2010 Painting
Ken Kelly
Over the past 25 years, Ken has supported himself off and on with his artwork, as well as typesetting and most recently, art installation and packing at various museums. The most rewarding thing has been teaching, which he's done sporadically since 1990 at Cornish College of the Arts, Kirkland Arts Center and Bellevue Art Museum. He has also worked with elementary schoolers at workshops at Henry Art Gallery. It has been a great opportunity to "pass it on" and keep the cycle flowing by helping new artists find their way.
Margie Livingston - 2010 Fellowship Recipient
Margie earned an MFA from the University of Washington in 1999 and has been in several solo and group exhibitions since that time.
In 2009, she accepted a SOIL challenge for the Expo exhibit to use paint as a sculptural medium. Though she'd often used sculpture to clarify her ideas for painting, she found herself becoming curious about how paint could be used to construct objects. The goal and the results have been twofold, to make works that surprise her and to make works that transcend the personal by pointing to their historical roots.
As Sol LeWitt famously said, in the fifth of his Sentences on Conceptual Art: "Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically." Quixotic though the pursuit may turn out to be, I am utterly committed to it.
Matthew Offenbacher
Matthew would like to replace the notion of artist as self-reliant genius with the idea that artists, like everyone, are embedded in a matrix of relationships, influences, communities, personal and institutional forces, public and private modes of address, situations, economies, family. He wishes to make this matrix more visible in artwork.
Making paintings, publishing a fan-zine, drawing, collaborating on experimental exhibitions, writing, sculpting, community organizing, cooking, throwing parties, loving, reading - of all of these things, making paintings remains the most intractable, stubbornly autonomous, historically rich and sensuously difficult activity. Because of this, it remains central to his art making.
Joey Veltkamp
Joey Veltkamp is a self-taught artist who finds interaction with other artists crucial for his continued development. It makes sense that part of his practice involves creating spaces that encourage community. Through his writings, curating and other avenues, he fosters community by building bridges between disparate groups, doing what he can to make it a better place.
2010 Glass
Dante Marioni
Dante Marioni has worked with glass since he was 15, beginnning by focusing on the process and not so much on the material itself. Particularly interested in the Venetian way of working with it's teamwork, technique and history, he was trained by Lino Tagliapietra and continues to pass on Lino's techniques by travelling around the world demonstrating and teaching while pursuing his personal interpretations of classical design. Most recently, Dante has studied kiln-formed glass as a means to design three dimensional solid glass sculpture and fused projects. Dante has shown work in Tacoma, Virginia, Texas and Michigan and has work in various public collections around the world.
Richard Marquis - 2010 Fellowship Recipient
Richard Marquis received his MA from University of California, Berkeley and has exhibited his work in Seattle, Portland, Chicago, New York and abroad in Denmark, Italy and New Zealand. He describes himself as one of those people who can't help but make things. "When I can afford to, I blow glass with a small team and then fuss around and finish a variety of odd art objects. Other times I work alone and make work using various less expensive techniques including fusing, slumping,
Marvin Oliver
"My works are formulated by merging the spirit of past traditions with those of the present . . . to create new horizons for the future." Marvin Oliver's art reflects his Native American heritage. Although grounded in tradition, he pushes the envelope and experiments with different mediums and new technology. His interest is not in replicating existing procedures but creating new and inventive pathways of keeping glass alive and interactive! His next vision is to add that fourth dimension . . . holographic video encased in blown glass.
Sabrina Knowles | Jenny Pohlman
Sabrina Knowles and Jenny Pohlman have been collaborating successfully for 17 years and that alliance has shaped and driven their work with glass in its molten state, free-hand blowing and sculpting individual forms. These forms then become stylized elements in their visual vocabulary, working in series to convey a feeling or tell a story. Important themes to the artists are reverence, self-empowerment, healing, balance and grace. Knowles and Pohlman's work is technically challenging and often suspended or mechanically fastened by hand made mounting systems.
"Sabrina Knowles' and Jenny Pohlman's sculptural collaborations comprise a tapestry celebrating women and the female form, ancient civilizations, and references to rituals from other cultures."
--Margery Aronson, 2004. "Tapestry" show catalog, Duane Reed Gallery