(Above: Detail from Across Deer Harbor, one of a collection of woodcuts by Washington State artist Debby Neely, on display at the Emerald Art Center.)
By Randi Bjornstad
No, a full house at the Emerald Art Center has nothing to do with poker, but it does mean that every wall is covered with art in by a variety of artists ranging from a notable woodcut artist from Washington State to work by September’s featured members of the art center to art created by students at the Light’s Summer Art Camp this summer, to the holding over of a show that of surrealistic art photography that opened in August.
On top of all that, there also is the usual display of new work by a variety of Emerald Art Center members.
Guest artist Debby Neely in the EAC’s Brockett Gallery
Art center director Guy Weese introduces Neely as “a nationally known and collected artist from the Pacific Northwest.” Neely lives in Woodland, Wash., but her woodcut art features wildlife of both Washington and Oregon, especially species that populate the areas of the Columbia and Willamette rivers and Puget Sound.
Neely prefers woodcuts for their strong graphic-design elements and the way they rely on the interaction of positive and negative spaces. One special design element to look for in her work, she suggests, “is a circle usually representing the moon.”
Although she features many birds and land animals, she also emphasizes Northwest salmon, often including some educational symbolism, such as “the moon with a salmon species to show that the full moon raises tide levels so the fish can return to spawn in their original habitat.
Here’s what Neely says about her preferred method of creating art:
A woodcut is done by carving a flat piece of wood cut with the grain. Any areas that you want to retain the color of the paper are cut away. I use only a small knife and a few gouges for this step. Water-based ink is then rolled on the surface of the wood. Handmade Oriental papers are put on top of the inked plate and burnished to get the ink to transfer to the paper. Any ink that gets into the carved parts of the plate will not print because the plate prints only from the high parts of the plate.
Mandala 8, an image from artist Jeremy Pickett’s adult coloring book
Neely also has an unusual way of signing her work, using symbols she calls “red chops,” a specific Chinese way of creating a seal by carving it in stone. “I sign my name with the red chops,” she said. “The top chop is my name in Chinese. The bottom chop says, ‘I draw birds and animals.’ ”
Featured member artists: Denise Zanetta and Jeremy Pickett
The work of the September featured members is wildly different from each other, although both use drawing as their medium.
Zanetta creates intricate, lifelike colored pencil drawings of animals and flowers, while Pickett approaches his work via pop art, cartoons and satire that tells often whimsical stories of people and their friendships, including new work from an adult coloring book that he calls, Second Renaissance Modern Mandalas.
Paula Goodbar exhibit continues
My Blue World, a surrealistic creation by Paula Goodbar
Illusional Behavior: A Surreal Escape from Reality is the name of former Emerald Art Center director Paula Goodbar’s show, which opened in August and will continue through Sept. 24. This collection of pieces is her expression of creating dreamlike, surreal artworks that take her consciousness away from the heavy-duty realities of today’s existence, including issues involving politics, climate change, and the continuing coronavirus pandemic.
Goodbar wanted to be an artist since childhood, but while still in her teens she realized that she saw the world in the same manner as capturing an image in a photograph, so she turned to photography instead of drawing or painting. When digital art became possible, she found a new way of combining the real with the surreal, overlaying real images with elements of fantasy, dreams, and meditation.
On the walls at the Emerald Art Center in September
When: Sept. 1-24
Where: 500 Main St., Springfield
Hours: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday
Special event: Open 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. during downtown Springfield’s Second Friday Art Walk on Sept. 10
Information: 541-726-8595 or online at emeraldartcenter.org
Lynx, one of artist Denise Zanetta’s colored pencil drawings; her work is featured at the Emerald Art Center in September
