The Gunnar Nordstrom Gallery will feature two artists in March. The first is Lori-ann Latremouille, who works in charcoal and colored pastels. The second is Lynda Meurk Anderson, who works with Intaglio and mixed media. The show will run from March 9 - April 10. There will be a private preview and artist reception on March 9 from 6-9 p.m. The Kirkland Artwalk is March 10 from 6-9 p.m.
The gallery is located at 127 Lake Street, telephone is 827.2822, Web site is www. gunnarnordstrom.com.
Lori-ann Latremouille
This is Latremouille's fourth exhibit at the Gunnar Nordstrom Gallery since 1999. Over the past 20 years, the self-taught artist and singer/songwriter has displayed her charcoal and colored pastel creations in more than 40 galleries and museums, mainly throughout the Pacific Northwest but also in Florida, British Columbia, London, and Switzerland.
Her publicist Bob Kochs, who owns Augen Gallery in Portland, has featured her work no less than a dozen times since 1987. Without resorting to platitudes, he describes her prowess in no uncertain terms.
"Charcoal is one of the hardest media to control," says Kochs. "It's messy dealing with dust and controlling the dust. She has developed a way of working with it that allows her not only to control it but does it in the most proficient way I've ever seen."
The artist lends a three-dimensional feeling to her work by the way she shapes her forms. She uses simple media, such as birch sticks, and "coaxes these very dense images out of them that are very complex compositions," adds Kochs.
The Vancouver-born artist describes her creations: "Charcoal and pastel provide the sensuous black and white tones which give the work a certain strength and vitality. The initial lines surface, creating positive and negative spaces, which in turn evolve into forms. Within these forms new shapes emerge and metamorphose," she says. Then, she adds, "the image literally blooms on the paper."
Her work is decidedly surreal and often sensual, depicting multi-ethnic human figures with animalistic leanings. They possess a certain amount of "naïveté and primitive quality," says Kochs, which he finds commensurate to some Mexican master muralists. Many of the human subjects in her work are embued with spiritual attributes of animals.
Latremouille explains: "the figures, half animal and half human, fish, birds, flora and fauna all intertwine and interlock. My work tries to display our inseparable bond with nature and all universal forms."
Also a recording artist
Her artistic expression doesn't end on paper. Four years ago, Latremouille released a CD called "Find My Way," an independent endeavor that reflects her path of self discovery. Her music is a compilation of rock, R&B, and jazz. She is self-taught on percussion and guitar, noting that "experience is the best teacher." To this end, some of her songs hearken of gritty reality, while some reveal her softer side. Fittingly, one of her major influences is Bob Dylan.
"With or without intention, we will always return to earth," says Latremouille. "To a certain extent, we have lost touch with this reality. In some way, I hope my artwork can serve to remind people, even just for an instance, of this vital connection."
Lori-ann Latremouille's Web site is www.latremouille.tripod.com. Her e-mail is angusloriann@telus.net.
Linda Meurk Anderson
You won't find any moss growing between her toes - or anywhere near - printmaker Lynda Meurk Anderson. Not only does her busy life preclude it, but she also happens to be a self-taught gardener whose three and a half acre garden is going to be profiled in the June issue of "Seattle Homes & Lifestyles." No moss here, that's for sure.
A fifth generation Seattleite currently living in Mt. Baker with a second home and multi-level, multi-themed garden on Lopez Island, Lynda Meurk Anderson's monoprints, etchings and collages will be featured at Gunnar Nordstrom Gallery in March. Her love of gardening and nature is infused in her work, channeling creations that are airy, flowing, and reflective of the seasons.
"I LOVE to grow things and I think my art really reflects that," she says. "I'm also really aware of light and water. And I love the fall when everything is decomposing and going back into the ground. You get the sense of the cycles of life and your own spirit and growing up. When I do my work, all these things come out."
Printmaking
Anderson combines different printmaking techniques, but the majority of her work consists of monoprints. These are one-of-a-kind pieces where she paints on a plate, then lays paper over the plate, and runs it through the press. Many times she will add more ink and "it becomes something else," she says.
Her repertoire also showcases collages which feature etchings (where the plate is scratched with a tool or with acid), linocuts, wood blocks and collagraphs (textured plates that are inked and run through the press - the opposite of etchings). She also uses photographs on the plates and makes prints from leaves and other organic materials from her garden on Lopez. When her print is finished, the artist usually will draw or paint on top of it "to pull it together or enhance the properties."
Anderson's home on Lopez is a creative outlet for the artisan, who also does weaving, knitting, clothing design, felting, dyeing and painting. "We've done so much remodeling and designing and rebuilding [on the Lopez house]. I love architecture and architectural forms and shapes. Some of my pieces you really do see an architectural element," she says. "I try to pull the viewer in, to tell my story. I'm not really conscious of that, it just sort of happens." With interior design and remodeling, Anderson admittedly is budget-oriented and "loves to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse."
Creativity is the life-blood that connects her family. Her father was a shipbuilder, who, in his retirement, currently builds ship models. Her husband, a dentist, is a budding metal artist during his off hours. (Lest he get bored, Anderson gave her husband a tractor for his 50th birthday.) Their home on Lopez sports connected "his and her" work spaces: a metal shop and an artist's studio that they designed themselves. They have two grown boys, one of whom wants to be a comedy writer; the other is getting a Ph.D. in neuroscience at Stanford.
When it comes to printmaking ... or gardening ... or anything she sets her mind to, the modest, understated artist admittedly becomes "fanatical." She delves into her project and doesn't look back. "Read, read, read and learn, learn, learn," she says good-humoredly. However, the finished product is not weighted down by her heady research; quite the opposite is true. The viewer will palpably feel the movement and flow of the prints and simultaneously be soothed by their simplicity and commitment to nature.
"I love doing this and I want people to get enjoyment from my work," she says. "This has been my joy."
To see a display of Lynda Meurk Anderson's prints, visit www.angelfire.com/wa3/lma. You can e-mail her at lyndalma@yahoo.com.[[In-content Ad]]
