College of Art & Craft. Hiebert exhibits her work internationally, and is the author of the books Papermaking with Plants, The Papermaker’s Companion, and Paper Illuminated. She is a regular contributor to Hand Papermaking Newsletter and is the recipient of several grants from the Regional Arts & Culture Council and the Oregon Arts Commission.

Special Thanks to our Sponsors:

Parker Furniture provides homeowners looking for remarkable furnishings with superior quality and customer service. Family-owned and operated for more than a half a century, Parker Furniture's sales professionals and designers remain passionate about offering customers the broadest selection (with a show room over 65,000 sq. ft.), the finest custom options and most remarkable design expertise available anywhere.
http://parker-furniture.com/

Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery offers the finest in furniture, accessories and fabrics to our city’s top interior designers and most discriminating citizens. Whether working with designers or homeowners, Bev Landfair brings her design experience and customer-focused insight to find just the right piece.
http://www.landfairfurniture.com/

Namuh Design is a Portland-based lighting company offering a distinctive line of custom lighting products. Sustainably minded, locally supportive, Namuh Design extracts modernist philosophies and pairs them with today's design archetypes in creating iconic lighting. New Century Modern Craft Design.
http://namuhdesign.com

Vitreluxe Glass Works is a glassblowing studio headed by Lynn Everett Read offering a line of glassware and glass accessories for home, office and lounge. With roots in old-world Italian glass designs, each of Lynn's collections grounded in the pure Venetian method of blowing glass. His work can be seen in stores and galleries across the U.S. and globally.
http://vitreluxe.com/

Northwest Framing’s Commercial Division provides art selection and framing solutions for Architectural Firms, Interior Planners and Purchasing Groups working with hospitality and commercial properties. With 35 years of institutional experience, their design consultants create innovative art and framing solutions based on your project’s unique needs, from selection and acquisition to manufacturing and installation.
http://www.nwframing.com/

Ninkasi Brewing is located in Eugene, OR, and has been brewing high quality beers, in the Northwest style, since 2006.
Ninkasi is named for the Sumerian Goddess of fermentation. The first recorded brewers were the Sumerians, who gave up their nomadic way of life to become agrarian to produce barley to make bread and beer. They were the first to write, have schools, laws and many other firsts including organized beer production. This fermented beer was able to nourish the settled people and provide potable water. It is our goal to educate the world that beer has played a significant role in the cultivation of civilization.
http://www.ninkasibrewing.com/

Anka Gallery

presents

WINTER KILLS

Anka Gallery

speakeasy painting & free speech verse
100 new solo + collaborative paintings, poems and rants by

Chris Haberman and John Graeter

Opening reception First Thursday
November 5th,  6-10pm
Show runs through November 30th.

Anka Gallery

Benefit Group Show

featuring

Chad Glass

26 artists celebrating 2009 and the coming New Year
works by

Adam Ciresi
Anna Solcaniova King
Azad Sadjadi
Ashley Costa
Bonnie Meltzer
Brin Levinson
Bret Hostetler
Chad Glass
Chris Haberman
Ida Jefsen
Jesse Reno
Jennifer Mercede
John Graeter
Julianna Paradisi
Karen Silve
Karah Larkin
Lawrence Morrell
Mark Randall
Matt Schlosky
Mathew Delbello
Nance Paternoster
Rachel Westforth
Roscoe Hall II
Sarah Cosman
Sheldon Skillie
Tamara English

Opening reception First Thursday

December 3rd,  6-10pm
Show runs through Janurary 1st 2010
Free and open to the public