Amanita Gallery
This new Manzanita gallery features detailed, fantastic
artwork by local artist and owner Debbie Harmon
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Wander into the Amanita Gallery, and it might
be some time before you come out. One lingering
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detailed work invites another — and then another.
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wooden bowl. A garden landscape teems with wee
living things. A score of surprising birds and winged
insects decorate a simple wood box. Soon time pass-
es unnoticed. Somebody go get Dad.
Harmon’s gallery at the upper end of Laneda
Avenue is a new undertaking for her. She enjoys
the encouragement and experience of her son, Sam,
and his wife, Kathryn, artists, too, who have run a
number of galleries over the years, including d’Arte
in Manzanita and Hands of
the Tide in Nehalem, pop-up
galleries that took advantage
of temporary advantageous
leases in buildings between
tenants.
But Amanita is no pop-
up. Two years ago, Harmon moved from Nehalem
to Manzanita, where she found a house on Division
Street, across from the Hoffman Center for the Arts,
with showroom space on Laneda Avenue — perfect
for her gallery. Harmon is well positioned for a long
stay. She lives and paints in the back. Pays no busi-
ness rent. Hires no help. She gets her art for mostly
free, and people are charmed by it.
“The arts are a part of people’s everyday life
here,” offers Sam.
“We have really good patrons here. Local people
like to buy local art,” says Harmon.
Harmon, who also shows her son’s work, has
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many using a scratchboard technique that, with
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into the paint and reveal colors behind. The result
is nearly hypnotic.
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combination of their two styles in an intimate gallery
is pleasing as tree limbs against a moonlit sky. Each
artist delights in the other’s success and style.
Sam has been painting crows in landscapes for
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but I always come back to these guys to say what I
want to say,” he says.
Sam describes his mother’s art, so different from
his own. “Here you have these crazy little gnomes,
the mystical dragon, Eastern-inspired Buddhas and
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hesive, pulling every facet of nature together in each
composition.”
“I can’t escape doing detail, no matter how hard
I try,” says Harmon. Clearly each piece represents a Debbie Harmon works on an art piece in her new Manzanita gallery, Amanita Gallery.
long patient spell with
an idea.
typically colorful painting — a winged and ha-
“I love the wet- loed woman surrounded by adoring creation and
lands, the detail, the life seated above a banner that reads “Let Heaven
that is in everything.“ and Nature Sing” — Harmon’s gentle mixture
Her art is populated by of Eastern imagery and a Christmas carol invites
a spectrum of creatures FDOPVSLULWXDOUHÀHFWLRQ
from across the animal and plant kingdoms. Her pat-
In addition to her distinctive paintings, Harmon
terns are sometimes reminiscent of Moroccan tile.
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The success of Amanita Gallery’s recent celebra- LVKHVWKHPZLWKFRORUDQGSDLQVWDNLQJO\GUDZQ¿J
tory opening May 1, 2 and 3 leaves Harmon, the art- XUHV6HUYLQJWUD\VFLJDUER[HVÀRRUWLOHV¿QGQHZ
ist, with a business person’s pressing responsibilities. creative purpose at her hands.
Some of these have been new to her. She’s learned to
“The gallery offers whole variety of price
produce her prints in standard sizes suitable for mat- points, accessible creativity,” says Sam. “Useful
ting, her cards suitable for envelopes. She’s trying art,” suggests Harmon. Custom word stones, for
to guess what will next most please her customers. example, so a gardener can leave a poem in the This winged and haloed woman surround-
She needs to choose and hang work to replace the walkway. Painstakingly decorated small wooden ed by adoring creation and seated above a
that reads “Let Heaven and Nature
art she’s sold. The business and artistic imperatives bowls so a table can resurrect something aban- banner
Sing” showcases the calm spiritual refl ec-
aren’t immediately compatible.
doned to an antique shop. A stool, colorfully tion Harmon’s work can inspire with its
Harmon, who has taught art literacy at Portland’s GHFRUDWHG DQG LQ ¿QH GHWDLO WKDW &KHVKLUH\ &DW gentle mixture of Eastern imagery and a
Christmas carol.
Oak Hills School and at Fire Mountain School, is painted on its seat, that snake in its jaws.
delighted by the questions her customers’ children
pose. Her work provides plenty of painstaking de-
The Amanita Gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Thursday through Sunday and by appointment.
wooden statuette of a robed, bearded priest, green-
Contact Debbie Harmon at 503-368-7364 or at dragontides@gmail.com
eyed, rosy-cheeked. Why is there a box on
his head? Or a classic carved koa serving
tray, each green lacquered hollow decorat-
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does that cat have a snake it its mouth?
Harmon’s work teems with contented
life, paused in momentary contemplation.
Even that snake in the winged cat’s jaws
seems okay with it.
“My art isn’t just fantasy. It’s more my
inner view of things,” she says. “My in-
ner view outside.” Though you might de-
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VISUAL ARTS • LITERATURE • THEATER • MUSIC & MORE
ing, she says that’s not deliberate. “I’m
not really religious,” she says. Yet in one
Story and photos by JON BRODERICK
‘I love the wetlands, the detail,
the life that is in everything.’
Two black birds stand next to an amanita mushroom, the namesake of the gallery,
in this painting by Amanita Gallery owner Debbie Harmon.
10 | May 21, 2015 | coastweekend.com
the arts