Smith & Vallee Blog: 2011

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Edison For The Holidays

The holiday season always reminds us why we love our town of Edison, Washington. The Edison Women's Society, who are also in charge of the street light system in the town and run an annual bingo fundraiser, put up handpainted snowmen, candy canes, and Christmas trees throughout all of our main streets. Local residents and businesses deck their halls with lights and lush garlands.

Not a place to miss during this time of year and the perfect place to take visitors and out of town holiday guests! Take in some shopping, get some great food, and do a stroll about town. Nothing like this place and no where we would rather be!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

"objectification 4"

Opening Saturday, December 3rd with an Artist Reception from 5-8pm!

Our 4th Annual 3-dimensional art invitational, "Objectification 4" surveys and explores art objects in a variety of media from over 20 local and regional artists. If you buy it, you get to take it out of the gallery with you and the show is constantly reworked over the course of the exhibition.

Artists include:

Margaret Davidson
Kathleen Faulkner
Tina Finneran
Kathryn Glowen
Aaron Haba
Jeffrey Hanks
Jan Hoy
Chelsea Jepson
Charles Krafft
Jim Kraft
Tom Lindsay
Kristin Loffer Theiss
Ann Morris
Ries Niemi
Peregrine O'Gormley
Brian O'Neill
Chris Theiss
Andrew Vallee
Arno Zielke
Barbara Zielke
John Zylstra

Look forward to seeing you there!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Robert McCauley, "Refusing to Only Paint"

"Stop Making Sense," 41"x29," 2011

Robert McCauley, “Refusing to Only Paint”

October 1 - 30, 2011

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 1st (5-8pm)

This exhibition is a homecoming for Robert McCauley, who recently returned to his beloved Skagit Valley. Constantly colliding different worlds, such as land and sea, man and beast, wildlife and machine, McCauley draws on larger themes of humankind's impact on nature.

McCauley has had a long and successful career with shows at galleries and museums in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle. He received his bachelor of arts from Western Washington University where he was heavily influenced by R. Allen Jensen, a Smith & Vallee Gallery artist well-known for his mixed media assemblages. After that he went on to receive a master of fine arts from Washington State University where he studied with another influential Northwest artist, Gaylen Hansen. Before his return to Skagit, McCauley was a professor and chairman of the art department at Rockford College in Illinois. McCauley currently resides in Mount Vernon.

Images courtesy of Linda Hodges Gallery

"If You Go Down to the Woods Today," 53"x37," 2011

"Atomic Man Slips in Undetected," 41"x28," 2011

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Smith & Vallee Woodworks Catalogue

IT'S HERE!

We've been working on this catalogue of Smith & Vallee Woodworks' projects for about a year now and are finally finished! This 250 page volume can be flipped through on the web and in the gallery. If you're a past or present client, take a look! You might even see your own project!

Smith & Vallee Woodworks | Make Your Own Book

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Beginning Sept. 3rd - Lisa Gilley, "Northwest Paintings

Lisa Gilley, “Northwest Paintings”
September 3 - 25, 2011
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 3rd (5-8pm)

Skagit Flats Sky (42"x36")

In her second solo show at Smith & Vallee Gallery, Lisa Gilley explores the Northwest palate and subject matter in a new medium, oil paint. Although best known for pastels on paper, oil painting allows her to work in a larger scale, creating a monumental sense of place.

Growing up in the farmlands Skagit Valley, with hands in the dirt and feet in the tidelands, this regional terrain pulses through Gilley’s artwork. Her layered skies convey perpetual motion and the restless stirring of the land.

Indian Island Slough (24"x48")

Skagit Delivery

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

1st Annual Smith & Vallee Garden Party on the Edison Slough!

SAVE THE DATE

YOU'RE INVITED!
1st Annual Smith & Vallee Gallery Garden Party on the Edison Slough
Friday, August 12th (6-9pm)

Help us celebrate an exciting year at Smith & Vallee Gallery at our 1st Annual Garden Party! Join us in the Vallee’s back garden along the Edison Slough with other Smith & Vallee patrons, members, and artists alike!

This is an event open to all Smith & Vallee members and prospective members. With live music from legendary Edison bluesman Daddy Treetops, catering by our hometown favorite Farm-to-Market Bakery, and row-boat Slough tours - this is certainly not an event to miss!

Gallery Members will have a chance to win a painting by Todd Horton, and if you’re not a member yet, it’s never to late to sign up (membership information below)!

Friday, August 12, 2011 (6-9pm)
Please RSVP by August 10th.

To RSVP or learn more about Smith & Vallee Gallery Membership, call the gallery at 360-766-6230 or email us at info@smithandvallee.com.
Hope to see you there!

Friend of the Gallery Membership Plan

- Artist Studio Tours
- Invitation to Annual Events such as our Summer Garden Party
- Invitation to the Inventory Auction
- 5% off any artwork in our exhibitions or inventory
- 5% off any woodwork commission
- Gallery catalogues at cost
- Other programs, tours, events

$99 per year for individuals ($8.25/mo)
$149 per year for households ($12.42/mo)

Saturday, July 23, 2011

"Flora/Fauna" at Smith & Vallee Gallery

“FLORA/FAUNA”
August 6 - 28, 2011
Opening Reception: Saturday, August 6th (5-8pm)

As the Skagit opens up its summer blossoms, Smith & Vallee Gallery is proud to present a group exhibition centered around the theme “FLORA/FAUNA.” Moving beyond standard wildlife tableaux, this exhibition also explores the human impact and relationship with nature.

Artists include: Shelley Muzylowski Allen, Carol Berry, Paul Brower, David Eisenhour, Kathryn Glowen, Karen Hackenberg, Todd Horton, Kat Houseman, Peregrine O’Gormley, Ann Reid, Jasmine Valandani, Andrew Vallee.

Kathryn Glowen
"Sea of Magic”
Acrylic, wasp nest paper, dictionary page fragments on canvas, 36”x36”

Karen Hackenberg
“Forbearance"
Oil on canvas, 36”x72”

Ann Reid
"Species"
Cut paper, polymer clay, board and brackets, 42" x 8" x 8"

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

"The Salish Sea" & "A River Story"

"the salish sea"
06/04/2011 - 06/26/2011
opening reception:
saturday, june 4th (5-8pm)

An exhibition of over 15 Northwest artists focusing on the sea as subject matter.

Robert McCauley, "Moments After Capsizing," 1996, 45"x68"

Special Performance: "A RIVER STORY"
Saturday, June 11th
Light reception: 5:30pm
Performance begins: 6:30pm

"The Salish Sea" also coincides with "A RIVER STORY."

A dramatic reading, adapted by Anna Linzer and Elizabeth Huddle, of Linzerʼs novel “A RIVER STORY,” a new novel that takes place in Fishtown, a creative settlement of artists, poets, and scholars on the Skagit River beginning in the late 1960s. First performed last summer at Western Bridge in Seattle, this will be only the second staging of “A RIVER STORY.” “River Story,” collaborative artwork by Eli Hansen and Oscar Tuazon, will also be on view through the month of June.

Eli Hansen, "Skagit River Delta," 2008

Charles Krafft, "Empty River Series," 1971

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Story of a Kitchen - Fahringer & Worman Residence

(before)

Some of our favorite gallery patrons, Susan & Keith, recently got a new kitchen from Smith & Vallee Woodworks. They first thought that they couldn't afford us, but once we did an exploratory bid they realized that we were in their reach.

We don't expect that our clients know about managing a kitchen project so we were happy to help them know when they needed to make decisions, and walked them through the process. The result is a new set of cabinets made out of sustainably harvested cherry in their Ballard home.