Ana Li Gresham
Becky Hollenbeck
October 4-26, 2024
opening reception: October 4, 5-7pm
Main Gallery:
Wood Burning the Wild
Ana Li Gresham
Ana Li Gresham is an artist and graphic designer living in Naches, WA. She has a passion for the outdoors and finds inspiration at every turn while hiking and exploring in the Cascade mountains. She grew up in Cheney, WA, with an artist father and a mother who loves quilting and all things arts and crafts. She has a degree in Graphic Design from Western Washington University and has been a freelance Graphic Designer since 2006.
She continues to work on artwork and it is her true passion in life. Ana Li’s favorite art mediums are acrylic painting on canvas, watercolor with ink, and wood burning on a variety of wood materials. She also uses both the acrylic painting and wood burning techniques in combination to produce very textural and unique one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Her main art themes are nature, conservation, and science. She has a passion for communicating a love of the natural world and hopefully inspiring others to care for and protect it. A new series she’s working on is called “Endangered Species of Washington State”, highlighting animals in our local habitats that need our awareness and help. Ana Li has recently started collaborating with other local artists, Doug Lewis a wood turner, and Lyn Lewis a natural fiber weaver. Together the group has created some 3D pieces highlighting their collective talents. Ana Li is a new member of the Women Painters of Washington group.
Mezzanine Gallery:
An Artful Garden
Becky Hollenbeck
Becky Hollenbeck is an artist and an avid gardener. Both activities excite and fill her spirit with contentment.
Becky’s favorite mediums to work with are acrylics, watercolors and collage but she has also painted on seasonal gourds and anything else that will sit still. Many things influence her work including nature, animals, birds, skies, moons, flowers and people. She never knows when inspiration will hit. Sometimes she’ll be riding in a car and see something that clicks in her brain, causing her to say, “That’s a painting! ” Or a sunset will turn into a riot of color and inspire her to recreate it. Other times it might be something as simple as a photograph that grabs her.
Becky hopes her art makes you feel something, makes you smile or slows you down for a moment to ponder or find something unexpected hidden among the layers. At the very least she hopes you enjoy it.
Eveleth Green Gallery:
Imagined Myths
Roddy Taylor
Each picture I make is an occasion to immerse myself into the concerns of characters and creatures outside myself. It is a chance to bring life to a concept from our world that is long gone or never existed in the first place. My fascination with real world physics, history, mythology, anatomy, emotion, and myriad other topics mix to go into each design. My most recent series of work involves a dive into the stories of ancient Irish mythology and the La Tène style of art that preceded Medieval Celtic art. The initial pieces from this series are included in this collection.
I create my art mostly through a process of digital painting, using a drawing tablet along with customized tools and software to design the life of imagined worlds. The execution is much like traditional oil painting; by layering colors of varying opacity using brushes of varying sizes and shapes I achieve the effect I want. While many digital painters revel in the control over every detail that a computer offers, I intentionally create imprecise tools that l allow for unexpected results. I want there to be a sense of the spontaneity of reality, even inside a meticulous planning process. My time playing with watercolors has helped guide me towards that choice and I look forward to exploring more traditional media in the future.
While making, I get most excited about the little moments of our lives that create hinges between stretches of regular existence. They aren’t always high energy moments, but they are always notable in our memory: meeting your best friend for the first time, a chance encounter with a warm personality, the foreboding silence right before you stub your toe in the middle of the night. While the details are different for each of us, we share something with the subjects of my paintings.
Hallway & Community Galleries:
Welcome to Ellensburg
Gallery One is thrilled to feature the new Welcome to Ellensburg mural artists. Completed in 2024, the mural depicts the classic bold font format with a different artist image painted inside each letter. The $20,000 mural, funded by business contributions to the Main Street Tax Credit Incentive Program, is more than part of the revitalization project. Meant to capture the spirit of Ellensburg, the mural on the wall of Blue Rock Saloon will be the result of effort from a lot of people. Featured in this exhibition are:
James Andrews
Jason Clifton
Lynne McCowin
Kathie Milligan
Matt Milligan
Austin Smith