Artists Cooperative of Whidbey Island

Encaustic Art: Explore, Experience, Embrace!

2011-12-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

Join Whidbey Art Gallery member Ron Ward for an introduction to encaustic painting Friday December 9, 2011 at 11 am at the Freeland Library. Ron, an encaustic painter and a sculptor, is excited to be able to share some of the things he has learned as he explores encaustics. This is a hands on demonstration where you will be able to experiment with enacustic painting. Roll up your sleeves, join the fun, and bring your questions.

Ron has been a member of the Artists Cooperative for several years. You can view Ron's encaustic paintings and his bronze sculpture at the Whidbey Art Gallery. During December 2011, you can view a selection of his encaustic paintings at the Freeland Library. The library is located at 5495 Harbor Avenue, Freeland Washington.

POLICIES & PROCEDURES...

2011-10-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on the revision as of our last meeting. I am hoping to have it out to all of you before we leave out of town on Thursday evening, that way it can be reviewed once again before our meeting next Tuesday.

Visit Us this Fall

2011-09-28T14:19:00.000-07:00

We've been busy bringing in new art and getting ready for the fall at the Whidbey Art Gallery. Visit us at our new location and check out all the changes! We are the perfect place to come on a sunny morning or a blustery afternoon. Don't forget Art Walk the first Saturday of every month.

We are Moving!

2011-06-24T23:18:00.000-07:00

Our new location as of July 1st is at
220 2nd Street Ste 102, Langley WA (the clock building)

Come and join us for our new re-opening (again) and check out our new spot!

Spring Finally Comes to Whidbey!

2011-06-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

Yes! Spring is actually here! Just in time for the June Art Walk, Saturday June 4, 2011 from 5PM to 8 PM.

Members of the Whidbey Art Gallery will be on hand to visit and share our art with visitors. Join us for a tour of the gallery and light refreshments. You will find a wide range of art on display in our showrooms. You will find paintings in acrylic, watercolor, encaustic, oil and multimedia. We have photographs, pottery, raku, jewelry, fiber, metal art, wood carving, and sculpture for your enjoyment.

Our membership is comprised of talented local artists. Stop by and visit with us during the art walk or during our normal open hours. We are open daily during the summer from 10AM to 5 PM. We are currently located at 114 2nd Avenue in downtown Langley. You can reach us there during business hours at 360-221-7675 or visit us any time on the web at www.whidbeyartists.com . See you soon!

Weekend TO DO List

2011-05-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

On my weekend TO DO list:

Visit the Whidbey Art Gallery 114 2nd Street, Langley from 10AM-5PM

Our big Grand Opening event is this weekend, May 28, 29 and 30, come rain or come shine. What an exciting time! Put us on YOUR list of places to go and things to do this weekend and join us as we celebrate.

We are so glad to be back where we can share our art, talk to people and give you an opportunity to ask us questions. Members have been busy creating new art to share, so come and visit our new space and view our collection of fine art.

See you this weekend.

Opening Day

2011-05-05T23:15:00.001-07:00

Well...we made it through our first day! Thanks to Christi and Pat for taking the first day on! Stay tuned for our first Saturday Art Walk....

GRAND OPENING SOON!

2011-04-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

We are back! Whidbey Art Gallery to be re-opening May 5th, 2011 at our new location in Langley: 114 2nd Street, Langley WA

GRAND OPENING will be Memorial Day Weekend starting May 28th - May 30th.
Come and see us there! There will be new art, and new artists and more....

Check Out Our Art at the Freeland Public Library

2011-03-31T07:35:00.000-07:00

April is here! This month you can stop by the Freeland Public Library and see a sampling of the art available from our gallery. Pat Brooks, Moe Jerome, Sue Owen and Craig Sullivan all have pieces hanging in the library. Ed Bennett has a display of his carvings in the showcase in the lobby of the library. Stop by and check it out. The library is located at 5495 Harbor Avenue, Freeland. The library hours are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 11 am to 8 pm, Wednesday from 10 am to 5 pm, Friday and Saturday from 11am to 5 pm and Sunday from 1pm to 5 pm.

You will also have the opportunity to hear Ed explain how he creates his beautiful bird carvings on Saturday April 23rd from 1pm to 4 pm at the library. The program, An Introduction to Bird Carving, will include a demonstration and discussion of bird carving techniques. Participants will be able to ask our expert questions and use the skills they learn about painting on a simple bird cut out.

We are currently seeking new members. We are interested in your work. We have space for fine wall art, mixed media, three-dimensional interior and exterior sculputre, garden art, photography, fiber arts, pottery, jewelry, glass and much more.

Since we are a cooperative gallery started in 1992, we are owned and operated by the artist members. Our jury committee reviews all submissions for membership. This process insures the quality of the work.

We will be jurying new artists' work beginning April 7th. Please call Pat Brookes at 360-221-8351 or Moe Jerome at 360-730-5917 for more information.

There are hopes to reopen a physical location for the gallery this spring. Stay tuned for more details.

2011-03-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

Spring is here! As we are busy trying to find a new storefront in Langley, we each continue to produce new art. We are anxious to have our art seen again. I got up at 3 AM today because there were so many ideas running through my head about things I want to create. I made drawings, notes and tried to go back to sleep at 4 AM. At 4:30 I just gave in, got up and quietly tried to paint.

I have added encaustic painting as a way to express myself more freely. Encaustic painting allows me to create a piece in a few days, instead of the months it takes to do a bronze. I tell myself that it's a little like sculpting and casting because it still uses heat, just not a furnace roaring away. The bonus is that I don't have to go up to my cold studio/shop in the middle of the night to work on my art. But they are different kinds of art; I know when I cast a bronze, I am making something that will last a very long time. Encaustic painting is less durable than a bronze, although some have been recovered from Egyptian tombs.

Encaustic painting uses colored wax as the medium. As with sculpture, there are steps involved in the process. First you melt the bees wax and add the pigment and resin. When I prepare my wax, I make little blocks so that when I am ready to use a color I only have to melt a small amount at a time. This is a perfect opportunity to use recycling in your art. Old cans are perfect for this part of the process.

When you are ready to paint, melt the various colors of wax and paint. You can change the results with a torch or some other heat source. You can also gouge, scrape, layer, and add objects to change your painting.

I look forward to sharing some of these creations with you.

Threads

2010-08-18T20:29:00.001-07:00

Threads...one leading to the next. Sometimes the thread is just that, some sort of fiber; sometimes it is thoughts or memories. For the last while Ted has been on my mind. I miss so many things; his wisdom, his charm, his stories and his view of the world expressed with a brush. Just when I think I have put him to rest again, some unrelated occurrence brings him back to mind. This time it was a PBS special about saving some of the great art work from the last millennium during World War II. This is quite a saga and speaks to the importance of art in the lives of everyday people. Ted's stories about his experiences during the war were riveting; I think he would have had real memories come flooding back if he had seen this special. Threads.

I think Ted would have been charmed by the growth of our grandson Matthew. Matthew was not even two when we lost Ted, yet Ted had great affection for him. I think Ted would be delighted to see how Matthew has grown into such an art critic as well as an artist. I think he would approve of the exposure to art that Matthew gets. And he would have loved watching Matthew swing his foot to some music in the background at the same time. Matthew is turning into quite a painter in his own right. He has already experimented with color; once an emphasis on purple another time shades of black. He is getting quite good at blending colors. Young and old. Threads.

It is for the Teds and the Matthews that groups of people, dedicated to creating art, get together to support each other. So our little coop continues to exist. The members continue to weave a part of themselves in the art they create, that thread of creativity. Photographs that amaze, paintings that speak to us in different ways, sculpture that bids you look closer, metal work that fills a need while being beautiful, threads made into all manner of art, clay made into beautiful vessels, wood made new, glass and jewelry to adorn are just some of the offerings from this group of talented artists. We each continue to spread ourselves out into the world, while trying to keep the flame of hope for a gallery space alive. Watch for us to burn brightly again. Until then keep checking our site. Threads.

Video Experiment

2010-06-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

More creative experimentation. This is a video composite of a sequence of still images. I know, why not shoot video? Because I happened to catch this sequence with a still camera and decided to see what I could do with them. And I wanted to see if we can post videos on our blog. See it full size at YouTube

Still Working

2010-06-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

I must always watch for opportunities to create. I have put a lot of work into managing the local eagles Fred & Ethel and developing preconceived compositions. I have installed another perch on the beach. Every year the winter storms take out the perch. I have been wanting to get shots of an eagle or two at sunrise, or shortly after. This morning held promise of some good color so I was down on the shore at 5 AM. Color was not very good but Fred and Ethel appeared. So I took lots of shots and this was one of my favorites.

Some people and galleries don't consider photography as art. But if they only knew how much planning, work, and skill goes into making good images perhaps they would change their opinion.

The penny dropped

2010-06-21T12:45:00.000-07:00

I made it to the blog after google confused me and I discovered my mistakes.
I hope to keep weaving, knitting and spinning for a while yet, and will join you guys in whatever endeavours I can.
Please come visit me at the Tilth Farmers Market Saturdays 10 to 2. If you come early you'll find some exotic fresh vegetables-- humdrum ones too.
Also look for the ads for WIFFFS. So it's all animal and fiber stuff but Jennifer Bowman will be part of the show.
I'm hoping Etsy will find customers for us. Look up local sellers and support islanders.

Where do we go from here?

2010-06-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Creating is work; selling those creations is even more work. Artists try to think of all the ways to get ourselves out there so we can share our love of art and creating. This blog is one more way.

We spent hours this last week revisiting the process of how one makes a bronze. Someone thought they might like us to do some work and they wanted an honest estimate. So we went to work, going through the steps in our head, and finally on paper. We figured out how much time, supplies and labor it really takes to make waxes of 25 pieces, put sprues on them, invest them, burn them out, check them for cracks and repair those cracks if there are any. It was more than we thought. But going through that process and being up in the shop started the creative juices flowing again. It's time to start making more art.

For the last couple of years we have given up the festival circuit in favor of trying to show our art in less demanding venues; that is places where we don't have to cart boxes of bronzes and 100 pound rocks and stands just to display our art. This afternoon we helped the kids pack up from a weekend festival. But our kids (also cooperative members) do festivals all summer in addition to selling their wares wholesale. They work hard but make a living with this business we call art. They inspire us to keep trying. This festival, called Sorticulture, is a perfect fit for the garden art Johnathan and Jandellyn make. This is a very laid back festival, with lots of room and plenty of original art to see. And as pack out goes not too bad. But we remembered all over again how much work it is to get your art out there for the public to find, how you have to really dedicate yourself to the selling process and come up with new ideas to catch the public eye. They will be doing the Edmonds Arts Festival next weekend, one of their biggest and we will be their cheering section.

In the meantime, if you want to see our sculpture, feel free to call 360-678-6522 and make arrangements anytime to visit the Cottage Gallery. We'll be happy to show you around.

Welcome Co-op Members

2010-06-04T15:40:00.000-07:00

This is the first post to a first cut blog for the Co-op. If you got here, you accepted the invitation in the email "You have been invited to contribute to Artists Cooperative of Whidbey Island". Sorry you had to create a Google account to get here, but blogger.com is a Google site that requires you have a Google account to be able to post "blogs" to the site. Anyone adding a comment to your post does not have to have a Google account.

So what now? Well, once you have established yourself as a contributer, sign in and try posting a "blog" (click "New Post" in the top right). Tells us anything you want, including any images you wish upload into the blog - like this:

So there you have it. Please enter a comment after this blog so that we may see you read it. Click on "# comments" to see all comments and to enter your comment.