EXHIBITS

Aqua Alta: Raven Skyriver and Kelly O’Dell

Raven Skyriver (Tlingit) and Kelly O’Dell (Non-Indigenous) are not only partners in life but also in art, and will be featured together in a highly anticipated exhibition at Stonington Gallery this month. Both artists are celebrated for their masterful work in glass, a medium they skillfully manipulate to capture the dynamic essence of Pacific Northwest aquatic life. Their shared practice draws on the legacy of glass as a vessel of knowledge, particularly the traditions of the Venetian glass industry, whose lineage of teachers and techniques continues to inform and inspire their work. This exhibition pays homage not only to the craft and its generational transmission, but also to our earth’s ever-shifting environmental realities—rising sea levels, changing oceans, and the fragile ecosystem impacted directly by the actions of human beings.

Raven Skyriver draws deeply from his upbringing in the Pacific Northwest, where formative experiences with local wildlife and the surrounding waters continue to inspire his art. Skyriver seeks to capture the true essence of the animals he depicts, inviting viewers to connect with these creatures and reconsider the fragile balance of nature. His work reflects a profound respect for and detailed rendering of our marine world and encourages a renewed appreciation for the natural wonders often taken for granted or overlooked.

Kelly O’Dell developed a fascination with mortality and the traces life leaves behind at a young age growing up in Hawaii. In her work, she explores themes of extinction, preservation, memento mori, and the delicate balance of nature. Glass’s physical properties—its fragility as well as its strength—allow her to evoke vulnerability and impermanence, resilience, and survival. The ability of this material to endure intense transformation is a parallel to how the artwork itself as a whole becomes a beautiful representation of our borrowed time.

Skyriver and O’Dell’s sculptures embody the essential fluidity and beauty of the natural world, while also serving as a harbinger to humans that if we do not change our ways, this beautiful world and these extraordinary creatures will not survive all of the enormous changes they face.

Jason Hunt Solo Exhibit

This August, Stonington presents a solo exhibition featuring Jason Henry Hunt. Jason Henry Hunt stands as a torchbearer of the Kwagulth artistic tradition, drawing from a lineage of master carvers and visionaries. The son of renowned Kwagulth artist Stan Hunt, and the descendant of legendary carvers Henry Hunt and Mungo Martin, Jason Henry Hunt’s work is both a tribute to his heritage and a testament to his own creative evolution.

Hunt’s work is defined by a steadfast dedication to old-world craftsmanship. He favors the use of hand tools, a choice that reflects not only respect for tradition but also a commitment to the tactile, meditative process of creation. His pieces, ranging from monumental totem poles and intricate masks to expansive panels and vibrant paintings, embody the spirit and stories of his people, while bearing the unmistakable mark of his personal style.

Luminosity: Our Annual Group Glass Exhibit

In tandem with Refract

Join us in celebrating the return of our annual group glass exhibit, Luminosity, showcasing spectacular creations by numerous glass artists at Stonington Gallery. Northwest Native glass art merges contemporary glass techniques with ancient Indigenous imagery.

Marvel at Preston Singletary’s and Raya Friday’s exquisite glass baskets, inspired by traditional Tlingit and Lummi weaving. Immerse yourself in Raven Skyriver and his wife Kelly O’Dell’s mesmerizing underwater world of intricately crafted sea creatures. Experience Dan Friday’s homage to Lummi heritage through his stunning glass salmon, feathers, and fishing-inspired pieces. Discover Lillian Pitt’s cast glass faces and spirit figures, echoing the ancient petroglyphs of the Columbia River Plateau.

These works, along with contributions from other talented artists, create a vibrant tapestry of Northwest Native glass art. Luminosity 2025 offers a unique blend of cultural significance, technical mastery, and artistic innovation. Join us in this annual celebration of this extraordinary exhibition that continues to illuminate the rich traditions and contemporary expressions of Indigenous art through the medium of glass.

Storytellers: A Group Exhibition

This December Stonington presents:

This December, Stonington Gallery presents a group exhibition celebrating Storytellers.

Storytellers are the keepers of history and tradition in the Pacific Northwest and Alaskan Native cultures. Through the art of storytelling, vital knowledge, beliefs, stories, and values are passed down orally from one generation to the next. This enduring tradition remains at the heart of Native heritage and culture, connecting the past with the present and ensuring that the wisdom of the ancestors continues to guide their communities today. 

Masks of the Pacific Northwest Coast

This year we celebrate MASKS of the Pacific Northwest Coast. The mask is an ancient and magnificent object used in ceremony and performance among the peoples of this region. 

While many objects on the Coast combine utilitarian functionality with refined beauty, few traditional objects are as iconic to the Pacific Northwest Coast art and culture as masks. Whether it is a portrait mask or a transformation mask, a personal clan crest, or a supernatural character, each one has its own presence, its own story to tell, and a deep connection to the artist who created it. Masks allow the wearer to embody transformation. The creation process for a mask is a transformation unto itself, turning base materials into a sacred object that reflects a likeness from the world around us. Each mask is imbued with power in this way and that is why masks are timeless. 

Drew Michael Artist Reception & Talk

Saturday, April 23, 6-7:30PM - RSVP REQUIRED!

Saturday, April 23, 6-7:30PM

Please RSVP (required) by emailing art@stoningtongallery.com or calling us at (206) 405-4040!

Drew Michael will be joining us from Alaska for an Artist Reception, during which he will share insights into his solo exhibition, Water’s Edge, showcased in the main gallery of Stonington Gallery for the month of April.

Rick Bartow: Transformative Encounters

March

This March, Stonington Gallery is proud to present Rick Bartow: Transformative Encounters, featuring a number of his works which were informed by others—other artists, other works of art, other places. From music to literature, visual arts to Japanese theater, European masters to fellow artists and collaborators, Bartow was inspired by and incorporated these subjects into his works. He was an astute observer of life and through these portraits and interpretations, and utilizing his preferred mediums of drypoints, monotypes, and mixed media originals on paper, Bartow portrays these characters with humor, intrigue, and canny detail. In this exhibition, we explore the various artists and other influences that found their way directly into Bartow’s iconic imagery.

Strength and Grace

This exciting group exhibition showcases the diverse works of three talented women: Terresa White, Amber Spindel, and Paige Pettibon, highlighting the power of female creativity and perspective in the art world. Amber, Paige, and Terresa come together to present a compelling narrative that celebrates women’s voices in contemporary art. Through their distinctive painting and carving mediums, these three remarkable artists weave a tapestry of experiences, perspectives, and cultural influences creating a powerful synergy, where each artist’s unique approach complements and enhances the others.

During the First Thursday exhibit opening (Feb 6th, 5-8PM), visitors will have the exclusive opportunity to hear from Amber and Paige* as they present short talks about their work at 7 pm. Sasha LaPointe (the subject of Paige Pettibon’s newest painting) will also be in attendance!
*Artist attendance will depend on weather conditions.

Paige and Terresa will also be hosted at Stonington for an art demo day on Saturday, February 22, from 1-3 pm. This interactive session will offer insight into their creative processes and techniques. Don’t miss this chance to engage with these remarkable artists and their work.

Stonington Gallery’s Annual Framing Sale

Stonington Gallery’s Annual Framing Sale is happening NOW!

Is there an already-framed work of art at Stonington you want to collect?
Interested in buying a flat piece of art at Stonington and having it custom framed?
Do you have artwork you purchased elsewhere, but still haven’t gotten it framed?
Now is your time to focus on framed art at Stonington!
Through the month of February:
SAVE 20% off the framing on most pre-framed artworks at Stonington Gallery.
SAVE 20% off custom framing of all artwork purchased at Stonington Gallery.
SAVE 20% off custom framing of artwork you purchased elsewhere.

Contact us via phone (206) 405-4040 or email at art@stoningtongallery.com to schedule your appointment!

Stonington Celebrates 45 Years!

Stonington Gallery proudly marks its 45th anniversary, showcasing masterworks from the Northwest Coast and Alaska. Join us this December for a special group exhibition featuring diverse mediums and styles, honoring our rich history and the incredible community that has been integral to our journey. Experience the depth of our collection as we celebrate nearly half a century of fostering appreciation for Pacific Northwest Coast and Alaskan art.

Dan Friday Meet & Greet

Saturday, October 19, 1-3 PM

In tandem with our annual group glass exhibit, Luminosity, and Refract—the nation’s premier festival showcasing creative glass art in the Pacific Northwest—we invite you to join us for a meet and greet with Lummi glass artist Dan Friday on October 19th from 1 PM to 3 PM. Dan will share insights into his creative process which blends his traditional Lummi heritage with contemporary techniques. This is a fantastic opportunity to engage with Dan, ask questions, and learn more about his artistic journey!

October 19, 2024
1-3 PM

Refreshments will be served.

Hib Sabin: Artist Talk

This unique event encapsulates a multisensory experience that blends sculpture, dance, poetry, and music to explore the profound themes of life’s transitions and the human experience.

Stonington Open until 6PM: Khu.éex’ – Live Music in Occidental Park

Stonington will be open until 6PM with light refreshments.

Stonington Gallery is delighted to announce an exciting event on August 29th, 2024 for a FREE concert by Khu.éex’, Preston Singletary’s band, at Occidental Park from 4:30 PM to 6 PM as part of the Downtown Summer Sounds series. Stonington will be open until 6PM with light refreshments.

Beneath the Waves

Stonington Gallery invites you to dive below the surface with our July exhibition Beneath the Waves featuring art that celebrates the beings who call the ocean their home.

Artists represent the powerful entities who control the ocean and its bounty in Indigenous traditions, such as the Chief of the Undersea world in Kwakwaka’wakw legend, or Sedna, Mother of the Sea in Yup’ik stories. These powerful figures are often associated with the riches from the oceans, reflecting the interconnectedness between those on land and those under the waves.

Dangerous denizens also lurk; the Giant Pacific Octopus, who, like the mythic Kraken, capsizes boats, bringing seafarers down to the depths in Tlingit legend. Or Pugmis (the Wild Man of the Sea), who commands fear and respect as he attracts the spirits of those who have drowned.

More familiar faces, such as the Harbor Seal, Sea Turtle, and Orca, can be found swimming through the art of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. These creatures are often known for accompanying figures from legends on their travels between land and sea, helping bridge the two realms.

These works honor the vital coexistence between the lives of our aquatic neighbors, and our own ashore.

The McGavin Collection

This May, Stonington Gallery is excited to bring The McGavin Collection to our space as we continue to celebrate our 45th anniversary. As the second installment of our “looking back” series, The McGavin Collection showcases nine artworks from Jay Brabant (Cree) and members of the Hunt family that were originally collected between 1980 and the early 2000s. This collection has works done in Bella Coola and Kwakwaka’wakw style, some of which are masks that were intended for dance along with impressive sculptures. Most notable among these incredible pieces are a six-and-a-half-foot Huxwhukw and a four-and-a-half-foot Kwagiulth sun mask. 

He Will Say He Knows Nothing: A Rick Bartow Exhibition

Stonington Gallery is proud to present He Will Say He Knows Nothing: A Rick Bartow Exhibition for the month of March. This exhibition is a testament to Bartow’s unconventional artistic practice and experimental storytelling ultimately reminding us of the humor in our shared experiences. 

(Re) Awakening Ancestral Memory

Stonington Gallery is pleased to share the works of Joe (wahalatsu?) Seymour, Jr.

“I always wanted to create work that my ancestors would recognize. That’s why I studied Coast Salish arts, songs, and stories. I was challenged to think about issues that Natives face in today’s world, issues like living in diaspora, language loss, and loss of Indigenous lands. The weavings in this exhibition reflect that no matter how you change the land or what you call it, Indigenous cultures will always be a part of the land. Through these weavings, I am interlacing the land, art and people that make up Indigenous cultures, visually depicting how these elements woven together create the beauty of Coast Salish culture.”

Fire Keepers

In the season of the winter solstice, Stonington’s December Group exhibition Fire Keepers will highlight the importance and the power of the element fire. Throughout millennia, fire has provided humans with a place to gather, share stories, and sing songs. Around the communal fire is where culture is passed down from generation to generation. Whether it is outdoors or in our homes, the fire is where we naturally gravitate towards. We experience the warmth of our loved ones huddled around the fireplace or jovial laughter while preparing holiday meals together in our kitchens. We congregate around bonfires as a part of winter ceremonies, the cold biting at our cheeks. Light and heat become things we cherish when the rainy, darker days are upon us and the quiet of winter sets in.

Fire Keepers features artworks from contemporary Indigenous artists of the Pacific northwest that are keeping their native traditions ablaze. The pieces in this exhibition vary in medium from hand carved wooden panels painted in the lively reds and oranges reminiscent of fire to intricately painted watercolors that express the warmth and strength of family togetherness reaching back to their ancestors.

In a celebration of the power and symbolism of fire, “Fire Keepers” brings together a collection of artworks that honor the enduring significance of this elemental force, while highlighting the cultural traditions preserved by contemporary Indigenous artists of the Pacific Northwest.

Exploring the Human Condition

A Solo Exhibit of Artwork by Hib Sabin

AN EVENING WITH HIB SABIN: Friday, September 8th
Doors open at 6 pm.
Talk will begin at 6:30 pm.
Seating will be limited! Please RSVP to Reserve your spot!  
Call (206-405-4040) or email (art@stoningtongallery.com) to RSVP.

This September Stonington Gallery presents Exploring the Human Condition, a solo exhibit of Hib Sabin’s latest works. Throughout his artistic career, Sabin has entwined his cerebral explorations through literature, history, politics, and his time as a shamanic practitioner with his carving practice. He has also long had a connection with animals and their symbolism as spirit figures and guides. The raven has been of particular interest to Sabin. The raven is a metamorphic figure seen as a creature that straddles the line of trickster and teacher, good and evil. Sabin embraces this in his sculpture by frequently tapping into the transformative nature of the raven to represent specific people or humanity in the modern day. 

This exhibition analyzes the relationships people have with each other and the overall state of humanity. Sabin touches on themes of connectedness, mortality, and everyday hurdles while confronting us with questions and cautions of what our future could be.

The Power of Water: Celebrating the Canoe Journey

A Group Exhibition

The Power of Water is an exhibition that celebrates the return of the annual Tribal Canoe Journey along with the undeniable power that water has in Indigenous lives, both past and present, while recognizing the movement towards stewarding canoe traditions for future generations.

Journey to Alaska—The Ways of the North: Heather Johnston

a solo exhibition

This April, Stonington will be showcasing the work of Unangan (Aleut)/Alutiiq artist Heather Johnston. Johnston has said that her work directly responds to her surrounding environment, and that she uses everyday experiences as a starting point for her pieces. Often, her works depict and converse with ordinary objects, such as maps or sheet music–objects that, outside of the context of being a framed “piece of art” in a gallery, might go unnoticed.

Dennis Allen

A Solo Exhibit

This February Stonington will be showcasing artwork by elder Skokomish (Twana) tribal member Dennis Allen. He began his artistic career later in life, but has been at it for thirty years now and is a master of his craft. His prolific catalogue of panels, paddles, boxes, drums, prints, and more will be on display all month starting February 2nd for the First Thursday opening reception.

Fluid in Nature

This October and November Stonington Gallery presents the illustrious works of Dan Friday (Lummi), Preston Singletary (Tlingit), and Raven Skyriver (Tlingit) in our glass exhibition, Fluid in Nature. These three glass masters have played dynamic roles in the advent and development of Northwest Native Glass Art, a movement which ties the contemporary medium of glass with the tradition and imagery of Native cultures.

Remembering Thomas Stream

August marks one year since we lost our dear friend, the incomparable Sun’aq Aleut artist, Thomas Stream. Stonington Gallery continues to pay tribute to the memory of this wonderful person and the brightness and vibrancy that came through in his artwork at Stonington for over 30 years.

Equilibrium: A Group Exhibit

Stonington Gallery’s group exhibition this June, Equilibrium, focuses on the earth and the many aspects of nature in which we find meaning and power and the importance of bringing about balance in an ever-changing environment and ecosystem.

Post-Apocalyptic: A Solo Exhibition by Kari Morgan

Kari Morgan (Nisga’a)

Stonington Gallery presents a solo exhibition titled Post-Apocalyptic: A Solo Exhibition by Kari Morgan featuring carvings, paintings, and prints by Nisga’a artist, Kari Morgan, starting Thursday, April 7-Saturday, April 30, 2022. 

New Works

Cedar carvings, serigraphs, painted collage, weaving, glass sculptures

Stonington is honored to be bringing into our gallery a number of the pieces that were featured in glass artist Dan Friday’s (Lummi) exhibition at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, WA. We also bring in new glass pieces by Preston Singletary and Raven Skyriver.

Luminosity: Native Glass Art by Preston Singletary, Raven Skyriver, and Dan Friday

Seattle has a front-row seat to enjoy the fruition of a dynamic art movement: Northwest Native Glass Art. This movement is the result of the fusion of two of the region’s most significant art genres—Native Art and Studio Glass Art. 

Stonington Gallery dedicates this autumn season to celebrating three Indigenous master glass artists of the Pacific Northwest Coast: Preston Singletary (Tlingit), Raven Skyriver (Tlingit), and Dan Friday (Lummi) in our October-November three-person exhibition: Luminosity.

August

Colors of Summer

One of the splendors of living in the Pacific Northwest is having four distinct seasons. However, when spring transitions into summer something remarkable happens in our neighborhoods. More people are outside walking and taking in the opulence of our flowers that are blooming and all of birds that seem to announce a new day! These Colors of Summer remind us of the beauty that surrounds us and that we are very blessed to live in a place of grandeur.

We are super excited to show off Thomas Stream’s newest original gouache paintings on paper. You’ve got to love it when the artist pivots away from his unique, signature piece that he has added to his paintings over the years. You know the Aleut Hunting Visor that he often adorns one of his animals? Well in these new pieces they are not placed on the animals that take center stage in his work. Rather you will see it more subtly in his signature. As always, the vibrancy in his work reflects his love and respect for his Sun’aq Aleut heritage. Come marvel and inspect how he uses pointillism and symbols in each of his pieces. We are so honored to celebrate Thomas Stream in his latest body of works, Colors of Summer!

Tradition Keepers: A Women’s Exhibition

June

This June we are proud to present Tradition Keepers, a group exhibition honoring and celebrating women of the Pacific Northwest Coast– their contributions, vibrancy, and creative spirit. Women are the essential source of life. They are incredible leaders, protectors, and healers. They are the teachers who pass on knowledge both present and past, while giving support and encouragement to the next generation. Through stories from long ago, through language and songs, and through art, sacred traditions are handed down by mothers, aunties, grandmothers, and community. Women are the warriors who pave the path for their children. The life lessons imparted on future generations are all wrapped in tradition–a bridge between past, present, and future.

New Arrivals into the Gallery

April 2021

New works have arrived in every medium: glass feathers and basket, bronze sculptures, carved masks, offset lithograph, serigraphs, giclées, and more! Springtime is a bounty at Stonington Gallery!

A Family Exhibition: 5 Generations

March

In Pacific Northwest Native cultures, stories pass from generation to generation. Children learn the ways of their ancestors through the quiet, gentle teachings of their parents, grandparents, aunties, and those actively keeping traditions alive. These children, in turn, having carefully learned, appreciated and absorbed the wisdom from the past, further passing these same customs, conventions, and practices down to their own children. It is this torch, this sharing, this perpetual giving to the next generation that keeps these rich and vital art and cultural traditions alive–built firmly upon these closely knit, familial relationships. Stonington Gallery is honored to feature artwork in March by five generations of artists in one family. The Wilbur Peterson household was always and remains to this day the quintessential artists’ household. Skokomish artist Andy Peterson and his wife, Ruth, are both skilled and prolific artists. Read more to learn how Andy’s great-grandfather Henry Allen influenced his life, but also how Andy taught his father Dennis Allen, his own family and now their grandchildren. It is a remarkable story of cultural revival and thriving in the art world throughout our region.

Delving Deep: An Exhibition of Works by Rick Bartow

February

The Stonington Gallery is also honored and humbled beyond words to be able to highlight works by the late Rick Bartow. This solo exhibit, Delving Deep, is extraordinarily special. For those of you who knew Rick he had faced some of his darkest times in his journey on this planet and was able to use […]

Encore Presentation: Northwest Native Art Glass

November

An encore presentation of our gorgeous glass exhibition, with new works added for November!

Northwest Native Art Glass is the confluence place where contemporary Northwest Indigenous art and the studio glass movement collide. The result are works in the medium of glass that reflect on, honor and explore Indigenous heritage, made by contemporary glass artists at the height of their powers. We are honored to represent three of the most important Indigenous glass artists working today: Dan Friday (Lummi), Preston Singletary (Tlingit), and Raven Skyriver (Tlingit).

Honoring the Salish Sea

September

With Stonington Gallery’s current exhibit “Honoring the Salish Sea”, we seek to pay homage to this remarkable region that is rich in both culture and ecology. The watershed of the Salish Sea includes many river systems whose origins are born in both the Cascade and Olympic ranges. These rivers have teemed with epic salmon runs for millennia. This abundant ecosystem has fostered and nurtured diverse nations of Indigenous people who have relied on that bounty for thousands of years. Though these nations are discrete, and carry different traditions and art styles, many share linguistic roots, and are tightly woven together by a shared environment and history.

Threats to the waterways of our region are also abundant: pollution, damming, overfishing, damaging pipelines and potentially catastrophic mining projects. Whether we are able to course correct and preserve what natural beauty remains from further degradation is an open and pressing question. Indigenous communities across the Northwest and Alaska continue to bravely and tenaciously resist the exploitation of their lands, reminding us of a history of broken promises and urging us to do better.

Over the past decades, Stonington Gallery has watched as the Indigenous people of this region have staged an extraordinary revitalization of their culture, art, traditional practices, and languages. We are honored and proud to work with elders, adults and youth of these nations, and those beyond. This show also welcomes artists who live outside of the Salish Sound region, but who are deeply tied to and concerned with the health and safety of their own local waterways.

Many works in this exhibit show the intermingled influence of urban landscapes and natural materials, the mix of media representing the dynamic range of identities and traditions that exist today along the Coast. Our current exhibit represents only a fraction of the creators on the Coast, but provides a glimpse of the creativity, fortitude and spirit with which they keep culture alive and move it into the future.

Hib Sabin: In My End Is My Beginning

July

July, 2020

Exhibition opens to the public on July 8th, with our current schedule: Wednesdays-Saturdays, 11am-3pm. (Also open by appointment.)

This July we welcome Hib Sabin (Non-Indigenous) for a solo exhibition of new works in juniper and bronze. The title of Sabin’s show hails from T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets”, which is book-ended by two versions of a similar, inverted phrase: In my beginning is my end / in my end is my beginning. The first use of the phrase at the top of the poem speaks of the beginning of new plans and new life with a hidden core of entropy and ending nested secretly inside like a mechanism that will slowly and silently wind down in time. The end of the poem–which is where the title of Sabin’s show is found–speaks of the “end” as being just another step on a longer journey, and that reaching that end is actually the arrival at a new jumping-off place. Sabin’s works explore themes of aging, death and life cycles, memory and creativity, isolation and solitude, and the next steps in that great beginning-anew.

Fundraiser Raffle: Win A Framed Print by David R. Boxley

June

Join the Stonington Gallery on June 3 and 4 as we raise funds for local non-profit Solid Ground, which works to address racial justice, advocate for BIPOC communities, mitigate homelessness and poverty, and make a change. One person will win “Huk Dzap” (The Artist), a beautiful limited edition print by David R. Boxley (Ts’msyen) in conservation framing . 

To enter our raffle:

-Make a donation directly to Solid Ground of $25 or more.
-Take a screenshot or a photo of your donation receipt. This is your raffle ticket!
-Send your proof of donation to art@stoningtongallery.com
-We will choose and contact the winner on Thursday night.

Thank you for participating!

Jason & Trevor Hunt: Bloodlines (Online Exhibition)

April

ONLINE EXHIBIT: In April we feature brothers Jason Hunt and Trevor Hunt, who hail from the famed artistic lineage of the Hunt family of Fort Rupert on Vancouver Island (BC). Many of the brothers’ family members–including father Stan Hunt–are renowned artists known for their incredible masks, panels, paddles, and drums, and these two continue that tradition with modern flair and tools. We look forward to seeing what kinds of spectacular Vancouver Island-style works will emerge for this joint show.

Online Exhibition: The Hope of Spring

March

Though the Stonington Gallery physical space will be closed until at least April 1st, we can still share the work of our fantastic artists with you! (We are also working from home, and reachable by email and phone during business hours.) We are thinking of you all and sending each of you our love and very best wishes.

As so many of our daily routines are interrupted, please find time to be outdoors and enjoy the early signs of spring. In the Northwest we are savoring our springtime rituals as nature responds to the lengthening days. The steelhead are returning to their rivers. The robins are in our parks and gardens. The Indian Plum blossoms are nourishing the Anna’s hummingbirds and native bees. The sun paints the woods a light-dappled green. Soon, the frogs will fill the night air with their beautiful chorus and herald one of Planet Earth’s most glorious events: springtime.

Woven Together: Mini Exhibition with Spotlight on Susan Pavel

March

In March we highlight the art of weaving up and down the Pacific Northwest Coast, whether in the form of baskets, hats, robes or rattles. This mini-show exhibits varied weaving practices of many of our longtime artists, with a particular focus on the Salish blankets of Susan Pavel / sa’hLamitSa. Other works in the show are by Lisa Telford, Isabel Rorick, Deborah Head, Alison Bremner, Kandi McGilton, and Paul Rowley.

Pavel, a master weaver in her own right and the inheritor of the knowledge of subiyay Bruce Miller, debuts four new blankets / robes that are dyed with natural dyes made from locally sourced plants. Coast Salish weaving is a specific genre and technique unto itself. The art was retained by a few master weavers, including the late subiyay Bruce Miller, a Skokomish spiritual leader, who chose Pavel as an apprentice in the mid-1990s. Pavel, who is not Native, was chosen to carry on the technique by Miller. Traditionally, Salish blankets/clothing are woven using a variety of animal and plant fibers including mountain goat wool, canine hair, hemp, fireweed, milkweed, cattail, cotton grass, and yellow and red cedar bark. Various plants were used to create the colors used in dying the wool.

In The Den: Digital Exhibition on Bears

February

Bears spend much of the winter in a state of torpor–a slightly less intense version of true hibernation–and they’re a rare sight until spring. That’s why we’ve decided to shine a spotlight on these majestic animals during winter 2020, as a reminder of their power, grandeur, and important role in the ecosystem. Even if humans don’t enter torpor in winter, we can certainly understand the allure of remaining “in the den” during this time of year: staying warm and comfortable, delighting in good food and nourishing activities, and laying low with friends and family. Enjoy these works in many styles and media honoring bears of all kinds: fierce or gentle, cozy or roaming, protective or welcoming.

Stonington Celebrates 40

December

Exhibition opens during the First Thursday Artwalk, December 5, 6-8pm.
Exhibit runs December 5, 2019 – January 2020.

Stonington Gallery celebrates a milestone: our 40th anniversary! We have been exhibiting masterworks of the Northwest Coast and Alaska for four decades, and we are proud to continue representing the talented artists of our region into the future. We have seen the rise of cultural renaissance, the advent of recessions large and small, three locations, upturns, downturns, and everything in between. Our staff has used typewriters, word processors, and computers of every size and speed. And all of that is not even mentioning the hundreds of incredible artists, clients and supporters without whom we would not be here today. Join us for a group exhibition of stellar works in every medium, style and size this December as we celebrate our community and look towards the future.

Raven Skyriver & Preston Singletary

October

Our featured October artists translate and honor their Indigenous heritage through the medium of glass. Both from the Tlingit Nation, they approach their work from different angles: one through the lens of ecosystem and animal-life; the other through Northwest Coast mythology and traditional objects.Raven Skyriver (Tlingit) presents an exhibition of blown and hot-sculpted glass marine animals from oceans and river systems that are threatened by pollution, ocean acidification, and over-fishing. Skyriver uses the techniques he has learned from blowing with William Morris and other glass luminaries to render lifelike creatures, giving us eye-to-eye encounters with deep sea creatures we don’t often see.He is joined by fellow Washington glassblower Preston Singletary (Tlingit), who presents works in glass, bronze and on paper. Singletary uses intricate Northwest Coast formline design to render shamanic implements, woven hats and baskets, and legendary characters in glass. Known for his world-spanning collaborations with other indigenous artists, Singletary plans to debut the first-ever collaboration with Skyriver in this exhibition.

Jason Gobin & Trevor Hunt

August

In August we present exhibitions by Jason Gobin (Tulalip Nation) and Trevor Hunt (Kwaguʼł Nation), two mid-career artists creating contemporary versions of traditional objects such as masks, paddles, and panels.

Gobin– known as Hik Stubs in the Tulalip dialect–focuses on the revitalization of Salish artforms through the use of multiple media, including painting, carving, weaving, and digital. Gobin is also a commercial fisherman, and the caretaker and one of the skippers for the tribal sea-going canoes at Tulalip.

Hunt hails from farther up the Northwest Coast, and is part of the famed Hunt family of Fort Rupert on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. He comes from a long line of hereditary carvers and artists that have been instrumental in the survival of the Kwaguʼł art form on the Northwest Coast. His father is Stan Hunt, his grandfather was Henry Hunt and his great-grandfather was Mungo Martin.

Special Event: Book Signing and Artist Talk by Hib Sabin

July

Wednesday, July 10th – 6:30pm
at Stonington Gallery. Free to attend.
Join us on the evening of July 10th to meet Santa Fe-based sculptor Hib Sabin, who is here for the opening of his newest solo exhibition. Sabin will speak on the themes of his new exhibition, and sign copies of his new hardcover book. This beautiful publication was released in May 2019, and contains 128 pages of the artist’s works. The book is available to purchase through our gallery.

Special Event: Artist Talk by Jeffrey Veregge: May 21st, 6:30pm

May

Join us on May 21st at 6:30pm for an artist lecture by featured artist Jeffrey Veregge (Port Gamble S’Klallam)! Veregge has created art for over 100 Marvel, Valiant and IDW publications, but his current show with us takes his Salish graphic designs in a new direction. Learn about Veregge’s passion and focus that led to this show, his major mural projects for places including the Smithsonian, and his signature Salish Geek style.

Drew Michael: Moonscapes

April

Contemporary mixed media sculptor Drew Michael (Inupiaq / Yup’ik Nations) returns to the gallery for his fourth solo exhibition this spring. The young sculptor has been delving deeply into the concepts including shadow selves, spirals, and journeys through mazes to reach understanding. Michael utilizes traditional Yup’ik and Inupiaq mask forms as a launch-pad from which to then explore his contemporary life, adding non-traditional materials and found objects that imbue his masks and mask-forms with resonance. Michael’s works often exhibit a mixture of influences, from Alaska Native to Byzantine icon, 1900s fashion and history to contemporary design, and beyond. Michael is making artwork that draws from his complex and overlapping identities, which include being Alaska Native, Polish, adopted, queer and two-spirit, and peripatetic in his practice. 

This new body of work goes in new directions and breaks fertile ground. For the first time in many years, Michael returns to strictly mask forms with this show, moving away from the draped figures that have recently dominated his aesthetic. These mask forms are the outcome of tapping deep into his emotional and intellectual landscape and emerging with tangible symbols representative of what he finds therein. Using a mixture of carved and found objects, Michael creates assemblages that represent places, people, experiences and moods that have inspired or influenced him, and each exhibition can be read almost as a moment-to-moment diary.

Spotlight On: Masters of Vancouver Island & Beyond – The Todd Collection

April

We are honored to present works from the Todd Collection, a spectacular array of works collected over a 25 year period. In 2018 we presented the first segment of the Todd Collection, selling many exquisite works immediately. Now, we are excited to re-feature this collection of master-quality works with new pricing. This array includes some of the most important names in contemporary Northwest Coast art, and pieces made at the height of these artists’ powers. The collection has a special focus on masks by Vancouver Island artists in Kwakwaka’wakw, Kwagiulth and Nuu-chah-nulth traditions. This exhibition brings together masks, bowls, chests, panels and objects from some of the Northwest Coast’s most revered artists, and represents a dazzling survey of some of the most important carvers working on and around Vancouver Island from the mid-to-late 20th century.

Splendor In Spring II

March

In March we present works fresh out of the studio from several artists working up and down the Northwest Coast. We invite these artists to shake off the doldrums of winter and think fresh, dream bright, and start anew. Small, focused bodies of works from sculptors, painters, jewelers and printmakers will converge in an exhibition that welcomes spring and heads in new directions.

Skylight: The Sun, Moon and Stars in Northwest Coast Art

January

With a major lunar eclipse on the way on Sunday/Monday, January 21st, it’s the perfect time to turn our attention to the skies overhead. The eclipse is the confluence of three major events: a “blood moon” (where the moon turns a coppery color); a total lunar eclipse (where the planet’s shadow completely envelops our satellite); and a Super Moon (where the moon appears much larger than normal).

To celebrate all of this celestial activity, we’re spotlighting works in the gallery that focus on the sun, moon and stars. Many of these pieces will reference the most famous myth on the Coast, of Raven stealing the light. Though it has many permutations and the details change depending on the telling, the basic story tells of how the world was in darkness and Raven–through many trials and clever schemes–finds a way to free it. Raven steals the light–sometimes referring to the sun, other times the sun, moon and stars–and releases, drops, or throws it into the sky where it remains to this day.

Raven Skyriver: CONFLUENCE

November

We are proud to present a new solo exhibition by Washington-based glassblower Raven Skyriver (Tlingit), which will include collaborations with his partner Kelly O’Dell (Non-Indigenous). Raven is creating works that will explore the ecosystems and wildlife of places of confluence, where salt water meets fresh and streams of life converge. Confluence also refers to the idea of the coming together of crux points: the tipping points between losing species and saving them; the time ebbing away to head off or reverse climate change; the simultaneity of learning more about our planet and its wildlife at the same time it is becoming less habitable for them. Raven is deeply concerned with the state of our environment and the significant challenges faced by marine life of the Salish Sea and wider Pacific Ocean. He is a board-member of SR3, a sea mammal rescue, rehabilitation and education non-profit.

Preston Singletary: Solo Exhibition

October

Stonington Gallery is proud to present a solo exhibition by contemporary Tlingit glassblower Preston Singletary this autumn. The gallery will show the wide breadth of Singletary’s work, which includes blown glass, cast bronzes, limited edition glass jewelry, and limited edition prints. This exhibition is a celebration both of the wide scope of interest and media that Singletary brings to his work, and also of the opening of his major Museum of Glass exhibition in Tacoma, WA.

Special related event: Panel Talk on Northwest Native Art Glass with Preston Singletary, Dan Friday and Raven Skyriver.
October 17th, 6-9pm. Tickets available to purchase online.

Artist Lecture: Dan Friday Tuesday Sept 18, 6:30pm

September

Tuesday, September 18th, 6:30pm at Stonington Gallery. Free to attend.

Join Dan Friday (Lummi Nation) at the Stonington Gallery during his solo exhibition as he speaks about his new body of work and the inspiration and glassblowing techniques behind it. Friday has recently completed a new residency at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, delving into his family’s history and that of the larger Lummi nation. This exhibition debuts a new series of works, the sxwole anchors, derived directly from the artist’s research and heritage. Dan is a lively and engaging speaker, and you don’t want to miss this talk!

Three Autumn Exhibitions

September - November

We are devoting our autumn season to back-to-back-to-back exhibits by three of the region’s top Native glass artists, in a celebration of the Northwest Native Art Glass movement. September brings Dan Friday (Lummi), October is Preston Singletary (Tlingit), and in November we close with Raven Skyriver (Tlingit). All three of these artists uses the medium of glass to reflect on aspects of their vibrant Northwest Coast Native heritage, but each does so with a different focus.

EXHIBITIONS:

Dan Friday Solo Exhibition: Sept 6-30, Opens Sept 6, 6-8pm
Preston Singletary Solo Exhibition: Oct 4-28. Opens Oct 4, 6-8pm
Raven Skyriver – Confluence – Solo Exhibition: Nov 1-30, Opens Nov 1, 6-8pm

EVENTS:

Dan Friday Artist Talk: Tuesday, Sept 18th, 6:30pm. At Stonington Gallery. Free to attend, not ticketed.

Northwest Native Art Glass Panel Talk with Preston Singletary, Raven Skyriver and Dan Friday: Wednesday October 17th, 6-9pm. Panel talk at The 101 in Pioneer Square, pre and post-panel refreshments and meet-and-greet with the artists at Stonington Gallery. Ticketed event. More information on ticket purchases tba.

An Online Exhibition

July

Coast Salish design and Northern-style formline lend themselves fantastically to bold designs. In Northwest Coast art, each shape has a traditional role to play. Lines and shapes lock together, bounding fields of color into negative and positive spaces, resulting in complex, detailed images. For some artists, formline design is a toolkit to create detailed images featuring animals, humans, spirit faces and crest imagery. Others go beyond the figurative, stretching these shapes to become semi-abstract or fully abstract compositions that evoke motion, energy, pattern and movement.

Spotlight On: Frogs

June

We’re welcoming summer with a celebration of our amphibian friends, frogs! The state of Washington has ten indigenous species of frog, including the bullfrog, Pacific chorus frog, Northern leopard frog, cascades frog, and Oregon spotted frog. (I guess you could say we’re hopping.)

Amongst the indigenous peoples of the Northwest, the Frog was often a symbol of prosperity and wealth, and its penchant for singing or chirping leads to many myths about why it’s sounding off. Frog was said to have warned humans of impending danger, and indeed, we know that frogs are indicator species of an ecosystem’s overall health.

Masters of Disguise IV: Group Mask Exhibition

June

In what has become a hotly anticipated annual tradition, we present “Masters of Disguise IV” a group exhibition of masks by artists around the Northwest. In the past we have seen masks that run the gamut from highly traditional to completely experimental, and everything in between. This will be an invitational exhibition featuring both emerging and established artists from the Northwest Coast, and we can’t wait to share their visions with you this June.

Reflections of Our Ancestors: Dan Friday & Lillian Pitt Collaborative Exhibition

May

Artists Lillian Pitt (Warm Springs/Wasco/Yakama) and Dan Friday (Lummi) debut works in glass which were made collaboratively at a multi-day blow earlier in 2018. These are primarily basket or vessel forms that were blown and fused by Dan Friday under the direction of honored elder artist Lillian Pitt. Dan brought over twenty years of glassblowing experience, and Lillian brought the aluminum stencils based on Columbia River and Plateau designs that would be incorporated into each piece. The imagery on this new series of blown and fused glass baskets was directly inspired from two sources: twined imagery on traditional Wasco Sally bags, and the ancient pictographs and petroglyphs carved on rock walls in the Columbia River Gorge. By the end of the process the two had fused their concepts and vision together into a brand new series of rich, vibrantly colored vessel that reflect time-honored images from the artists’ ancestors.

Drew Michael: Shadows

February

Yup’ik/Inupiaq sculptor Drew Michael returns to Stonington Gallery with a brand new body of work in winter 2018, kicking off our new year of exhibitions. Michael received a major and prestigious grant at the end of 2017, spurring the creation of new sculpture in his Alaska-based studio and a reinvigorated commitment to his sculptural practice.

Holiday Season: Gifts for the Northwest Coast Art Lover

December

The holiday season is upon us, and we know you are looking for the perfect artful gift. Whether it’s a piece of fine jewelry, a print to brighten a wall, or a luminous sculpture in wood, bronze or glass, we have an elegant solution. Even better: buying from our gallery supports regional artists and a small local business! Everything we show at Stonington Gallery is hand-made by regional artists: no mass production, no factories, no automation–just works made by artists at the top of their field.

Enjoy this curated selection of works that will make this holiday extra special. Please call or email the gallery to purchase works. We will endeavor to keep the listings current, but we do apologize if work sells and is not immediately updated.

Enjoy this curated selection of works that will make this holiday extra special. Please call or email the gallery to purchase works.

Joan Tenenbaum: LANDSCAPE AS AMULET

December

We welcome fine art jeweler Joan Tenenbaum back to the gallery to show the work in silver, gold and precious stones that she has been creating all year. As always, Tenenbaum is deeply inspired by the landscape, ecology, and animal life of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, and draws the colors and textures of the region into her exquisitely-crafted jewelry. Join us to discover what she has in store for this December exhibition!

“It is in our quiet moments that we draw sustenance from those places of nature we have touched. Whether it’s a wild creature or a wild place, just knowing it’s there gives us a sense of peace. As we reflect on our evocative encounters with the natural world we instinctively move to physically touch a symbol of those connections.”
-Joan Tenenbaum, 2017.

Lillian Pitt: Spirits from the Columbia River Gorge

October

October brings a show of Lillian Pitt’s silver jewelry, inspired by her Wasco/Yakama/Warm Springs heritage. Many of these works are based on the rock petroglyphs and pictographs from the Columbia River Gorge, and honor the mythological stories and characters drawn by her distant ancestors there.

Special Offer on Select Thomas Stream Original Paintings

Autumn 2017

Stonington Gallery has proudly represented the paintings of contemporary Aleut painter Thomas Stream for thirty-five years. Our exhibit schedule and storage capacity is such that not all his wonderful works can be on display at once, and we want them to be in homes where they will be treasured as they deserve! Therefore, we are offering a select collection of original framed paintings from past years at a rare discounted price: 20% off the framing and an additional 20% off the painting.

Stream’s bright palette and the curvilinear, geometric designs in his painting are very much inspired by the traditional painted steam-bent hats made and worn by the Aleut hunters at sea in their kayaks. These hats are to Stream what the spindle whorl is today’s Coast Salish artists: the object that represents the very core or spirit of their people. It is an object so specific to the industry and thus survival of the culture, that it at once sums up the accumulated knowledge of a people and their mastery of the skills required to flourish in a specific environment.

Dan Friday: New Works in Glass

August

In August we welcome Lummi glassblower Dan Friday back to Stonington for his second solo show. Friday utilizes the medium of blown and hotsculpted glass to show reverence for his Lummi Nation heritage, and to honor specific Lummi artists who paved the way.

Friday grew up with revered Lummi weaver Fran James (1924-2013) as one of his Aunties, and he honors the Salish craft of cedar bark weaving with his series of blown mosaic baskets. He silvers the glass to give it a nacreous luminescence, changing the color of the glass as it is seen in different light and against different colors. Mimicking the wide, open weaving style of Coast Salish cedar bark baskets, Friday translates his Auntie’s legacy to a new medium and a new audience.

Dan Friday’s great-grandfather was Joseph R. Hillaire (Kwul-kwul’t), a famed Lummi totem pole carver. Among Hillaire’s most renowned commissions were two totem poles carved for the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. One pole traveled around the USA to publicize the upcoming Fair; and one was created for Seattle’s sister-city of Kobe, Japan. Hillaire’s totem poles were a magnificent expression of the Lummi people’s relationship to the natural world and its inhabitants. Friday pays tribute to his great-grandfather’s carvings with his glass totems.

Masters of Disguise III: A Group Mask Exhibition

June

This June we continue to explore the tradition and innovation of mask-making on the Northwest Coast. Contemporary sculptors, painters and jewelers will bring their perspectives to bear on the act of hiding, disguising, transforming and storytelling, resulting in a collection of masks that tell us about our history, our present, and our future. As with the first two iterations of this group exhibit, expect works that range from traditional to groundbreaking, and that encompass media as disparate as glass, wood, stone, hide, fiber, metal and ceramic.

Artist Talk: Jeffrey Veregge

May 24th 6:30 PM at Stonington Gallery

Drew Michael Solo Exhibition

March

Stonington Gallery presents an exhibition of emerging star Drew Michael (Inupiaq/Yup’ik). He continues to evolve his deeply personal mask-forms based on his own life and on the culture and mythologies of the Yup’ik and Inupiaq peoples. Two major themes run through the 2017 exhibition: works that look inward, and works that look outward. The inward pieces were largely created in 2016, and deal with the artist’s continuing exploration of his emotional states, self-portraiture, his relationships, and with healing and growing.

Dealers’ Choice: A Staff Picks Exhibition

February

The Stonington staff has selected works from the gallery’s collection to exhibit during the month of March, drawing focus to works that resonate on a personal and aesthetic level. We are privileged to work among these objects on a daily basis, and it is our great pleasure to present the works that delight, challenge, surprise and engage us day after day. Whether it is a monumental work that needs greater attention to its intricacies, or a piece that is small enough to be passed by, we shed light on art that captures us.

The works will be displayed with accompanying commentary by a Stonington staff member, illuminating our perception of the piece and why it provokes such a distinct reaction in us.

Isabel Rorick & Robin Rorick: Roots That Connect Us All – A Mother & Son Collaboration

November

“We are all a part of a giant complex weaving of life that requires respect and love to further interconnection. The trees are nourished by earth’s elements and by the life cycle of the plants, insects, fish and all the other animals. In return the trees provide gifts of life for all those who are living. It is the same for the roots that connect us to our ancestors.

Weaving, painting and carving are a part of this sacred cycle and the energies that we portray are stories that come through us when we allow it and when we take the time to listen and feel. This is the way of our ancestors.”

-Isabel & Robin Rorick

Susan Pavel: 20 Years of Weaving

October

In October we present an exhibition of new Coast Salish-style weavings by one of the contemporary masters of the art, Dr. Susan Pavel (sa’hLamitSa). Coast Salish weaving is a specific genre and technique unto itself. The art was retained by a few master weavers, including the latesubiyay Bruce Miller, a Skokomish spiritual leader, who chose Pavel as an apprentice in the mid-1990s. Pavel, who is not Native, was chosen to carry on the technique by Miller, and has herself now taught over 500 students.

Pavel says, “We started as just two. Now, there are hundreds. My students have taught other students. Now I know that this will not die with me when I go. The journey has been and continues to be remarkable. The essence of weaving is fulfilled because … I am obedient to the call.”

In summer 2016 she will have a major retrospective exhibition at the Suquamish Museum of her weavings–both new and from her archive. The new works will be available in her exhibition at Stonington Gallery in October.

Dan Friday & Thomas Stream: Spectrum

Opening Reception: First Thursday, September 1st 6-8pm

In September we present works by painter Thomas Stream (Sun’aq Aleut) and glassblower Dan Friday (Lummi), both contemporary artists who utilize bold, brilliant color to show their respect and love for their heritage and the environment around them.

We are proud to present a new exhibition by contemporary Aleut painter Thomas Stream, whom we have had the pleasure of representing for decades. Stream is renowned for his dazzlingly detailed gouache paintings of wildlife that combine pointillism, Audubon, and traditional Aleutian spiral-and-dot patterns. Inspired by the traditional hunting visors of his Aleutian ancestors, Stream uses those bright colors and swirling patterns on the ancient hats to render the wildlife of the Northwest and beyond.

Hib Sabin: Solo Exhibit

Opening Reception: First Thursday, July 7 6-8pm

We are proud to present a solo exhibition of new work by sculptor Hib Sabin (Non-Indigenous) in July, featured works in juniper, bronze and glass. Sabin continues his exploration of human nature by way of animal forms, embodying our best and worst qualities in cackling ravens, haughty owls, and dignified bears. Complex tableaus with multiple creatures interacting–such as “Ship of Fools”–show us the folly of letting the blind and proud navigate treacherous waters. Sabin also debuts new collaborative pieces made with glass-blower Peter Wright.

Denise Wallace: Northern Light

Opening Reception: First Thursday, May 5th 6-8pm

We are thrilled to unveil the first collection of jewelry at Stonington Gallery from legendary jeweler Denise Wallace (Chugach Aleut). Wallace is widely known for her sumptuous silver, gold and fossilized ivory jewelry that combines contemporary elegance and traditional themes. Wallace’s unique creations have made her the best-known Alaska Native jeweler of our time. The themes of her pieces are rooted in the rich stories and customs of arctic peoples of Alaska, stories that deal with ideas of healing, growth, nature and transformation. Wallace’s work will be highlighted in the main gallery in the month of May, and throughout the spring and summer. The majority of the works in this collection center around masks, faces and transformation. Those familiar with Yup’ik style masks will recognize those forms in her sterling silver, gold and fossilized ivory creations.

Rick Bartow: Work

Opening Reception: First Thursday, March 3rd 6-8pm

In March we will show select works by venerated printmaker, painter and sculptor Rick Bartow (Wiyot), from 2015 and previous years. Though the work will be on multiple topics, one primary theme will be the human face: how we mask, hide, transform and reveal. Identity is constantly on the shift in Bartow’s works, as animals and humans meld into a liminal, uncertain now, heedless of what they were before or might be in a moment. Bartow transfers the moment of creation into each work, with an improvist’s energy and visionary skill. The artist often creates multiple works on the same panel or paper, working one image to completion before he paints or draws directly over it and obliterating it completely.

A Vision of Northwest Excellence: Works from the Rose Collection

Opening Reception: First Thursday, February 4th 6-8pm

We are honored to present select works from the Rose Collection, a private estate of Northwest Coast art by some of its finest practitioners. Collected with a keen eye for excellence and elegance, this top-level collection includes early and mid-career works by Northern and Southern artists. For collectors of grandmaster Bill Reid, this is exhibit is an opportunity to find an original stone lithograph and etching, as well as a complete folio of his Haida Myths series. Early works by Christian White, Don Yeomans and John Livingston allow insight into the evolution of their techniques. And exquisite recent works by Susan Point and Napachie Sharky are gems in this treasure trove.

Resurgence: Rivers of the Pacific Northwest – A Group Exhibit

Opening Reception: First Thursday, December 3rd 6-8pm

To close out the year we are honored to present a group exhibit featuring some of the finest artwork and most significant Pacific Northwest Coast artists working today.

Every river generates a unique ecosystem and culture to go with it. Just as rivers carry fish, feed forests and carve through rock in individual ways, they also influence the peoples who live on their banks and use them for transportation. From raging rivers to placid waters, revitalized watersheds to endangered places, we ask our artists reflect on rivers that have meaning in their lives and bring us to sacred places with their art. Please join us as we bring together the region’s finest artists to give proper due to our Rivers, their people, and the surrounding environments. We honor the resilience of watersheds, and also their fragility; their remarkable ability to connect peoples; to feed and carry us; to sustain those who rely on them.

Preston Singletary: New Works in Glass, Bronze and Paper

Opening Reception: First Thursday, October 1 6-8pm

We are proud to present new works in glass, bronze and print by internationally acclaimed artist Preston Singletary (Tlingit). Primarily known for sculpture in glass, Singletary has begun to expand his forms of expression to richly patinated bronze, and to two-dimensional drawings on paper.

Singletary has long been inspired by the myth of Raven stealing the sun, moon and stars from the bentwood box where it was hidden by a chieftain. It is a legend he returns to in glass, prints, and bronzes, and from many angles. The most recent imagining of this myth is in the model pole “Raven and the Box of Daylight”, a new limited edition bronze. He also presents his Tlingit Glass Basket series, honoring the weaving traditions of the Tlingit and other northern nations.

Thomas Stream: The Landscape Beckons

We are proud to present a three person exhibit featuring paper artist Nikki McClure (Non-Indigenous), painter Thomas Stream (Sun’aq Aleut) and jeweler Joan Tenenbaum (Non-Indigenous). These three Washington artists are deeply inspired by the landscapes and wildlife of the Northwest, and each renders their vision of this place in exquisite detail and skill.

Stream (Sun’aq Aleut) has long been inspired by the tragic story of young Aleut women who were taken from their homes by armed Russian traders in the 1700s and were ultimately killed in cold blood on the trip back to Siberia. In this exhibit, he honors their memory in one of the most moving and beautiful series of paintings he has ever produced. Select works from Stream’s archive will also be included in the exhibit, as well as small new works.

Hib Sabin: States of Awareness

Hib Sabin makes a triumphant return to Stonington Gallery with a solo exhibit, States of Awareness. Featuring a handful of exquisite new carvings in juniper, the exhibit also debuts a new bronze and several beloved bronzes that have not been seen at the gallery for years.

Sabin uses bird forms to represent human souls or spirits. Whether asleep or aware, bound or free, traveling or stationary, they are each rendered with captivating detail and skill. As Sabin enters his 80th year, he proves his mastery of expression in wood, with delicate humanoid figures and expressive birds. Over the years, he has shifted from the abstract to a more realistic style, where every feather and talon is rendered with purpose and detail.

Masters of Disguise I – Group Mask Exhibition

Each year Stonington Gallery presents one or two large themed group exhibits that showcase the astonishing variety of styles, skills, and imaginations of artists living between Northern California all the way up to the northernmost tip of Alaska.

This year, we are proud to present an exhibit that focuses on the myriad ways in which we represent the human face, in Masters of Disguise: On Masks & Faces. Traditions of masking are found all up and down the Northwest Coast, from the subtle and realistic portrait masks of the Tlingit people, to the fantastic and famed transforming masks of the Kwakwaka’wakw. But masks are not all about tradition: we use the art of masking when we face the outside world, we show different faces to different people, and we find ourselves transforming throughout the course of our lives.

Join us as we explore the moods of masks in this exhibit of the very best contemporary artists on the Northwest Coast.

Roger Purdue: An Introduction, A Retrospection

It is rare in this age to discover an untouched body of work by a skilled artist who worked in relative isolation, and without bowing to the dictates of the art market. Yet, Roger Purdue was just one of these cases. Purdue created stunning serigraphs primarily for his and his community’s enjoyment, and his work has never been seen outside of Whidbey Island and Orcas Island, WA.

The artist was inspired by his great grandmother, who was Tsimshian, as well as many summers spent sailing the coast of British Columbia and Southeast Alaska.

Roger Purdue passed away in January 2014 from complications with Parkinson’s Disease. Sadly, we were never able to meet the artist, but we are fortunate to know him through the artwork he has left behind. His artistic legacy is a portfolio of meticulously pulled prints in dazzling colors, and made with a keen eye for quality and harmony. Purdue’s gradation of colors and clean lines are so precise that they almost appear digitally designed, or ink-jet printed, but each was hand-pulled.

We are proud to work with Purdue’s estate in showing a wide array of his works to a brand new audience, and to help put his name on the map of Northwest Coast art.

Hib Sabin: Silence

We welcome Santa Fe artist Hib Sabin back to the gallery to exhibit a new body of his carved and painted juniper sculptures. In this exhibit the artist delves deeply into the idea of “silence” and brings us works of great meaning and emotion.

Printed and digital exhibition catalogues available for this exhibit.

Shaun Peterson — Qwalsius: A House, The Moon, and the Salish Sea

We welcome Qwalsius Shaun Peterson (Puyallup) this autumn and his body of work inspired by the lunar eclipses and “blood moons” of the past year. Many key myths among the Coast Salish tribes revolve around the moon and sky, and Shaun incorporates and retells these stories in his work. This October preview will include new prints, a giclee on canvas, and a new series of gray whale fins rendered in steel and cedar.

Nikki McClure: Look Closely

This September we urge you to focus your eyes and to look closely at the work of three artists who create in the minute, the detailed and the delicate. Nikki McClure (Non-Indigenous), Thomas Stream (Sun’aq Aleut) and Courtney Lipson (Non-Indigenous, Adopted Tlingit) each build up a large image from the smallest details, utilizing their very different media to create wholes from disparate parts.

These works are made by cutting a single sheet of black paper with an X-Acto blade and laying the fragile paper-cut atop a white or colored backing. It is in some ways a paradox that the strength in of these familial bonds is presented by the medium of knife and paper, by tearing, excising and cutting away. A science of subtraction, this method allows McClure to focus on negative space, while improvising as she goes. Nikki McClure is well known around the Northwest for her calendars, books and paper goods. The works in this exhibit will be original cut-paper. McClure was most recently seen in a solo exhibition at the Bellevue Arts Museum in 2012.

Digital Catalogue Available.

Art & Science Lecture by Raven Skyriver & Seattle Aquarium Veterinarian Dr. Lesanna Lahner

Special Event

Light Dinner and Lecture at Little London Plane

July 16th – 6:30pm

SOLD OUT!

Tickets include light dinner & lecture at Matt Dillon & Katherine Anderson’s elegant Little London Plane in Pioneer Square. Dessert reception at Stonington to follow.

Hib Sabin: Owls, Ravens and Other Birds

Hib Sabin (Non-Indigenous) returns to the gallery with a body of sculpture honoring the mystery and grace of owls, ravens and other birds. Working in juniper wood and pigments from his studio in Santa Fe, he incorporates world mythology and a deep reverence for shamanic practices into his own visual vocabulary. His recurring themes revolve around change, self and journeys: boats filled with figures who venture to the horizon; characters with smaller versions of themselves tucked carefully into exposed chest cavities; and figures caught mid-transformation, liminal and uncertain.

Digital exhibition catalogue available.

BONE & STONE: An Alaskan Group Exhibition

Contemporary Alaskan Sculpture

A new body of whalebone, stone and ivory sculpture will debut this March, bringing the salty tang of the Bering Sea down to Seattle. Using whalebone, ivory and baleen as sculptural media remains an art form unique to Alaskan Natives, and the practice is widespread across coastal and island villages in the northwest of the state.

Most of the artists in this exhibit are from the Inupiaq or Siberian Yup’ik tribes. Many hail from Shishmaref, an Inupiaq village on a tiny, eroding barrier reef. The villagers remain because of the strategic access to sea and land hunting. In winter men go inland to hunt for moose and caribou, while in summer families fish, pick berries, and scavenge whalebone and mammoth ivory on the beach. Artists utilize the natural size and texture of the local materials to create works which reflect their activities and their connection to the animals on land and sea. Only old bones are used for carving, and whales are not killed for this purpose.

Hib Sabin: Totems

Known for his contemplative sculptures of wise owls and clever ravens in juniper, Hib Sabin incorporates mythology from across the world in his new exhibition. Exploring the idea of the totemic figure as it pertains to a variety of indigenous cultures—including Northwest and Southwest America, and Australia—Sabin considers what totems mean to their makers and their owners.

Joan Tenenbaum: The Idea of Color

Joan Tenenbaum presents art-jewelry based on her years as an anthropologist in Alaska. Included in this body of work are works in colorful cloisonné, a brand new technique that Tenenbaum has been refining throughout the year. Landscapes, animal life and myths are rendered in her exquisite style in a variety of precious metals, gems and glass.
Digital exhibition catalogue available for this show.

David Franklin: New Works

Stonington features new works by carver David Franklin, who has produced a host of exquisite and inspired new wood and ceramic sculptures. Many works in this show were produced during the artist’s 2012 John Michael Kohler Artist Residency at the Kohler Factory in Wisconsin. This residency allowed Franklin to translate his unique style of carving into slip-cast vitreous china.
Though the Kohler factory is in the middle of the country, Franklin brought a little of the Northwest with him, creating an extensive series inspired by the sinuous tentacles of the Pacific Giant Octopus. Simultaneously friendly, alien and elegant, they are a unique exploration of a universal theme in Northwest Coast artwork.

Skull imagery is also prevalent in Franklin’s new body of work, but it is far from somber or sad. Intricate formline designs and elegant voids transform these memento mori into celebrations of life, culture and individualism. The human skull is the ultimate blank canvas: we are all made of the same stuff, and we are connected by ties deeper than geography, culture or language.
David Franklin has worked for and with some of the Northwest’s best contemporary artists, including Duane Pasco, Marvin Oliver, Preston Singletary, Shaun Peterson and Joe David. His works can be seen in public places including libraries, playgrounds and community centers around Washington.

Digital exhibition catalog available.

Rick Bartow: Origin of Song II

Personal experiences, cultural engagement and transformation stories animate Rick Bartow’s wood sculpture, monotypes and paintings. Bartow’s work swings effortlessly from humorous and surprising to dark and challenging—and are often both simultaneously. Pulling from his tempestuous life experiences and the mythology of his Native heritage, Bartow’s work has one foot in our reality and the other in the swirling cauldron of the spirit world. He pours pure, instinctual gesture into each work, leaving fingerprints, smudges, strings of epoxy and cryptic words in his final works—evidence of his passage and process.

Mr. Bartow recently completed We Were Always Here, a large-scale sculpture commissioned by The Smithsonian/National Museum of the American Indian. Solo exhibitions include Dog’s Journey: A 20 Year Survey, at The A.D. Gallery, University of North Carolina, Pembroke, and Missoula Art Museum, (2011-2012); a mid-career exhibit My Eye, at the Hallie Ford Museum (2002-04).

Digital exhibition catalog available.

Facing Forward

A Group Mask Exhibition

Through the first months of 2013 the Stonington Gallery will pack up and move two doors down the block: from 119 S Jackson St to 125 S Jackson St. As our first exhibition in our new space, Facing Forward brings the focus on the human face. Masks change our features, hide our identities, protect our skin and transform ourselves. Helmets, hats and jewelry will also make appearances in this exhibition, as they are other ways of embellishing and adorning our faces. Our carvers, painters, weavers and jewelers will consider the idea of the human face and the way in which we adorn it, while celebrating the new face of Stonington.

Hib Sabin: The Journey

Transformation, vengeance, yearning, the search for safety and self, and the journey home: these are the themes that imbue Homer’s Odyssey. In his 2012 solo exhibition renowned carver Hib Sabin is inspired by this ancient epic and bases his newest body of work on its eternal lines. Carving in juniper wood, Sabin has skillfully captured the spirits of owls, birds of prey, transformed creatures and humans for decades. He now focuses on the Odyssey to bring a new layer of myth to life.

Digital and print catalogues available.

A Generation Rises

A Group Exhibition

A generation is rising—can you hear it? It’s the sound of brushes and adzes scraping cedar, and the hum of computers and clicking of mice. A group of young artists are coming into their own—can you see it? It’s metal and glass, wood and hide, paint and pixel and pencil.

Young indigenous artists are claiming their artistic birthright, and finding inspiration in the art forms of their ancestors. Born in the 1970s and 1980s, they are the vanguard of formline design, learning from their elders and family members, and confidently striding in new directions. As the first generation to grow up with computers at their fingertips, many of these artists are making use of digital design, printing and fabrication.

Stonington Gallery has been honored to watch the work of this burgeoning generation evolve. Helping to guide and support the careers of these artists continues to be a duty that we happily take on, and includes many surprises along the way.

Alaska: Far Away, Up Close

Stonington proudly presents new art from across Alaska in our annual focus on the region. Featured are works by Larry Ahvakana (Inupiaq), Kathleen Carlo (Athabascan), Perry Eaton (Alutiiq), Allie High (Tsimshian/Haida/Aleut), John Hoover (Aleut), Anna Hoover (Aleut), Susie Silook (Siberian Yupik, Inupiaq), Preston Singletary (Tlingit), Dawn Wallace (Aleut) and whalebone and ivory carvers from the Bering Sea coastal villages and islands. Included for the first time are works by Siberian artists whose homeland and culture are separated from Alaska by a narrow stretch of water.

Hib Sabin & Peter Wright: Spirits in Wood & Glass

Hib Sabin is well-known to Stonington’s clientele for his expressive juniper carvings inspired by shamanistic beliefs. Sabin’s limited edition bronzes have been lovingly crafted by fellow artist Peter Wright since 2000, but recently the two have embarked on a creative collaboration of their own. Combining Wright’s love of glassblowing with Sabin’s exquisite carvings, they have created the Animal Spirit Jar series. Both men have long been fascinated by indigenous art forms, and these vessels harmoniously combine flavors from mythic traditions across the world. Each of Wright’s glass vessels gracefully echo the forms of Sabin’s fetish figures, and the craquelure patterning on the glass creates a strong counterpoint to the textured wood carvings.

WEAVE

Contemporary Northwest Coast Weavers

Weaving is a way to communicate stories — a language unto itself spoken only by weavers. The Pacific Northwest Coast has been home to a variety of ancient and distinct weaving traditions unique to each of the region’s Native cultures. Contemporary weavers are engaged in continuing and developing this ancient art form in traditional and new media. This exhibit celebrates the vitality, creativity and commitment of the weaving community and its success.

Solstice Masquerade

A Group Exhibition

With the Winter Solstice looming, the time for ceremony and gathering begins on the Pacific Northwest Coast. Masks danced by firelight illuminate the darkness and engage our imagination with stories, myths and magic. Stonington’s incomparable artists close 2011 with a deep bow to the poignancy of winter and the ceremonial traditions which make it such a powerful and beautiful season.

Joan Tenenbaum: A Sense of Place, The Ways We Connect to Our Earth

In her 2011 solo exhibition, Joan Tenenbaum will explore the ways in which traditional peoples have rooted themselves within their landscape in order to embrace life. Her work this year will again derive from her ever-deepening understanding of the Alaska Native communities where she lived and continues to visit.

With her usual meticulous craftsmanship and attention to fine detail, Tenenbaum has created exquisite wearable jewelry expressing such themes as the seasonal subsistence cycle in her Alaskan family’s community, and how tradition and beliefs tie the community to their landscape. She explores how traditional travel narratives embody a mental topographic map and recount each stopping place along a well-traveled route. And she honors the salmon, who give their life to everything in their landscape.

Clarissa Rizal: A Language of Tlingit Robes

Clarissa Rizal debuts paintings and collages in her first solo exhibit at Stonington. An accomplished Tlingit weaver and painter, Rizal incorporates the ancient formline designs of her culture into her fully contemporary art. The paintings and collage in “A Language of Tlingit Robes” explore the theme of Tlingit robes in vibrant cubist style.

Alaska

A Group Exhibition

The Alutiiq, Aleut, Tlingit, Athabaskan, Inupiaq and Yupik tribes of Alaska offer some of the most profound contemporary art in the nation. Some native artists draw inspiration from connections with their ancestors, while others cultivate a new style all their own. Stonington continues its focus on the Alaska arts scene by presenting new works in wide-ranging media from all over Alaska’s wild artistic frontier.

Drums and Rattles: Sounding the Northwest’s Ancient Tradition

A Group Exhibition

Imagine a time on the Pacific Northwest Coast preceding all man-made sounds—the thrush at dawn, robins at dusk, Pacific winds blowing through the giant fir and cedar trees, rain. Then add some of the earliest man-made sounds—the boom of drums, the shiver of rattles, the resonant sound of voices in song. Whether they are sounded loudly through the night or admired for their artistry, each instrument adds another wonderful sound to the continuously evolving soundtrack of the Pacific Northwest. It is a rich and magnificent history and will be honored by a host of Stonington’s finest artists.

Raven Skyriver: On the Brink

Solo Exhibition

Raven Skyriver’s masterful use of glass to capture the strange and beautiful essence of Puget Sound sea-life confirms that his artistic star is swiftly on the rise.

Skyriver grew up on the shores of Puget Sound and has cultivated a lifelong obsession with the aquatic life forms of the Northwest Coast. In “On the Brink,” he expands his repertoire to include land animals, such as Frog and Raven, creatures deeply iconic to the Tlingit and all tribes around the Northwest.

Marvin Oliver – Solo Exhibition

Marvin Oliver is the personification of the Northwest Coast art renaissance. As artist, curator and teacher he has shaped and influenced contemporary regional art from every direction. His large public art sculptures contribute to Seattle’s dynamic cultural experience, while his experimental nature and vast cultural knowledge are a catalyst for a body of work that literally breaks the mold. Blown glass Shaman Spirit Boards, a blown and fused glass Tlingit Style Warrior Helmet, Quinault Clam Gathering Baskets woven from molten strips of glass, and an 8 foot bronze Orca dorsal fin are each included in the body of work Oliver has created for his November Solo Exhibition at the Stonington Gallery. Oliver has led the way towards integrating new media with the protocols of the ancient arts of the Northwest Coast, and has done so with a master’s eye for authenticity, beauty and spirit. We look forward to sharing this exhibition with you. Exhibit tours with gallery staff may be arranged with one day’s notice.

Joe David: Found Objects

Nuu-chah-nulth artist, Joe David, reminds us of an amazing aspect of Northwest Coast art and culture: its on-going ability to adapt to change and to incorporate the modern with the ancient— one of the most telling signs of a resilient, ever-evolving, living culture. In his current exhibit, Found Objects, Joe David transforms the discarded and forgotten into art; a solution that resonates deeply with his ancestral and personal narrative. David’s pieces honor his people’s history, while uniquely synthesizing his own artistic self-expression.

Perry Eaton: Sugpiaq/Alutiiq Masks

Perry Eaton (Alutiiq) carves traditionally based Sugpiaq/Alutiiq masks deeply rooted in the rich culture of Kodiak, Alaska. Eaton’s emotive masks are patterned after the ancient forms of the Alutiiq, who believed that each mask possessed its own spirit.

“Having been an artist all my life, working in several mediums, but most notably black and white photography and wood sculpture, I find myself total absorbed in the expression of my Alaska Native identity. I carve traditionally based Sugpiaq Alutiiq masks. Their form and shape are deeply rooted in the rich material culture of Kodiak Island and for me, they are a celebration of belonging, producing a deep sense of pride in being Sugpiaq. The masks have proven to be a means and method of transformation and as an artist they give me license to move and change time, place, being and even worlds.

I take great inspiration from everyday life and the rich mix of emotions that I have experienced throughout my lifetime. Simple things like getting along, self-perception, gender relationships and nature’s cycles are all subjects I explore. In addition, Sugpiaq legends, beliefs and stories serve as a never-ending inspiration for work.”

Alano Edzerza: New Works

Tahltan artist Alano Edzerza broke onto the Northwest Coast art scene in a whirlwind of energetic, modern design. Each new body of work from this dynamic young artist is a deeply personal exploration of the mythic structure that permeates Tahltan culture. Utilizing such modern materials as glass, steel and giclée prints, and using digital design to aid his vision, Edzerza has brought an electrifying contemporary sensibility to the ancient art forms of his people.

Isabel Rorick: Remembering the Sacredness of the Four Seasons

Stonington welcomes the traditional Haida basketry of Isabel Rorick with her solo show: Remembering the Sacredness of the Four Seasons. Rorick gathers natural materials on Haida Gwaii in the traditional method and painstakingly weaves them into gathering baskets. This show highlights four particular baskets, each of which honors the spirit of a season. These subtly patterned pieces remind us to reflect on and celebrate the natural bounty surrounding and providing for us.

John Wilson: Haisla Masks

John Wilson’s art is a studied contrast to the bold expressionism of Bartow. Wilson, a Haisla artist is currently studying with Dempsey Bob, Stan Bevan, and Ken McNeil at the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art in British Columbia, is finding his connection to culture and community through elarning and mastering traditional Haisla art. Wilson is most inclined to carve masks and has the rare ability to bring forth soul and personality in his carvings. Technically the work is accomplished, however what elevates traditional Northwest Coast masks to art is the artist’s ability to imbue a life-like essence in them. A mask is a subsitute or stand-in for a mythic or real person and should evoke a sense of life and spirit even when not being worn or danced. Wilson’s traditionally executed art resonates with life and the human spirit.

Eyes on the Northwest Coast

The Stonington Gallery will be featuring small collections of work by Gallery artists during the month of February. This exhibit will allow the gallery to showcase the finest art being created along the Pacific Northwest Coast. Featured artists will include Rick Bartow, Robert Davidson, Alano Edzerza, Dale Faulstich, David Franklin, Jason Gobin, Barry Herem, Scott Jensen, Courtney Lipson, Adam McIsaac, Duane Pasco, Shaun Peterson, Susan Point, Hib Sabin, Raven Skyriver, Joan Tenenbaum, and Andrea Wilbur-Sigo.

Joan Tenenbaum: 50 Years of Jewelry Making; The Depth and Breadth of a Fifty Year Passion

Come Celebrate in September with Stonington Gallery as we mark Joan Tenenbaum’s 50th anniversary of making jewelry. Joan will present a new body of work reprising all the themes that are dear to her heart. Her humble beginning work from 1959 and the early 1960’s will be juxtaposed with stunning new creations. From the debut of new wedding ring designs to abstract landscapes and cuff bracelets, from spiritual figurines to elegant necklaces and bold one-of-a-kind rings, those who have followed Joan’s work for the past several decades will find familiar themes treated in an entirely new manner.

Weaving Wisdom and Warmth: Contemporary Master Weavers of the Northwest Coast

This highly anticipated group exhibition will showcase Stonington Gallery’s extraordinary weavers including Nancy Burgess, Chloe French, Clarissa Rizal, Bill and Fran James, June Parker, Betty Pasco, Susan Pavel, Ruth Peterson, Karen Reed, Isabel Rorick, Mary Lou Slaughter, Malynn Wilbur Foster, and Jane Wiseman. Artwork inspired by weaving will also be included such as weaving and textile design micro-mosaic beadwork jewelry by Courtney Lipson, glass Salish baskets by Marvin Olver, etc. Weaving is a seminal art form within all the communities up and down this coastal region and this exhibition will honor this tradition with a breathtaking collection of the finest weaving from every corner of the Northwest Coast.

Small Treasures of the Northwest Coast

In June, Stonington Gallery will feature a group exhibition focusing on small scale sculpture, paintings, prints, and jewelry. The exquisite detail of well-crafted Northwest Coast art is often highlighted best in the smaller pieces you can hold and experience intimately. This exhibit will be full of work that has been carved on laps, held in pockets, painted with small brushes and created with the knowledge that art is well appreciated when viewed up close.

Adam McIsaac: New Dimensions – Collage & Silhouette

From an early age, Adam McIsaac has been rooted in the ways of the Pacific Northwest. The son of a fisheries biologist, McIsaac spent his formative years walking the forests and riverbanks of the Pacific Northwest absorbing the environmental riches abundant in this area. As he grew older, his connection to the Northwest manifested itself into a keen interest in the ways of Northwest aboriginal cultures. McIsaac spent years studying and learning aboriginal life skills. It is from this background that his passion for Northwest Coastal Indian art emerged.

Transformation and Change on the Pacific Northwest Coast

A Group Exhibition

2008 culminates with our annual theme exhibition. This year we explore the mystery and magic of transformation and change. In Northwest Coast myths and legends, humans, animals, and supernatural characters tranform interchangeably. Living is a process of change and transformation – physically and spiritually. We look forward to exploring these ideas in their many manifestations

Mary Randlett: Slide Show and Lecture

Special Event

Renowned landscape photographer Mary Randlett, will discuss how her northwest painter friends have been an important inspiration behind her photography.

This Coast Salish Place

A Group Exhibition

This Coast Salish Place is the Stonington Gallery’s third exhibition to focus exclusively on the profoundly gratifying cultural renaissance taking place within our regional Coast Salish tribal communities. Coast Salish is a linguistic term and refers to the language historically spoken by most of the Puget Sound and Frasier River First Peoples. The passion, time, commitment, and education that have propelled this cultural renaissance are exemplified in This Coast Salish Place.

Leading artists include: Jason Gobin, (Tulalip), Maynard Johnny, Jr. (Penelakut), Marvin Oliver (Quinault), Betty Pasco (Suquamish), Duane Pasco (Non-Indigenous), Shaun Peterson (Puyallup/Tulalip), Susan Point (Musqueam), Andy and Ruth Peterson (Skokomish), Andrea Wilbur-Sigo (Skokomish/Squaxin), Malynn Wilbur Foster (Skokomish), Mike Foster (Non-Indigenous), Bunny Wilbur-Bluebird (Skokomish/Squaxin), Susan Pavel (Non-Indigenous), and Dale Faulstich (Non-Indigenous).

Joan Tenenbaum: ALASKA – Connecting Culture with Landscape

Joan Tenenbaum explores traditional Yup’ik and Inupiaq style Ulu Knife Jewelry through her as always impeccably created jewelry. Brooches, pendants, earrings and an incredible cuff bracelet convey Joan’s close associations with and understanding of the Alaskan landscapes and Eskimo cultures.

Masks & Panels

A Group Exhibition

This group exhibit will illustrate the sculptural and dramatic three dimensional aspects of masks, as well as the elegance and grace of two dimensional low relief carvings and paintings. Both are emblematic of Northwest Coast traditions. It will also be a wonderful way to share the importance of the mythological characters and legends of the coast.

RAIN

A Group Celebration

The Stonington staff are as confident as ever that we live in the most spectacular place on earth – the rich, verdant and beautiful Pacific Northwest. We also acknowledge that without the very thing that many dread come the fall and winter months every year — that is RAIN — our region simply would not be as lush and wonderful as it is. From the Cascades on the mainland to the rain forests on the Olympic Peninsula, and from the Canadian Cascades out to the Pacific coast — our region nestled in the midst of this vibrant valley witnesses a weather system that has fed and nurtured the development of rich cultures along our coastline for centuries. Provided with an abundance of food from the land and sea as well as materials for sea canoes, shelter, tools and clothing made from old growth forests, Native cultures in our region were able to take the time to develop a complicated and intricate art form that has lasted through the millennia. Therefore, we, along with our Gallery artists from our jewelers to our painters to our carvers, pay tribute to Rain – for without it, all of the beauty that surrounds us now may never have come to be just quite the way that it did.

Alano Edzerza: Northwest Coast Formline Art in Glass, Pencil, and Acrylic

For the first time, Stonington Gallery is proud to host a solo exhibition of new two- and three-dimensional works by young up-and-coming artist Alano Edzerza. Edzerza belongs to the Raven clan of the Tahltan Nation located in northwest British Columbia east of the Tlingit and north of the Tsimshian. Edzerza’s glass sculpture and two-dimensional works have widespread appeal for their modern interpretations of the traditional principles of Northwest Coast formline art. Edzerza clearly understands and internalizes the traditional and formal aspects of Northwest Coast art, while successfully marrying them with modern aesthetics, as exemplified in his etched glass boxes and panels. The formline designs that traditionally graced the iconic steam bent boxes or wooden wall panels are now etched into glass, while the lids and bases remain old growth cedar. The outcome is exciting contemporary work merged with the foundations set by the great art of the old masters. His works can be found as the centerpiece of either the most chic, modern home or one with the most traditional of Northwest Coast art collections.

Thomas Stream: An Aleutian Presence

Aleut painter Thomas Stream’s newest paintings will be featured, including much-larger-than-life portraits of Alaskan wildlife cultural icons Raven and Stellar’s Jay each painted in a 5’ x 7’ format.

Celebrate Puget Sound

A Group Exhibition in Conjunction with Puget Soundscape

CELEBRATE PUGET SOUND is intended to honor and celebrate the history, cultures and ecology of Puget Sound and its watershed. With this exhibit, the Gallery hopes to provide a better understanding of what was here before, determine where we are now, and contemplate what the future holds for Puget Sound.

Rick Bartow: The Origin of Song I

Rick Bartow continues to work in a turbulent and expressionistic style that explodes onto the surface of the paper. Provocative and exciting, Bartow’s work in THE ORIGIN OF SONG resounds with ongoing themes of animal/human transformation, focusing closely on the spiritual importance of birds in his Wiyot culture.

Hib Sabin: Myth’s Immortal Characters

Solo Exhibition

“Myth’s Immortal Characters” is a solo exhibition featuring new juniper and bronze works by Hib Sabin. Hib creates a cast of figures that move in and out of the spiritual world and represent a certain ancient timelessness.

Stonington Gallery proudly presents “Myth’s Immortal Characters”, a full color 24 page catalogue highlighting Sabin’s work and experiences.

Classically Northern

Celebrating Northern Formline

CLASSICALLY NORTHERN celebrates the complex design system coined “formline” by noted artist and scholar Bill Holm. Participating artists include Robert Davidson, Phil Gray, Allie High, Scott Jensen, Mark Preston, Wayne Price, Isabel Rorick, Tim Runyan, Jay Simeon and April White.

Winter Solstice Exhibition

A Celebration of the Season

Engraved in Tradition

A Jewelry Exhibit

Jewelry making is an acient tradition of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tribes from the Columbia River north to Alaska engraved and carved elaborate jewelry. Most well known are the engraved silver braceletes of the Haida and Tlingit tribes. The Stonington Gallery has strived to nurture this tradition by focusing on contemporary jewelers whose work contributes to this rich and long tradition. This November’s group show, “Engraved in Tradition”, will feature the Stonington’s jewelry artists and highlight work by Joe David, a Nuu-chah-nulth artist renowned for his carving, painting, and jewelry. David’s jewelry will allude to the important use of small amulets or jewelry as powerful and important tools to aid tribal Shamans in their healing work.

Other participating artists include: Steve Brown (Curator Emeritus, Seattle Art Museum’s Northwest Coast Native Art), Joan Tenenbaum, Jay Simeon (Haida), Jerry Hill, George Estrella, Lois Bertolino, Bill Bedard (Haida), Courtney Lipson, Owen and Janet Walker, and Jean Regal Westgate.

Hib Sabin: Journey to the Interior

Hib Sabin’s sculptures focus on themes of looking inward, figures within figures, and travel through time and space, from birth to death. Sabin (Non-Indigenous) has studied the mythology of the Northwest Coast native cultures and interprets them in his Juniper carvings.