|
(click on image --or link-- to see artist's work) 
Suzanne Arkless – Goldsmith “Inspiration sometimes comes directly from the stones or metals, as if they know what they want to become. Other times I draw from the world around me; I’m endlessly fascinated with shapes, colors and textures—those born of nature and those created by man.” Suzanne offers a stunning variety of pieces through A is for Artists Gallery. She is also available to create custom design for private clientele. Do you have a vision?
Anne Briggs – Jewelry
Connie Castellano – Jewelry
Wanda Garrity – Potter-Ceramist I love diversity in my work, which currently varies from the bold metallic colors of “Asian-influenced” Raku, to soft pastels of saggar fired vessels, to monochromatic carbonized pottery and finally to earthy layers of glazes on functional pieces.
Lynne Hollister– Fiber “My original education and career was as a registered nurse, but I have been drawn to the arts since my childhood. My educational background includes a nursing degree from Loma Linda University. Later, I pursed and interior design course work at San Bernardino Valley College and UCLA, with a focus on color, fiber and textile As a fiber and textile artist, I am able to draw on my love of color and texture to create wearable art pieces that are tactile and colorful. The earthiness of felted fibers combined with the glitz of semiprecious stones and glass beads make an appealing collage of materials with a touch of whimsy, displaying influences from the interplay of colors and light in my garden. My designs are also influenced by my travel experiences, most recently a journey to the small town of Kirkwall in the Orkney Island of Scotland. Always on the lookout for interesting local fibers and textiles, I enjoy using them in unusual ways to create something unique and unexpected. For the past ten years I have lived on Bainbridge Island with my husband Jeff and three spoiled cats.
Jennifer Horner – Jewelry Jennifer received her B.F. A. in Industrial Design from the University of Washington, in 1985, where she also earned a year’s scholarship for work done in the Art Metal Design program. Since then she has been employed in several fine custom jewelry shops as designer and goldsmith, meanwhile developing her unique style of art jewelry and selling through galleries and craft fairs. In 2006, Jennifer took top award at the Tasmanian Craft Fair, in Australia, given for “Artistic Excellence.” Subsequently, her portfolio was published in Craft Arts International Magazine, an Australian quarterly. Currently, she is happy to be back in Northwest Washington.
Jessica Osborn – Glass and Jewelry When I was able to, I went to the art store to get more glass and found a flyer for bead making. The act of melting glass in a torch flame and watching it glow a molten gold while undulating as if alive was mesmerizing. I was hooked. Of course addiction always requires more, so I soon found myself wanting to do some fusing in a little kiln, then a one bigger and then an even bigger one. Now, I am hoping for the ultimate 4 by 8 foot kiln. I love the flash of dichroic glass set inside a bowl’s bottom. The color shifting always makes me catch my breath. The colors that glass can be, the shapes it can be molded into allow me to feel I have captured a moment when light and spirit are fused into one. I love Bainbridge’s trees and quietness; they help me find that space. I am self taught by way of one bead class, one six month fusing course and a husband with a Masters in Fine Art who teaches me something every day.
Susan Tercek – Painting My initial inspiration for a work is a single element - perhaps a color, a texture, a technique. Whatever it may be, I begin with a minimal approach. I then work in a spontaneous exploratory way. Very quickly relationships begin to form. Whether they be color shifts, textural contrasts or line variations, they provide the catalyst for further development. As the work progresses, these relationships grow exponentially. My challenge is to balance their complexity with the simplicity of my initial concept. VISTA SERIES I These watercolor paintings start with a broad horizontal focal point from which fields of color flow - sometimes light and pure, sometimes layered and mysterious, sometimes heavy and ominous. The images are a succession of washes with changing hues, values and tones and, at times, a shifting of foreground and background. Although often ambiguous the works invoke a strong reference to physical or emotional landscapes.
COLLAGES SERIES V These works begin with watercolor washes reminiscent of the Vista Series and are then overlaid with various mass-produced and hand-created materials. The fluid natural characteristics of the watercolor background interplay with the hard-edged, architectural elements of the collage materials and evoke the tension between the natural world and modern culture. The composition of these pieces builds as I add materials. The paintings in each series function well either as single pieces or in groupings. They range in size from small intimate studies for residential spaces to larger works suitable for public or commercial areas.
Ian Turner – Painting, Photography and Sculpture As a professional photographer, his work has appeared in the Times magazine and British Vogue. Ian has taught photography at college level and facilitated workshops on pinhole cameras. Presently Ian lives on Bainbridge Island and spends most of his time painting. Ian doesn’t have a dog.
Susan Vanderwey – Body Adornment and Painting With much of her career spent in advertising and public relations, wielding words, Susan turned to visual communications for respite, designing crafts for consumer magazines and participating in art fairs and gallery shows. At this point in her life she much prefers using color and form to express her feelings. Often surprising color combinations and wildly asymmetrical groupings of components are manipulated until aesthetic balance is achieved. Working intuitively and intensively, she creates distinctive pieces of composed jewelry for discriminating wearers. Her paintings are (usually) happy, sometimes whimsical, and always colorful; most often the art wraps around sides, eliminating the need for framing. “I believe that color has magic”
Gerald Wright – Painting - Encaustic
Irene Yesley – Painter Upon graduation from ASU, I moved with my husband to Boston where I bought my first loom and attended Harvard University earning a Masters in Education. I taught myself to weave with the help from my engineer husband and taught in the Boston area for two years. After moving to Washington D.C., changing for a lawyer husband, I focused completely on weaving. Various moves followed to California and finally Santa Fe, NM where we lived for 22 years. Our two children grew up there and currently live in Chennai, India and Seattle. Now that we live on Bainbridge Island, we are able to enjoy both the excitement of a larger city and being near some of the grandchildren. During the time in Santa Fe, I sold all my weavings paraphernalia and for the last 13 years I have been painting full time. Irene’s work has shown in museums in New Mexico, California and Washington D.C. Her work usually reflects some aspect of a landscape. Sometimes it is just the colors but often there are abstract but recognizable images. She uses acrylic paint in “reverse painting” technique for her work on Lucite, which means the first color put down is the color that shows it cannot be painted over. She paints on Lucite to have actual depth in the painting. Irene also paints on wood which has a layer of silk glued on the surface. The silk provides texture and adds a feeling of depth to the paint. |
from my husband. Gluing glass to glass became my meditation; grouting and cleaning it became my discovery of self.
Ian has a BA in Photography and an MA in Fine Art. He has spent his life being creative, either as a visual artists or a musician. While at college, he won the prestigious Polaroid National Student of the Year Award and was featured in Creative Photography Magazine.
