Kenmore Poet Laureate
Elizabeth Wang
and
Kenmore Middle School 7th & 8th Grade Students
May 6 - June 13, 2025
Celebrate the talent of Kenmore youth! The gallery is pleased to present poems by Kenmore Youth Poet Laureate Elizabeth Wang, using the nom de plume R.S. Rosendell. Also featured are reverse value drawings in colored pencil, tempera paint and wax crayon by the talented 7th and 8th grade art students at Kenmore Middle School under the direction of teacher Amanda Spartz.
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Susan Christensen - Watercolor and Ink
Devin Elle Gaan - Photography
March 3 - April 30, 2025
Susan - I paint out of my head, to quote one of my grad school professors. Supernatural beings and spirits of all ethnicities are welcome in my work as a visual storyteller. I am especially invested in interpreting the myths of matriarchal cultures. I seek to express the resilience of our lovely mother
earth, our interbeing with her and the beautiful impermanence of every moment.
Devin - Hey you. Yes, you. Come over here. Check this out. I know you’re in a hurry… everyone is. But just take a minute. I made this for you. Actually, it’s for everyone who doesn’t feel like they have time to stop. The world is moving so fast, and society acts like it’s still not fast enough. And maybe cause we all have some place we gotta be, some thing we must do, there is no time to take a second look. Well, I’m just trying to slow it down for a bit. I’m taking that second look for us. This series is entirely of ordinary, everyday type stuff. It’s mostly forms and colors… little, easy to miss things. Some of it are things I’ve seen countless times before but never noticed cause I was moving too fast. But when I finally slowed down, I realized there was more beauty to appreciate than I ever knew. Beautiful objects and moments are everywhere and go by unnoticed. I captured them in photos to share with you because maybe you’ll start taking second looks. And maybe… you’ll start seeing a lot more beauty in your world.
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Camilla Bell – Holga Photography
Gary Rubin - Drawings
December 6, 2024-February 28, 2025
Camilla - The body of work I am presenting contains black-and-white photographs taken on medium format film using a plastic camera called a Holga. While technically considered a “toy” camera, the Holga is a surprisingly capable tool making photographs characterized by their square format, as well as the vignetting, distortion, and light leaks. The limitations of this type of camera have pushed me to create some of my best work to date. My photography is centered around interesting compositions of light and shadow, symmetry, and repetitive textures.
Gary - While in isolation for two years, my connection with the outside world was primarily through the art I created. I selected subjects that inspired me - that evoked an emotion or tapped into one of the many feelings I had, fueled by the challenges of the COVID and racial injustice pandemics. The subjects all lived within the frame of my television. And, from these subjects, I created compositions with a sketchbook, set of pencils, and an eraser that all reside on a TV tray.
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Alan Dale Riley Memorial Show
September 10-November 30, 2024
Alan Riley
1928 – 2023
Alan Riley was born and raised in Minnesota. He received degrees in Art and later a second degree in Social Work in 1960. He and his wife Jo Ann left Minnesota for the west coast in the 1960’s. Halfway to the coast they flipped a coin – California or Seattle. They arrived in Seattle and in 1968 purchased their life-long home in Kenmore.
Alan worked at Queen Anne High School as an art teacher then for the Seattle Model Cities Program, community organizer, environmental consultant and advocate. Alan was always creating. He practiced woodcuts, oil, acrylic and watercolor painting as well as line drawings. He also wrote plays and books. He self-published many books of sociology, philosophy and poetry.
Alan and Jo Ann were avid naturalists. They spent a great deal of time hiking in the Pacific Northwest mountains with their Newfoundland dogs.
Alan and his wife were founding lifetime members of the Arts of Kenmore. The Riley Estate donated the bulk of Alan’s artwork to support the Arts of Kenmore.
This show features a variety of his works including watercolors with ink, woodcuts and acrylics on board. All work is original and for sale. All proceeds from the sale of his work go to support the Arts of Kenmore.
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Maren Oates
July 5-August 31, 2024
Maren Oates is a self-taught, mixed-media artist trying to manage the chaos of motherhood through layers of color, texture, and thread. Her process begins by rolling acrylic paint onto a gel plate for printmaking. Before pulling a print, she’ll press found objects into the paint, creating interesting marks and textures. She repeats this process to build several unique printed layers, often masking sections using hand-cut stencils or leaves from the garden. Some of these prints become material for collage, but many are finished with lines of machine or hand stitching.
Though she mainly sews on paper, Maren’s work is influenced by the patterns, shapes, and colorful combinations in quilting designs. She also finds great inspiration, and interesting printing textures, from the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest.
Maren’s artwork has been exhibited regionally at the Schack Art Center (Everett, WA), Parklane Gallery (Kirkland, WA), Jansen Art Center (Bellingham, WA), Arts at the Port (Anacortes, WA), Columbia City Gallery (Seattle, WA), and Edmonds Arts Festival Gallery. She regularly teaches workshops on gel plate printmaking through the Schack Art Center and Red Sky Gallery in Lake Forest Park.
Learn more about her work at marenoates.com.
