(Above: Rocky Waters by artist Bets Cole)
Edited by Randi Bjornstad
A show at the Karin Clarke Gallery, titled Rugged Land and Rocky Shores, is a collection of new works by Oregon artist Bets Cole that represents landscapes not only from Oregon but also Maine and Ireland.
These small-to-medium-size works in watercolor or acrylic on panel or paper stand alone but also, when viewed together, showcase the contrasts in the lands and waters of their locations.
It’s a type of visual travelogue as the paintings begin on the U.S. Pacific coast, meander eastward through valleys and deserts of Oregon and California, dip down into Texas and then swing northeast to Maine and from there across the Atlantic to Ireland.
Too Foggy for Fishing, by Bets Cole
As Cole explained her project, “I’m excited about this body of work because it covers a lot of territory, but the non-changing variable is me,” she said. “I’m the one painting and interpreting.”
She relishes taking in the details of landscapes — their shapes, formations, and vegetation — and by doing much of her painting on location, known as plein air, captures changes in light and weather as she creates.
Cole began her artistic career with watercolor, particularly admiring the work of Oregon artist Nelson Sandgren, and still often chooses water-based media as she captures the essence of what she is seeing in landscape, seascape, or the built environment. Other times, she uses charcoal, sometimes alone or combined with paint.
The challenge of plein air painting, of course, is that nature changes — light and shadow, people entering the frame, the coming and going of birds and other creatures — and the artist on the spur of the moment must determine what to include.
Cole also has learned through the years that the artist and the resulting artwork can involve a process of negotiation, a melding of what the artist originally saw and what evolves as paint is layered and added to the composition.
Her resume includes a degree from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., in Art, Design, and Environmental Analysis, followed by jobs in New York City in advertising, design of children’s books, and study of figure drawing.
She moved to Oregon, first to Corvallis, then Portland, and finally to Eugene, where she pursued calligraphy and was hired by Lane Community College to create and teach in its design program, as well as completing a master of fine arts degree in painting and drawing at the University of Oregon.
Her artwork has been shown widely throughout the United States and is included in private collections as well as those of the University of Oregon and Oregon State University.
Karin Clarke Gallery: Rugged Land and Rocky Shores
When: Through Sept. 7, 2024; artist talk on Sept. 6 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. during downtown Eugene’s First Friday ArtWalk
Where: 760 Willamette St., Eugene
Regular gallery hours: Noon to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday (extended hours to 7:30 p.m. during the monthly First Friday ArtWalk)
Information: Telephone 541-684-7963; email karinclarkegalleries@gmail.com; online at karinclarkegallery.com
Texas Tangle, by Bets Cole
