This month, Parklane Gallery will feature three artists: watercolorists Maggie LeMoine and Linda Hulce and photographer Larey McDaniel. Because Parklane is an artist-owned cooperative, it rotates its featured artists based on when they joined; in general, the rotation is 18 months.
Each month two new prospective artists are evaluated by the now 36-member gallery and are voted in by a two-thirds decision. According to board president and featured artist, Larey McDaniel, "as the gallery gets more full, we might be a little more choosy. There was a time when a simple majority brought in a new artist."
Once a member, each artist gets a single four-foot wall but may opt to rent up to eight feet of space. Membership is a six-month obligation then goes month to month. Member-artists may choose which piece to display, but there are certain guidelines in the by-laws that govern the physical layout of the display. For instance, one can't encroach on a neighbor; the piece can't be too close to the floor or the edge of the wall; and the walls shouldn't be overlapping. Variances are permitted but must be approved by the hanging committee.
Tenure determines where in the gallery the art is displayed. New members are relegated to the back and work their way forward. The numbers one and two spots are for the featured artists.
Larey McDaniel, photographer
This soft-spoken, self-taught professional photographer lives a parallel life as a professional classical musician. Originally from the mountains of northeastern Oregon, McDaniel lost his father at the age of four. As a second-grader, he and his mother moved to Bremerton where he began to study the clarinet.
He says with a laugh, "In junior high, the band director said I was so bad that I had to take lessons. So for $2 every Friday night, I took a three-hour lesson." The teacher happened to be in the John Philip Sousa band. At this point, the young McDaniel also embarked on his career as a photographer - for the school wind ensemble.
A few decades later and McDaniel is still on the same path. He photographs the Seattle Symphony for his "day job." Then, almost parenthetically, he adds that he's a bass clarinetist with the symphony. Oh, and he was also a member of the World's Fair band here in Seattle in 1960. And he used to play in the opera.
The accomplished musician/photographer even got to play at Carnegie Hall last April for the Seattle Symphony's historic first performance there. Once again, he performed double-duty, this time with a bit of a twist. Since he was never given a press pass, he bent the rules and shot from his seat - which was clearly verboten - but pretended not to know better. The opportunity was too irresistible.
When asked how he would label himself, he immediately says, "I consider myself a musician.
"I've always had an interest in fine art photography, but it wasn't until digital [got popular] that I got interested. All of a sudden I had my own darkroom without the smelly chemicals."
His work schedule with the symphony is flexible with varied days off, which allows for a certain amount of travel and day trips. He has frequented Mount Rainier, Glacier National Park and various parks that are off the beaten path in Utah.
Perhaps to accommodate his penchant for panoramics, a favorite technique of McDaniel's is "stitching" multiple images together, where sometimes eight prints will become one. He performs this technique himself and sends his work out to a special lab, which produces his photos on lightjet (long-lasting photographic) paper. The lab's limit is 30 x 60, which McDaniel indicated noted a bit woefully; he'd like to go even bigger.
His April show will be entitled, "The Big Picture," and will feature digital images of large floral close-ups from the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival as well as panoramas from Mount Rainer and Glacier National Parks.
Linda Hulce and Maggie LeMoine
The fact that Linda Hulce and Maggie LeMoine are both watercolorists and featured in the same show is no accident. They are inseparable friends with gregarious personalities who both recently got into watercolors - somewhat accidentally. They often do plein aire (outdoor) painting together and decided to do their shows together, as they did in November.
Hulce describes their fated meeting in 1994: "I was taking an adult class on leadership. I wear a very large ruby and diamond ring. I saw another woman with a similar ring and I knew I had to get to know who she was. She was just as outrageous as I was and we've become very good friends." Hulce is also a reverend and just performed the wedding for LeMoine's daughter in January.
They both joined Parklane in the spring of 2002 and paint regularly with the Mercer Island Visual Arts League, an open studio group on Mercer Island which is full of "very professional, seasoned artists. "I'm always a little bit intimidated," says Hulce.
They also both painted at the Alki Bathhouse for four years before it was remodeled. LeMoine remembers an art-savvy grandfather bringing his twin grandchildren there every Sunday from the time they were babies. "He talked to them about art constantly - about oils and light. He was helping them educate their eyes from the time they were little."
As of 1998, Linda Hulce is a confirmed oil painter turned watercolorist, two completely opposite art forms. With oil, you paint from dark to light, Hulce explained. Watercolor is light to dark. As an oil painter, she would "cover the paper so there's no light left and then bring things into it. With water, you plan where your light spots are going to be." She admitted that her habits created as an oil painter for 30 years were hard to break. "My teacher, Zolton Szabo, said, 'You love your mud!' To which I said, 'I love my mud.' He was an absolutely charming instructor. And I did see that I didn't have to go to mud as quickly as I did!"
For her current show, Hulce is focusing on shapes, forms and intersections - how things connect and how they move - especially around the human form.
Between her full-time job selling software for Microsoft and the usual winter-time weather restrictions, Hulce has resorted to painting more from drawings than pleine aire. "I love to paint outdoors," she says wistfully. "Usually, I haul all my junk into the woods and sit down and paint furiously."
For her drawings, she uses counte crayon (heavy, waxy graphite stick), draws with it and smears it to attain the desired look. This is a classic method of drawing where the final piece is typified by charcoal and heavy graphite piece. She is now taking these drawing and leapfrogging into watercolor, mostly of the human form. "A couple will be landscapey," she says.
Maggie LeMoinealso loves to paint outside: "When I'm plein aire painting, the strong emotions I feel are put onto the paper. The moment is captured in the painting."
LeMoine has always wanted to paint in watercolor. "One class and I was hooked. I sold my business and I have painted full time ever since."
LeMoine owned a towing company in Seattle for 25 years and also helped out the KOMO AM road ranger team - the free interstate service that helps stranded motorists. "I decided I wasn't having as much fun as I should," she says. "So I took off the past five years to paint."
She wishes she knew then what she knows now. "Combining art with business would have been a whole new experience as a business owner. Moving to the other side of the brain would've really reduced my stress."
The former tow truck owner is thrilled that she made the leap. "I am truly enjoying every minute of what I'm doing. I am so aware of everything that's going on. How the wind moves something, how the light hits something. For me, it's the process of putting things down on paper and having people look at it."
LeMoine is also the chairperson for the Northwest Watercolor Open National Show at the Washington Trade and Convention Center, which opens April 1-June 23.
Miniature Show
Parklane Gallery is holding its 13th Annual Juried International Miniature Show May 3 through June 5. An opening reception and awards ceremony will be held May 6 from 6-9 p.m. The preview date is May 5, from 4-6 p.m.
To be accepted, these miniatures have to be no larger than 5"x7", including frame; images have to be one-sixth of life size. The entire piece must fit through a template (similar to the carry-on luggage cut-out in airports). If it doesn't fit, it's disqualified.
More than 250 entries from many countries around the world are expected. In the past, entries have come in from India, Australia, the United Kingdom, Iraq and all over the United States. Approximately 150 miniatures will be represented, all of which will be for sale.
Every medium is accepted, save photography. Each artist may submit up to five pieces.
Cash and merchandise awards total over $1,000. For more information, you may e-mail Susanne Werner at Werner@parklanegallery.com.
Parklane Gallery is located at 130 Park Lane, 827-1462, www.parklanegallery.com. Hours: Monday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., closed Monday, April 4. Exhibit runs from April 5 to May 1. Kirkland Art Walk, April 14, 6-9 p.m. [[In-content Ad]]
