September: Mary Farrell and Jim Lipp, Lisa Nappa and Roger Ralston
EXHIBITION DATES: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH – SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH
OPENING RECEPTION: 1st Friday Reception, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5TH, 5:00 – 8:00, free and open to the public
GALLERY HOURS: Fridays 12:00 – 8:00 PM, except day of exhibit opening: Saturdays 12:00 – 8:00 PM
EXHIBITION DESCRIPTIONS:
WEST GALLERY: “Words and Images”, Mary Farrell and Jim Lipp
Exhibition Description: Over the years I have frequently referenced my husband’s poetry in my prints. Sometimes as a title. Sometimes as a line or verse contextualized in the image. In this exhibition we are showing several of Jim’s poems alongside my images that reference our shared lives.
About Mary Farrell: Mary Farrell grew up in Northern Kentucky. She received her BFA from the Art Academy of Cincinnati and her MFA from the University of Cincinnati. In 1995 she moved to Spokane, Washington to run the printmaking program at Gonzaga University until she retired in 2020. She has won many awards including a Ky Foundation for Women grant in 1990, a Fellowship Grant from Artist Trust in 2000, an Honorary Visiting Professor in Printmaking from the Hubei Institute of Art in Wuhan, China in 2008, and in 2023 a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Rocky Mountain Printmaking Association. Her work is included in many private and public collections including Schio Municiple Collection, Schio Italy / Hubei Institute of Art, Wuhan, China / Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, Spokane WA / Portland Art Museum, Portland Oregon / China National Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, China / Jundt Art Museum, Spokane, WA / Lessedra Gallery Permanent Collection, Sofia, Bulgaria.
EAST GALLERY: West Gallery: “New Work”, Lisa Nappa and Roger Ralson
Exhibition Description: Exhibiting in the large space is new work by Roger Ralston and Lisa Nappa. The adventure in color continues, invoking the idea of seeing the world and making sense of it. Roger Ralston continues his chromatic odyssey through playful 3-dimensional figures and watercolors. This work references art history, politics and every day oddities to keep the sanity. Lisa Nappa in this series, is exploring her roots for her love of tradition ceramic techniques and materials. She has created collage like imagery on wall pieces that symbolize structures of the natural environment.
About the Artist - Lisa Nappa: Lisa Nappa is a ceramic sculptor and mixed media artist living in Spokane, Washington. For the last decade her work has been inspired by the beauty and underlying politics of water. Her pieces vary in scale, from small ceramic objects and large wall and window installations, to her playful mix media stools. She is regularly featured in exhibits. nationally and internationally, in addition to participating in residencies throughout the world. Lisa recently stepped down from being a Professor of Art at Eastern Washington University where she taught and headed Ceramics in the Art Department. She now spends blissful hours in the studio, traveling looking at art and the world. Though she will never completely shed her New York City upbringing, she loves her current life surrounded by the mountains, skies, and water of the Inland Northwest.
Roger Ralston’s Artist Statement: The Screaming Guys!
My making of objects turned to figures initially derived from Chinese bronze vessels. I did not directly derive my images from many figurative objects, but I have been looking and showing the images for 20 some years now. And, the human design pre-framework that everything is derived from human or quadrupedal systems of support and operation.
“The guys” (because I think of them mainly as guys) are also made during a time when
screaming has been the common form of cultural conversation. Many of the pieces were made in the time before the election last fall. Most are from the couple of months leading up to the election. I knew there would be screaming following the election, no matter the outcome. In terms of images, here is a partial list of where I have been looking:
Jomon figures from Japan,
Orans figures from the Byzantine mosaics,
Hindu images of Shiva, Ganesh, and Kali,
Dash board images of Jesus, Mary, and other saints,
Yoruba future pairs,
Benin Figures,
The Woman from Willendorf, and variations,
Cycladic Figures
Barbies,
American Girl dolls,
Dolls for spell casting,
Stuffed animal toys,
Costume drama costumes and settings,
Phillip Guston paintings (hooded clowns in particular),
Chinese bronze boxes.
About the artist Roger Ralston: Roger Ralston is an artist working in the Spokane, Washington area for the past 29 years. He previously worked in Seattle, Southern Louisiana, New York and Portland, Oregon. His work includes art in public places in Spokane and Seattle, and smaller scale gallery works. Roger Ralston has been an active member of the Saranac Art Projects as a member since 2008. He was an instructor at Eastern Washington University, and has also taught at Gonzaga and Spokane Falls Community College.
