Current Exhibits
MAY 30 - JUNE 30 IN GALLERY I
LEITH HOWARD DEWEESE - GALLERY I
LEITH howard DEWEESE
in Gallery I
KICK YOUR BOOTS OFF AND SET A SPELL
As life passes our roles change – Wife, Mother, Designer, Teacher and Retiree. Time, materials, and priorities have dictated our choice of media. Our skill set expands. Favorites are lost and new loves are born. Fighting mortality, we keep producing, marketing, and selling.
The one constant is interaction, sharing our hard-won skills. So, the Mission is to find new connections, keeping art and the creative spirit alive in this technological age.
Leith was born in Logan, Utah. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a B.F.A. in Art Ed. and a minor in Math. Upon graduation, she continued her schooling, completing the Graphic Design Program. Her efforts resulted in employment as the staff designer at Pima Community College. She created all manner of printed material and several award-winning college catalog covers. It was also where she met her husband, Jerry. A craftsman in his own right, they pursued silversmithing and lapidary. Their designs were exhibited at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. Leith and Jerry artistically collaborated their entire marriage. After years of experimentation, they settled on wildlife relief carvings.
Leaving Tucson, they moved to southern Utah and then to Montana. Leith maintained a teaching position in both her areas of study. Her broad background was a real benefit to the school and students. Over her thirty+ teaching career, she enriched the curriculum by displaying student art, supporting drama productions, and designing proms, winning Anderson’s Annual National Prom Decorating Contest. During the Annual MCTM Math Competitions her students earned many awards.
Her students have had their work in the Big Sky Literary & Arts Magazine, the Junior Federal Duck Stamp Competition and Communication Arts Magazine. Under her administration, Opheim School received grants for the Big Read Under the Big Sky, a project coordinated with the National Endowment of the Arts and the Montana Historical Society.
As she approached retirement, Leith became interested in watercolor. With her graphic design background, she has a good eye for composition and color. With strong attention to detail, her paintings cover a wide range of western subjects - open vistas, failed homesteads, and past nostalgia. Her work was selected for the juried North Dakota Art Gallery Association 2017 tour. She began doing exhibitions and selling at art shows. A prolific painter, Leith has exhibited with the Wild Bunch of Artists, the James Memorial, Western Art Week, Art in the Park Glasgow, Wolf Point, and Williston, the Rough Rider Fine Art Show, MonDak Art, the Phoenix Art Directors’ Graphic Design Show and Signature Tuscon Sci-fi Theme Posters.
Leith has three children and six grandchildren. Her husband is deceased. She has a dynamic art studio in her home at Saint Marie where she gives private lessons and paints.
MAY 30 - JUNE 30 IN GALLERY II
DOUG PFLIGER - GALLERY II
DOUG PFLIGER
in Gallery II
TABLETS FOR MODERN MAN
The skateboard shape has always struck me as the contemporary equivalent of the marble tablets that the Ten Commandments were purportedly carved on. Rather than carving I chose to execute them in paint, collage and assemblage.
A number of the objects were outright purchases because of uniqueness, oddity, or specificity for a particular tablet, and a number of objects were truly found objects picked from the streets on one of my daily walks. As the tablets developed from thumbnails to actual size, there was lots of changing and rearranging, adding or subtracting and discovery along the way.
The use of the crucifix forms as pawns in game pieces or with target backs maybe offensive to some, but I have always appreciated and admired the cruciform for the aesthetic value and maintain a deep spiritual association with the iconography.
Each tablet is self-contained and meant to let the viewer decide what the underlying social commentary or moral is. Some are specific and some are left intentionally morally ambiguous.
The skateboards cartouche-like shape lent itself naturally to the progression of the elements unfolding from top to bottom, and satisfied my inclination for order and symmetry.
Humor has always played a significant factor in my art. My art tends to be of a whimsical, narrative vein. I like working in a variety of themes and series in an attempt to both amuse and create dialogue.
BELL TOWER SERIES
The Bell Tower series consists of eight 10” x 10” acrylic o/wood panels w/brass bells and dimensional matchstick crosses.
The panels were completed over a five-day period from October 18-23, 2021. They reference the architecture in and around Santa Fe and the surrounding New Mexico communities.
I have always found the sounds of chimes and bells especially moving and soothing, and decided to add a whimsical auditory element to the panels in a low-tech interactive manner. So, ring the bells, but be careful to curb your enthusiasm in doing so!
A Reception will be held on FRIDAY, JUNE 2, from 7 - 8:30 PM. Free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
MAY 1-26 IN GALLERY I
SUSAN BREKKE
in Gallery I
“TO MAKE A PRAIRIE” BY SUSAN BREKKE WILL BE FEATURED IN GALLERY I THROUGH THE MONTH OF MAY.
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover, and a bee.
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If the bees are few.
To make a prairie - Emily Dickinson
I create what is important to me. Paint and clay help me express the joy I feel when I see the first flowers of spring blooming. I infuse my paintings and hand-built ceramics with emotion, so it is more than just a colorful canvas or a bright bowl; I want my artwork to be a testament to the best, most beautiful things this world has to offer.
Through my paintings, I bring the outside in. I strive to create an immersive, emotional experience. Real life has texture and dimension and emotion! I paint on large canvases to suggest the immersive, emotional experience you feel when squinting at an electric sunset or opening the curtains on a gentle snowfall. When painting, I work with acrylics. I use wet wipes, q-tips, and a palette knife to capture movement and life; sometimes I use my fingers and hands, too! Although an added dimension, my approach to ceramics is identical to that of painting. I do hand-built ceramics that are expressive and colorful.
