EXHIBITS

October

Raven Skyriver & Preston Singletary

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.

November

Thomas Stream: Winter

In November 2019 we present a solo exhibition by contemporary Aleut painter Thomas Stream (Sun’aq Aleut) who presents a new body of work focusing on birds in their winter habitats. Stream’s vivacious animals wear traditional Aleutian hunting hats. In Stream’s iconography these visors celebrate the individual spirit of each animal, while connecting them to the Aleut people, who share the same environment.Aleut artist Thomas Stream was born in Kodiak, AK in 1941. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cornish School of Allied Arts in 1976. He began the Aleutian Painting series in 1996, an exploration of natural forms, vivid colors and delicate patterns. This series is encapsulated by the phrase, “We are still here,” a simple—yet poignant and powerful—statement that sums up Stream’s outlook on his heritage and his artwork.

September

Salish Brilliance: Dan Friday & Maynard Johnny, Jr.

In September we welcome two Coast Salish artists to the gallery who honor their roots with vibrant, brilliant color and vivacity.

Dan Friday (Lummi Nation) has been working in glass for decades, and makes sculpture informed by the anthropological and historic objects made and used by his ancestors. His “woven” mosaic glass baskets are tributes to the weavers of the Lummi, while his small glass totemic sculptures are a testament to the Lummi totem carvers, including his great-grandfather, Joseph Hillaire. Friday recently won the Audience Choice award at the Bellevue Arts Museum for his mixed-media installation of glass salmon swimming across the walls and up into a woven cedarbark reef net, surrounded by sxwole (reefnet anchors) in blown glass.

Maynard Johnny, Jr. (Penelakut/Kwakwaka’wakw) uses bright color and bold design to interpret his dual Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw heritage through his prints, paddles and paintings. He is first and foremost a painter; his designs exhibit clarity, confidence, motion and grace. The ultimate success and transcendence of both Northern and Salish art hinges on an understanding and clarity of line, and this is something he has proven time and time again.

Hib Sabin: The Still Point of the Turning World

July

Exhibition opens July 11th, 6-8pm. Exhibit runs July 3-28th.
Special Event: Lecture and Book Signing Wednesday July 10th, 6:30pm.

In July we present a new body of work by Santa Fe sculptor Hib Sabin, in conjunction with the release of his book “The Other Side of Silence, The Far Side of Time”. This 128-page hardcover book is the first major collection of Sabin’s work, and we are proud to host an exclusive book-signing with Hib Sabin on July 10th. Join us on the 10th for a sneak peek at his new exhibit and for the signing, or on the 11th for the First Thursday (technically Second Thursday, due to the July 4th holiday) opening reception.

Masks: The Art of Becoming

June

In June we present a group exhibition celebrating the power of masks and their makers.
“Masks were used to become someone, or something, to tell the stories and explain the histories of our rights and privileges,” says contemporary Ts’msyen artist David R. Boxley, perfectly capturing the importance of this evocative art.
Today, masks continue to be both forms for ceremony and active practice, as well as aesthetic expressions of artistic mastery. The masks in this exhibit reveal the diversity of mask-making practices from living cultures spanning a geographic distance from the Columbia River all the way north to Utqiaġvik, AK. They also provide a glimpse into the how each individual artist chooses to incorporate traditional or non-traditional materials and concepts into their practice.

Jeffrey Veregge: Bold Americans – Above + Beyond

May

Illustrator and designer Jeffrey Veregge (Port Gamble S’Klallam) delves into American history to honor exemplary men and women in the fields of science and aviation, utilizing Coast Salish formline design to convey a blend of nostalgia and respect for these pioneers. Veregge writes, “We are in a dark time as a country; divided and angry. I want an art show that brings us back to a time of hope, bravery and imagination. I want people to see and remember real heroes from various times in our country: a visual form of patriotism that isn’t hate-fueled.”

“Bold Americans” debuts new prints honoring aviators including Mae Jemison, Amelia Earhart, Mercury 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper, the Tuskegee Airmen, and Chuck Yeager.

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.

SPECIAL EVENT, APRIL 10th

Art Talk: Charles Froelick on the Life and Legacy of Rick Bartow

Art talk at Stonington Gallery, April 10th 6:30pm.
Free to attend. First come first seated.
Stonington Gallery proudly welcomes Charles Froelick to give a presentation on the life, legacy and works of renowned artist Rick Bartow (Wiyot) during the run of Bartow’s exhibition at our gallery. Charles worked with Rick as his primary gallerist and archivist for many years, and the two formed a deep and lasting relationship. He has toured the country speaking and presenting on Bartow’s life and art, both during Bartow’s life and since his passing in 2016. Charles was instrumental in the creation of Bartow’s retrospective exhibition–What You Know But Cannot Explain–that opened in 2015 and continues to tour the country even now, and he provides insight of a rare caliber and depth into this enigmatic artist’s canon. 

February

TWO RAVENS: Alison Marks & Crystal Worl

We kick off the year with an exhibition by two ambitious young Alaska-based mixed media artists, Alison Marks (Tlingit) and Crystal Worl (Tlingit/Athabascan). “Two Ravens” will present new works by both artists, including paintings, sculptures and a print debut.

Traditional Tlingit society is built on two matrilineal moieties, otherwise known as clans, and all modern Tlingit people are either part of the Eagle or Raven moiety. In the past, people were required to search for a suitable marriage partner of the opposite moiety. Both Marks and Worl are of the Raven moiety, forming the title for their show. But Raven is more than just their clan marker: Raven is one of the most important mythic characters on the Northwest Coast, featuring in hundreds of myths as a catalyst for change, a trickster stirring up mischief, and a transformative being who takes on many guises. It is in the spirit of transformation, experimentation, and boundary-pushing that Marks and Worl present “Two Ravens”. Much like Raven, these two ambitious artists are always up to something!

Annual Framing & Framed Art Sale

Winter 2019

The Stonington Gallery employs a full-time framer, the wonderful Terry Upshall, who frames 99% of the flat work you see in the gallery. But did you know that we will also frame works you bring in to us? Terry uses conservation-grade materials and is available each Tuesday-Saturday for consultations.

From Jan 12- Feb 28:
-Take 20% off all new framing projects, regardless if they are work purchased in or out of the gallery.
-Take 20% off the framing cost of all framed works in the gallery. We pre-frame many prints, paintings and flat media, and this is your opportunity to knock down the framing price and take home a piece ready for hanging.
-Any flat work you purchase with the gallery automatically qualifies for 20% off the framing costs if you choose to frame it with us.

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.

Dan Friday: Solo Exhibition

September

We open our Season of Northwest Native Art Glass with a solo exhibit by Seattle-based glass artist Dan Friday (Lummi Nation). Dan returns to the gallery with blown and hotsculpted works in glass, focusing particularly on the proud tradition of reefnet fishing amongst the Lummi nation. Reefnet fishing an indigenous fishing practice that is one of the most sustainable and humane in the world, but that was almost completely wiped out in the twentieth century.

Reefnetting was spread amongst the tribes around the Salish Sea but was invented by the Lummi. Reefnet fishing was traditionally done by suspending a a sxwole (woven reef net) between two canoes.

In honor of the reclamation of these practices, Dan Friday renders some of the most important tools in reef netting out of glass for his new exhibition. They join other works honoring his Lummi heritage, including woven cedar baskets made from a complex glass mosaic technique; model totem poles in hot-sculpted glass, and others.

ARTIST LECTURE: Tuesday, Sept 18th, 6:30 pm at Stonington Gallery.

Three Autumn Exhibitions

A Season of Northwest Native Art Glass

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

Spotlight On: Eye-Popping Design

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

An Online Exhibition

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.

February – Group

Unexpected Alaska

Adding company and context to Drew Michael’s February exhibition is “Unexpected Alaska”, a group of contemporary Alaska Native artists who are pushing the boundaries of traditional art-forms. Many are incorporating non-traditional media to realize their art–such as the glass work of Preston Singletary (Tlingit) or Larry Ahvakana (Inupiaq), or the milagros found on Kathleen Carlo’s (Koyukon Athabascan) masks. Others–such as Lena Amason-Berns (Alutiiq) or Thomas Stream (Sun’aq Aleut)–forge new styles that are a meld of designs used for thousands of years with a personal vision. Many of these artists are friends or mentors to Drew Michael, making them welcome companions to his solo exhibition, and widening the horizon on artists who are creating new frontiers for Alaska Native art.

Annual Framing & Framed Art Sale

The Stonington Gallery employs a full-time framer, the wonderful Terry Upshall, who frames 99% of the flat work you see in the gallery. But did you know that we will also frame works you bring in to us? Terry uses conservation-grade materials and is available five days a week for consultations.

During the month of February, take 20% off all new framing projects, regardless if they are work purchased in or out of the gallery.
You can also take 20% off the framing cost of all framed works* in the gallery. We pre-frame many prints, paintings and flat media, and this is your opportunity to knock down the framing price and take home a piece ready for hanging.
And all works you buy flat at the gallery automatically qualify for 20% off the framing price if you choose to frame with us.

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.

Special Offer on Walter Davidson Silver Jewelry

WINTER 2017

From November 25 through January 1st we are offering all handcarved silver jewelry by Haida artist Walter Davidson for 20% off. These beautiful earrings, rings, pendants and cuffs are unique, hand-made creations from Davidson’s studio and are loving expressions of culture and attention to detail. All works are priced in Canadian, and depend on the day’s exchange rate, which usually hovers between .80-.85 USD. For those buying in the US, this results in a lower price than listed.

Born of Myth and Fire II: Celebrating Northwest Coast Art in Glass

October - Group Exhibit

The Northwest’s hot love affair with glass has been smoldering for 40 years, and only grows in intensity as new artists are drawn to the flame. Glass is a transformative material: it must be heated and gathered, blown and shaped, cooled and refined. Smooth and clear, rough and opaque, delicate or dense, it changes its form many times as it finds its ideal shape. The legends of the Native peoples of the Northwest are similar: they change their properties as they are retold and re-imagined, and we turn them over and over to reveal new facets and truths. What better modern material to use, then, to render the characters and cultures of the Coast than glass? Join us as we honor the artists using the medium of glass to celebrate their indigenous heritage, including Preston Singletary, Raven Skyriver, Dan Friday, Allie High, Lillian Pitt, Susan Point, Marvin Oliver and Alano Edzerza.

Autumn 2017

Special Offer on Select Thomas Stream Original Paintings

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.

Salish Sound Waves: A Group Exhibit of Cutting-Edge Indigenous Visual Artists

May 2017

Stonington Gallery will be in the epicenter of the inaugural Upstream Music Festival this May, taking place in Pioneer Square May 11-13. In the spirit of the festival, we present artists who use motion, energy, vibrant color and an edgy design sensibility in their work to convey the cultures, environment and contemporary spirit of the Northwest.

Salal: A Tradition of Berry Baskets

April

Opening Reception: First Thursday April 6th, 6-8pm. This exhibit runs from April 6th-30th.

The Northwest boasts over thirty edible berries in its ecosystem, so it follows that indigenous peoples have made berry-picking a central seasonal activity for millennia. April is the first blush and bud of the salmonberries and Indian plum, and marks the time when the tribes make preparations for gathering.
Berry baskets are small baskets woven from spruce root or cedar bark, often with a loose or open weave. Their technique and materials differ from area to area, but are ubiquitous along the entire Northwest Coast and Alaska. We are pleased to present an exhibition of berry baskets in glass by Preston Singletary (Tlingit), and traditional woven berry baskets by artists including Isabel Rorick (Haida), Lisa Telford (Haida), and Deborah Head (Tlingit).

Spotlight On:

Larry Ahvakana

We are proud to present a tightly-focused exhibition of work in stone and wood by master sculptor Larry Ahvakana (Inupiaq). This spotlight exhibition is a peek into what the multimedia sculptor is focusing on in his studio, and at the many facets of his practice.

Into the Woods: Forests of the Northwest Coast

A Group Exhibit

This year, we continue to explore what makes the Northwest such a vibrant, unique environment with Into the Woods: Forests of the Northwest Coast. Forests have many faces: they are backdrops for epic journeys, where people become lost or found; places of transformation where what goes in is not the same as what comes out; places where our imaginations run wild and we face our own darkness, myths and secrets. Great mythological beings that inhabit these forests are as complex and fascinating as the web of life they live within. In much of Northwest Coast mythology they are places where animals and human-kind meet, clash, transform, and where the prey/predator divide is stark.

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

“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

Allie High: New Works

Opening Reception: First Thursday, Oct 6th 6-8pm

In October we invite Alaska-based contemporary artist Allie High (Aleut/Haida/Ts’msyen) to debut new prints and painted drums at the gallery, as well as possible works in silver and glass. High’s print series are well-loved by collectors, who fall for her prints of animals rendered in flowing formline, and her boldly painted drums. In the past, she has contributed works in ceramic, wood and hand-carved sterling silver to our exhibitions, and we eagerly look forward to seeing what emerges from her studio for this show.

Raven Skyriver: PACIFIC

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

Raven Skyriver returns to Stonington Gallery after a whirlwind year of blowing, teaching and exhibiting in places as diverse as Japan, Turkey and Norway. He continues to add to his arsenal of techniques and expertise, using some of the most complex and difficult procedures to create marine creatures that are astoundingly lifelike. The exhibition this year will bring an incredible Mahi Mahi (shown above) blown this past spring at Pilchuck Glass School, and many more works of dazzling coloration, gravity and audacity.

Digital exhibition catalogue available.

Masters of Disguise II: A Group Exhibition —- Opening June 2nd, 6-8pm

Last year’s Masters of Disguise mask group exhibition was a runaway success. And that should be no surprise: few traditional objects are as iconic to the Pacific Northwest Coast as masks, which offer such a rich platform from which to explore the cultural and art history and contemporary issues of our region. While many objects on the Coast combine functions of magnificent utility and aesthetic, the mask holds a place of prominence because of its use in ceremony, theater, healing, and family wealth.

Many masks depict specific characters from mythology. These character masks are each part of a lineage reaching back centuries. These ancient myth beings are defined and recognized by their physical attributes and features which reveal aspects of their personalities, environment, and history.

Courtney Lipson: Tidepools – Life on a Rocky Shore

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

May brings fresh, fine new jewelry by micro-mosaicist and metal-smith Courtney Lipson (Non-Indigenous/Adopted Tlingit). Tidepools, denizens of the shore, and the little jeweled creatures that live in those safe cracks in the rocks are the artist’s inspiration for this year’s exhibit, and she’s rendering nudibranchs, sea stars, octopuses, and urchins in her signature micro-mosaic. Long-time collectors will remember the past series that Lipson has done with tidepools and sea creatures, but she revisiting the theme with new eyes and a more abstracted feel. Nudibranchs are the focus of the collection, allowing us a glimpse into the unbelievable variety, colors and kinds that this species has to offer. Nudibranchs are soft-bodied molluscs, and they live at almost any depth of the water column, but the most eye-popping coloration occurs in warm, shallow reefs and tide-lines. Lipson’s creations are a mix of her own imagination, and those from reference photos. The wilder the colors, the more genuine it’s likely to be. Lipson has gone one step further, interviewing each little nudibranch as it takes form in her studio, and finding out their names and personalities.

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.

Courtney Lipson: New Works

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

Courtney Lipson has honed her ability to portray textiles, flowers, feathers, rock striations and more in intricate detail using micro-mosaics. Combining ancient metalsmithing techniques with color and texture, the work in this exhibit explores further some of her favorite subjects. Monarch butterflies, ravens, eagles and weaving patterns return, as well as unique pieces inspired by some of Lipson’s favorite books and poems. Not limiting herself to jewelry, Lipson includes a few other mediums in this exhibit with prints and weavings.

Nikki McClure: 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.

We welcome Olympia-based cut paper artist Nikki McClure back to the gallery for her second show with us. Last year, she presented extraordinary two-tone and monochrome scenes made with paper and an exacto blade from her forthcoming 2015 calendar. We can’t wait to see what scenes she has in store for us this year!

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.

Raven Skyriver: Intertidal

We are proud to present the newest solo exhibit by glass artist Raven Skyriver (Tlingit). The majority of works in this exhibition were blown over the last few months at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, as well as in local studios around Seattle. Skyriver was the recipient of a prestigious “Fuel their Fire” residency at the museum, and many of the works in this show are the result of that program.

Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas: Solo Exhibit

We are proud to present the first American gallery exhibit of contemporary Vancouver artist Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas (Haida tribe). His dynamic work has been seen in museums and galleries across Canada, Asia and Europe, but he makes his Seattle debut with Stonington Gallery and the Seattle Art Museum.

Yahgulanaas is known for his hyper-kinetic drawings that combine the bold lines of traditional Haida formline, and the narrative form of Japanese comics. He dubs the style “Haida Manga”, an unexpected and successful genre pairing that he has explored in varied media. He makes use of the buoyant and exaggerated caricatures seen in cartoons and comics, and uses the elegant lines of Northwest Coast design to both border the action and direct the flow. The result are narrative paintings that burst with motion, exuberance, humor and arresting characters, while tying together the graphic traditions of two disparate Pacific Rim island-dwelling cultures.

Digital exhibition catalogue available for this exhibit.

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.

Joan Tenenbaum: Fifty Playful Things

Fifty Playful Things debuts necklaces, bracelets, and earrings that have been a year in the making, and are a testament to the many techniques and materials that Tenenbaum utilizes. In the work are themes of geology and the Earth itself: folding, striating, creasing, sliding, crystallizing, and hints of hidden veins of precious metals.

Isabel Rorick: The Awakening

Like her great grandmother, Isabella Edenshaw, Haida spruce root weaver Isabel Rorick has set the standard for spruce root weaving for the next generation. Her work will be studied and analysed for its fineness, difficulty and spiritual quality. Weaving of this sort is a rarity and we are fortunate to be living in the time of Isabel Rorick.

The Awakening is an exhibit featuring Haida weaver Isabel Rorick’s famed spruce root weavings. In her artist’s statement, Rorick speaks of the need for an awakening of how we treat our world:

“It is with great conviction that this show comes, because we are amidst great changes here in time. The world as we know it is going through massive changes. The weather, the way we grow food, the way we package and process food, the way we communicate. It is a world that is spread very thin and there are a lot of things that are not following the sacred way things were meant to be. The land is not honored in the sacred way it was intended for use. Our water deserves tender care and protection. There has to be a lot of the old ways restored to honour our mother with the prayers the songs, the dances, and all the practices that the Native people practiced in endless time: we are all hungry for our way home, our home is in all aspects of our life.”

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.

Robert Barratt: New Works

Carver Robert Barratt (Non-Indigenous) will debut a new body of masks, frontlets, bowls, combs, rattles and more in a tightly-focused exhibition this August. From his studio west of Vancouver this respected artist renders serene, dazzlingly detailed Northwest Coast-inspired sculpture in creamy alder wood and inlaid abalone shell.

Digital Exhibition Catalogue available:

Raven Skyriver: Descent

We welcome Raven Skyriver (Tlingit) back to the gallery for a solo show of his blown glass marine creatures. His expertly blown glass sculptures capture the elegance and mystery of the wildlife of the Puget Sound and Pacific Ocean, and are evidence of Raven’s mastery in sculpting glass. Sea lions, salmon, seals, otters and other marine life make appearances in this exhibition.

Digital exhibition catalog available.

Marvin Oliver: Rare Works On Paper

Stonington Gallery is proud to present a collection of rare and new hand-pulled serigraphs by master contemporary artist Marvin Oliver (Quinault/Isleta Pueblo Tribes). A long-time educator at the University of Washington, curator at the Burke Museum, and full-time artist, Oliver is known for his innovative experiments in glass, print-making and large scale public art. Professor of Art and American Indian Studies at the University of Washington since the 1970s, Oliver has created a new print each year to bestow on graduates of the program.

A wide range of these historic prints–many that are long since sold out–are for sale and on display from the artist’s archive in this exhibition. Also on display are select works in glass.

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.

Robert Davidson: Thinking Abstract

A Solo Exhibition

Stonington Gallery is proud to present an exhibition of work by renowned contemporary Haida artist Robert Davidson, in conjunction with his solo exhibition at the Seattle Art Museum—“The Abstract Impulse”.

The exhibit at the SAM will be Davidson’s first major United States museum exhibition, but his history with Stonington Gallery goes back over twenty years. Acknowledged as one of Canada’s premiere artists, Davidson uses the ancient formline design of the Haida people to create utterly contemporary abstract works. This exhibition focuses on works on paper, where Davidson’s mastery of elegant, sweeping lines and bold color is most evident.

Acknowledged as one of Canada’s premiere contemporary artists, Robert Davidson (Haida name Guud San Glans, or “Eagle of The Dawn”)uses the ancient formline design of the Haida people to create truly modern works. Davidson has been a key figure in the Northwest Coast Native art renaissance. His great grandfather was the famed Haida artist Charles Edenshaw (1839-1924) whose iconic works were produced throughout the era when Native arts, languages and ceremonies were painfully silenced by the Canadian government. Edenshaw is recognized by many scholars as one of the finest traditional artists in modern history, and will be honored in a comprehensive exhibition this winter at the Vancouver Art Gallery, concomitant with Davidson’s Seattle Art Museum exhibit. Davidson has taken up his ancestor’s mantle in the current era and boldly pushed tradition in a new direction.

Digital exhibition catalogue available.

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.

Courtney Lipson: To Life

Fresh off of two ambitious private commissions, Courtney Lipson returns to the gallery with a new body of wearable art. Lipson continues to experiment with patterns in her pioneering micro-mosaic technique and exploring new directions in shaping silver.
This exhibition is inspired by feathers of all colors and shapes, rendered in Lipson’s exquisite micro-mosaic.

“This year,’ says Lipson, “I am celebrating my tenth year of creating jewelry. I am honoring the creative process itself, and the history and myth that begin to gather around jewelry the minute it leaves the workbench.”

Barry Herem: Solo Exhibition

Barry Herem (Non-Indigenous) returns with a new body of work inspired by formline design and the environment of the Pacific Northwest. Herem’s formidable sense of design and passion for experimentation shine in media as varied as Corten steel, glass, wood and limited edition prints.

Drawing upon a rich lifetime of experience and knowledge, Herem’s artwork is surprising, challenging and respectful of its roots. Select pieces in this exhibition will trace the evolution of Herem’s work, a small retrospective look at his long career.

Raven Skyriver: Oceanic

A Solo Exhibition

Raven Skyriver (Tlingit/Makah) returns to Stonington for a third solo exhibition with a new, audacious body of glass artwork. Skyriver’s realistic glass sculptures will focus o the aquatic life of the Puget Sound area, highlighting creatures such as salmon, whales, octopuses and seals. Using foil to connote the iridescent scales on a salmon’s skin, or coaxing the shape of a fin out of molten glass, Skyriver’s technique continues to develop and astound.

Digital exhibition catalogue available.

Treasures of the Northwest

A Group Exhibition

Haida master artist Bill Reid spoke of the “well-made object,” a term for the masterpieces created by the region’s artists for admiration, adornment and ritual use. The natural materials of the Northwest help make these objects possible: from old growth trees to soft goat furs, bone and horn to copper and grasses. The quality of these materials has inspired artists to craft objects of beauty throughout the centuries.

The term treasure speaks to a thing of rare occurrence; the execution of an idea, the combination of beauty and profundity behind an object. In this place where sea meets forest meets mountains, treasures are discovered in each cove and cranny. The joy of finding these treasures—whether it is a totem pole returning to the earth in the forest, or being surprised by a favorite artist—is part of the aura that surrounds the well-made object. The artists in Treasures of the Northwest Coast are individuals of rare talent and vision, and collectively honor Reid’s concept with their beautifully-wrought objects.

Joan Tenenbaum: Moons, Mountains & Mystery

Thomas Stream – Solo Exhibition

Thomas Stream (Aleut) has painted a new collection of gouache paintings inspired by the natural rhythms and habitats of the Northwest and Alaska. Influenced by the connections between shore and sea, land and air, tree-top and forest floor, Stream’s settings have grown ever more intricate. His environments often break through the panels drawn to contain them, spilling exuberantly out onto the white page beyond. Migratory birds and sea-dwellers inhabit Stream’s detailed tableaux, each rendered in his signature pointillist detail and bearing the traditional wood hunting hats of the Aleut people.

Journeys: Travels in the Natural and Spirit Worlds

A Group Exhibit

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.

Scott Jensen: Speaking Cedar

Master carver Scott Jensen reveals a new body of carvings in November: pieces that will once again prove why his works are some of the most sought-after in the Northwest art world. Jensen carves at the highest technical level; captured in his masks, boxes, bowls and poles is the unmistakable quality of the pieces carved by the old masters.

“The trees draw up the essence of the landscape and transform it into an endless canopy of physical and spiritual gifts. For me, wood into art is a final transformation that is at once reassuring and full of meaning. The ancient imagery of the Northwest Coast Indians has so profoundly and eloquently captured a relationship between man, nature, and belief that it has resonated across the centuries and given form and meaning to my own beliefs. This artistic legacy is an immeasurable gift from humans to humanity and deserves to be spoken with life, authenticity and gratitude.”

Rick Bartow – Retrospective and New Works

Stonington Gallery is thrilled to be featuring in October a solo retrospective exhibition including new works by Wiyot artist Rick Bartow. Bartow draws deeply from both Native American mythological archetypes and a deeply personal symbolic catalogue, encapsulating his characters in a maelstrom of colors and pulsating lines. He is able to transfer the moment of emotion straight into his work, whether in paint, pastel, ink or wood. Bartow’s twenty-year retrospective, Dog’s Journey, is currently traveling the country through January 2012, and can be seen first at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke followed by the Missoula Museum of Art.

Thomas Stream: In Flight

Graceful birds take flight at Stonington in Thomas Stream’s 2011 solo exhibit. Stream conjures a new body of exquisitely detailed gouache paintings that draw their inspiration from the iconic Aleut hunting headgear and the natural environment of his Aleutian ancestral homelands.

The Gifts of Trees

A Group Exhibition

As the sap begins to run we pay tribute to the indigenous trees of the Northwest and the myriad objects into which they are transformed. The iconic bentwood boxes, delicate halibut hooks, towering totem poles, ocean going canoes, and graceful woven basketry of the Northwest Coast peoples could never have been without the presence of these majestic trees. This group show presents works that honor the versatile uses of indigenous trees, as well as the traditional tools used for centuries to carve wood into enduring objects of beauty and power.

Barry Herem: A Passion for the Coast

Barry Herem’s prolific forty year career has been spurred by inspiration derived from the fundamental Northwest Coast forms and his years of canoe adventures in the fjords and inlets of the Inside Passage. In his third one-man show in as many years, Herem creates another inventive body of work in a wide variety of media that will include soulful new sculptures in wood.

Staff Picks

Selecting from the choicest of the choice, the Stonington Staff has picked twelve works from the Gallery’s renowned collection to exhibit during the month of March. Each staff member has chosen two pieces with which we sense a deep connection that is felt when we encounter these works. From jewelry to carvings, textiles to prints, many of these pieces are the most striking from an artist’s greater body of work, while others carry an intangible resonance almost impossible to describe. These pinnacle 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. The process of selecting these pieces has been a wonderful experience for Stonington’s staff, and has reacquainted us with some of our favorite artists and works!

Hib Sabin: The Storyteller

Hib Sabin- “The Storyteller”. Hib Sabin’s signature piece for this exhibition will be a tribute to storytellers from all cultures whose signature role in culture will be honored in a carving depicting a Man/Raven transformation; titled “Storyteller.” The exhibit will also include a series of “Spirit Jars”; collaborations in glass with artist Peter Wright.

Shaun Peterson & Phil Gray: Southern and Northern Traditions

n October, Stonington Gallery is proud to showcase an exhibit of works by two equally gifted artists—Philip Gray (Tsimshian) and Shaun Peterson (Puyallup)—thus juxtaposing the Pacific Northwest Coast Northern style with that of the Southern. The art of each of these men conveys the essence of his culture’s historical roots, communicated in his own personal contemporary voice. Peterson draws upon the rich storytelling traditions of the Coast Salish speaking peoples of the southern coast. Gray’s classic northern style design, carving and painting are reminiscent of and equal to the works of the old masters.

Joan Tenenbaum: The Evolving Ring

In her 2010 Solo Exhibit, Joan Tenenbaum continues her passion for making small objects, focusing specifically on rings. From the bold and striking to the delicate and intimate, there will be big rings, small rings, curious rings, surprising rings, classic rings, adventurous rings and special ones from the heart.

Bracelets: A Beautiful Legacy

No other piece of jewelry is as culturally significant to the Pacific Northwest coastal communities as the bracelet. Bracelet cuffs are a medium on which well-known mythic narratives can be re-told in a continuous visual loop, where iconic characters tangle sinuously and familiar faces pop up in surprising ways. Their circular forms reach back to embrace ancient visual and oral traditions, while simultaneously stretching forward to usher them proudly into the future. Their flat shapes provide the ideal surface for engraving crests, patterns, floral designs and figures. This bracelet tradition has continued and flourished in the hands of today’s superb metal smiths. We have invited a select group of jewelers to each create a unique bracelet that pays tribute to this beautiful custom and represents their singular place in the Northwest Coast art world.

The Head Adorned: Helmets, Hats, Frontlets, Masks & Jewelry

Stonington Gallery presents The Head Adorned, a group exhibit that honors the rich heritage of headgear among tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast. The sheer variety of headgear found in this region eloquently symbolizes the importance placed on these extraordinary objects. During ritual native dance and ceremony, the endless expressiveness of the human face is changed through adornment: the dancer is made huge and terrifying; rendered subtle and sleek; warped into otherness or morphed into the features of any familiar mythic character.

Join us at the exhibit opening when Fred Fulmer and his dance group, Lingit Kusti, will perform and Isabel Rorick will speak about her baskets. Don’t miss the unique opportunity when Bill Holm will lecture and present slides on the vast and fascinating history of headgear on the Northwest Coast. Wednesday, July 28th, 7 pm.

Scott Jensen: New Carvings

Stonington Gallery is eager to host in May an exhibit that will feature new works by both Scott Jensen and Courtney Lipson during this special year when these two artists are to be married. Among the new works will be his recognizably Scott Jensen Tlingit inspired carvings including new masks, a bowl and a rattle. Also for the first time, the gallery will be exhibiting Jensen’s Plains and Plateau style bead work. Jensen’s attention to detail and rich, subtle carving style transcends our modern world and connects with a time that was pristine and inspired by the natural world and the beauty, power and magic it engendered.

Rick Bartow: Paintings, Monotypes, Drypoints, & Sculpture

Rick Bartow’s art is cathartic for both artist and viewer. His bold, spontaneous and expressionistic approach allows the viewer to access and experience the process where art is made, both psychically and physically. The energy and dissonance exerted on the canvas and paper is frenzied, even manic, mirroring life’s challenges and chaos. And then it is worked through; Bartow (Wiyot) has immersed himself in the deep and calming waters of his native mythology, its connectedness to the natural world, and the mythic characters who inhabit it.

Balance is found and restored as revealed in the clarity and focus in the eyes of Bartow’s characters. They often gaze beyond the present; their sights resting peacefully on something just out of view: a future that appears to hold the possibility for solidity and peace.

Haida Masters

The Stonington Gallery will feature contemporary Haida art in March, including a rare opportunity to view and collect a limited edition Bill Reid 22kt cast gold “Grizzly Bear Medallion and Chain,” 1972. The Haida are from British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Islands and are respected for their refined and elegant art traditions. The late Bill Reid is considered by many Canadians to be their country’s foremost artist and, as such, is featured on their twenty dollar bank note. Few of Bill Reid’s works are available for viewing outside of museum collections, most notable collections at the UBC Museum of Anthropology, the Provincial Museum (Victoria) and the new Bill Reid Art Gallery (Vancouver).

Stonington Gallery will aslo feature in March works by other leading Haida masters including a new sculpture, “T’samuus,” by Robert Davidson; spruce root weavings by Isabel Rorick; and argillite carvings by other well-known Haida artists.

Raven & Eagle: Love On the Northwest Coast

We conclude 2009 with a group exhibit that speaks to our love of the Northwest Coast. The Stonington Gallery artists have spent their lives immersed in the mythology of the Northwest Coast. They are the finest artists of our time and their singular effort to honor the Raven stories and other myths will bring a brilliant and stunning finale to the year!

Hib Sabin: Life Cycles

Hib Sabin imbues each of his carvings with a spirit power that can be strongly felt. Sabin’s characters play a role in allowing him to express and explore the beauty and acceptance he feels with life’s cycles of birth, death, and the journey in between and beyond. His cast of figues moves in and out of an ancient and timeless spirit world. In this exhibit, Hib will continue this exploration of animal spirit and the journey of life through his sculpture.

Thomas Stream: Striving for Balance

Aleut artist Thomas Stream explores what it is to be an Aleut man and artist in modern times. The Aleut culture was devastated by the relentless hunting of Sea Otter in the 19th century. The tragic result of this obsession was the near collapse of Aleut culture. More than a century later, Thomas Stream’s paintings are a splendid and unique portrayal of Aleut culture and its respectful relationship with nature. Thomas Stream is collected internationally and is a vital link to one of North America’s least known and most magnificent cultures.

Courtney Lipson: A Closer Look II

This year’s exhibition is inspired by a collection of precious stones that Courtney has acquired through the years. This body of work shows the breathtaking evolution of this remarkable young artist’s work.

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.

Hib Sabin and Phil Charette: Masks and Other Transformations

A Two Person Exhibit

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.

Courtney Lipson: A Closer Look

What drives my inspiration? As a child I spent my summers on a beach in California, often sifting through sandbars at low tide, finding minute seashells and sand dollars perfectly intact, but only a millimeter or so across. Was that the beginning? To find beauty and fascination in all things—even the ones we usually walk past is what fuels me. I’m drawn to texture, color, and pattern, gathering inspiration from intricate details and overall themes. In my designs I am bringing what I see into focus for you to discover.
–Courtney Lipson (Non-Indigenous, Adopted Tlingit)

Thomas Stream: ALASKA – Wildlife Portraits, An Aleut’s Perspective

We are proud to present another incredible selection of new original gouache paintings by Aleut artist Thomas Stream. New characters emerge in his painted menagerie developed over the decades: the pesky raccoon, busy beaver, and regal elk are among his most recent subjects. These characters are all depicted in Thomas’s signature style, wearing the iconic Aleut hunting hats and set in the landscapes of our world that the artist respects and holds dear.

ALASKA — Life of the Arctic Tundra

Alaskan Sculpture and Basket Weaving

With Stonington Gallery’s annual foray into ALASKA, we are delighted to introduce a body of exquisite finely coiled grass baskets by Central Yup’ik weaver, Jane Wiseman. Jane gathers a variety of grasses along the banks of the rivers near her village in Chefornak, Alaska. She hand treats and dyes the grasses and dedicates hours to weaving beautiful lidded and open baskets, bowls, and trays.

The exhibit will also feature a breathtaking collection of new whalebone and ivory carvings from the Bearing Sea Inupiaq and Siberian Yupik carvers. Masterfully carved walrus ivory tusk and whalebone totems by Siberian Yupik artist Edwin Noongwook of Savoonga, St. Lawrence Island, whalebone dancers and hunters by Shishmaref Inupiaq artist Bill Jones; large whale scapula carvings by Inupiaq artists Edwin Weyiouanna and Richard Olanna; as well as a variety of other whalebone and ivory carvings from other Eskimo artists reflecting their lives and their culture.

Scott Jensen – Solo Exhibition

The long awaited second Scott Jensen solo exhibition will be sure to astound. Like his previous collection of work, these carvings are without compare. Jensen’s style is imbued with a love and respect for the early Tlingit masters who created some of civilization’s greatest masterpieces. With every carved ovoid and painted u-form, Jensen pays homage to the elegant and complicated relationship between form and line; the multi-layered tension between positive and negative space; this formline language has adorned art for the Pacific Northwest Coast native tribes for millennia.
Print catalog available.

Inspired by Love: Stonington Gallery Jewelers

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Stonington’s jewelers have created an exquisite body of work in celebration of the month of love.

Fits In Your Pocket

Opening simultaneously with a December group exhibit celebrating “Rain,” Stonington Gallery is proud to present a special body of work featuring small animal spirit carvings by the popular artist Hib Sabin: “Fits in Your Pocket.”  Not unlike prior works by Sabin, these explore themes of shamanism and the nature of animal spirits as manifested through spirit helper masks, spirit canoes, and spirit sticks; however, this exhibit focuses on these themes through similar items but all on a miniature scale — amulets, maskettes, mini canoes, and a lovely miniature Lyre boat

Joan Tenenbaum: The Artist Linguist – Translating Field Research into Wearable Art

September will witness Joan Tenenbaum’s newest body of work, in which she returns to her early years as a young anthropologist who traveled to Alaska to document a little known Athabaskan language in a small rural Alaskan village.

In previous work Joan has shown us her ability to translate the Alaskan landscape, animals, people, customs and artifacts into exquisite, wearable pieces of art. Now, for the first time, she demonstrates her remarkable talents in jewelry-making by telling the story of the language itself, the experience of being a field linguist, and the traditional stories she recorded and wrote down for the first time ever in the native Athabaskan language. Tenenbaum draws on her extensive vocabulary as a goldsmith to weave her own tale related to the documentation of one of the world’s most complex languages.

Art of Alaska: An Artistic Frontier

The diversity of Alaska’s landscape is mirrored by the extraordinary range of cultures that have adapted to and thrived over the centuries. From the Northwest Coast Native cultures of Southeast Alaska, to the Aleut of the Aleutian Islands, the Yup’ik and Inupiat Eskimos of the North Pacific and Bering Sea to the Athabaskan of Central Alaska, this exhibit will honor these ancient and still vital cultures and their art traditions.

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.

Loren White – A Solo Exhibition

LOREN WHITE’S work includes carvings in cedar and bronze as well as glass sculpture created during his recent residency at the Pilchuck Glass School. White (Non-Indigenous) makes cedar and glass sculptures that are another contribution to the expanding body of work which marries the traditions of Northwest Coast art and studio glass.

BERING SPIRIT

WORKS FROM THE ALASKAN, SIBERIAN YUP'IK AND INTERIOR ARCTIC CORRIDOR

BERING SPIRIT features ivory and whalebone carvings, Yupik masks, bentwood visors and cedar sculptures from the Alaskan and Siberian Yup’ik and Interior Arctic Corridor. Participating artists include Philip Charette, John Hoover, Scott Jensen, Peter Lind, Edwin Noongwook, Richard Olanna, John & Mark Tetpon and others.

Born of Myth and Fire

Celebrating Northwest Coast Art in Glass

BORN OF MYTH & FIRE presents an elegant collection of northwest art fusing traditional themes with new media. Participating artists include Jewels Durham, Joe Fedderson, Phil Gray, Barry Herem, Scott Jensen, Ed Archie NoiseCat, Marvin Oliver, Andy Peterson, Ruth Peterson, Shaun Peterson, Lillian Pitt, Susan Point and Preston Singletary.

Through the Eyes of the Northwest Coast Woman

A Group Exhibition

THROUGH THE EYES OF THE NORTHWEST COAST WOMAN is an exhibit celebrating the vision of the women artists at Stonington Gallery. This show features the work of 23 female artists spanning a wide variety of media and cultural references. Featured artists include April White, Susan Point, Debie Knight-Kennedy, Ruth Wilbur-Peterson and Nancy Taylor Stonington.

Awakenings – A Gathering of Contemporary Coast Salish Artists

Three years in the making, the AWAKENINGS exhibition and its accompanying book, Contemporary Coast Salish Art, present the work of 20 artists whose art ranges from traditional expressions in basketry and weaving to innovations in glass and metal.

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.