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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 2016)
2 // COASTWEEKEND.COM Find new artwork at White Bird Gallery Sign up for Astoria Art Deborah DeWit, Helga Winter open new solo exhibitions CANNON BEACH — White Bird Gallery opened two new solo art exhibitions on Sept. 1. Deborah DeWit is showing new paintings in “Boundaries and Hori- zons,” and Helga Winter is debuting new sculptural paintings made of paper and mixed-media. DeWit will be present for an artist talk from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10. The art shows run to Oct. 17. DeWit is a well-known Oregon artist whose narrative paintings often explore autobiographi- cal subjects. The painted scenes in “Boundaries and Horizons” sustain this theme, conveying moments in time and expressing familiar human experiences. “These paintings con- tinue my attempt to cap- ture the essence of my ex- perience — living on four and half acres on the edge of an estuary, surrounded by woods, bordered by the sea, in a hundred-year-old house on the North Oregon Coast,” DeWit says. “If it is possible to find all the universal truths, the elemental memories, in one place, I mean to find them here. My observa- tions and thoughts become imagery.” DeWit’s mature paint- ing style has developed over the course of her lengthy career, which began as a photographer in the late 1970s before she took up pastel and oil painting. DeWit now has several books published on her work, highlighting her overarching themes in photography, writing, oil painting and pastels. She lives south of Wheeler in Tillamook County. Her current paintings are naturalistic depictions in oil that combine loose expressive brushwork and layers of paint in a realistic style to capture essential details of a time and place. Many of her paintings also suggest metaphors about the larger human experience through the interplay of indoor and outdoor environments in sensitive and thought-pro- voking compositions. Known throughout the Pacific Northwest for her woodturnings, Helga Winter’s newest endeavor is the creation sculptural paintings that are made from deconstructed books. Winter uses unwanted book pages — the papers are rolled, colored and waxed to form composi- tions where the original book’s knowledge is hidden. These mixed-media pieces are intriguing in both the reformulation of material as well as in the way they suggest the rethinking and reshaping of what has been learned, opening avenues for new truths. Winter has enjoyed a remarkable career, begin- ning with studies under the tutelage of master woodturners Rude Osolink and David Ellsworth. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum as well as the Arrowmont School of Art and Craft. She also is hon- ored to have been a past juror to the prestigious Art In The Pearl, an annual art fair held in the heart of Portland’s Pearl District. White Bird Gallery is located at 251 N. Hemlock St. For more information, call 503-436-2681 or visit www.whitebirdgallery.com Lot painting workshop SUBMITTED PHOTO “Roses in Winter” by Deborah DeWit. SUBMITTED PHOTO “Exploration in Depth and Texture #1” by Helga Winter. ASTORIA — Award-winning Portland artist Liz Walker will lead the two-day class “Marbled Paper to Finished Painting” on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 15 and 16. Starting with marbled papers, students will create a strong design and then paint with acrylic to create vibrant, energetic works of art. The workshop will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days. The cost is $160. For more information, call 503-325-4442 or e-mail astoriaartloft@gmail.com Walker was born in Pennsylvania and raised in San Antonio, Texas — a large metropolitan city infused with the culture, language, and architecture of Mexico. This experience has had a profound and positive affect on her life and inluences how she chooses the colors and subject matter in her paintings. Walker was always inter- ested in art, but a Bachelor of Arts in art from Trinity University was not a guar- antee of a job. She switched ields and found inancial security in a career of tech- nical and software writing. After 10 years in the high- tech world, she renewed her passion for art and left the 240 11 TH STREET ASTORIA, OR 97103 SUBMITTED PHOTO A painting by Liz Walker. corporate world. Initially, Walker’s medium of choice was watercolor. But in 2005 she started painting in acrylics and in 2007 discovered acrylic marbeling, and these became her favorites. She has won numerous awards, and her paintings are in many collections around the U. S., including in Texas, Massachusetts, California, Colorado and Oregon. She has exhibited at Village Gallery of Arts and Elizabeth Lofts Gallery in Portland and Rose Spring Center for the Healing Arts in Hillsboro.
