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Artist Statement
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My inspiration is born from the works of Matisse, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Kandinsky and others. I am fascinated by the ability of intense
Colour is a power that directly influences the soul.
-Kandinsky
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color and texture of line to convey an emotional expression from the artist to the viewer. I create images that are recognizable to welcome the viewer into the scene. By using vivid color, freedom of line, and simplicity of shapes, I try to instill in the viewer feelings of joy and well being which are within us all, but often need coaxing. I draw with oil pastels because it makes me feel good and energized, and I want the viewer to experience that same energy that inspires me to create. My use of black outlines around the shapes are deliberate and necessary and intend only to define and intensify the emotion of my work. I do not work from photos as my imagery is taken from either a memory, or an impression, or creative thought. I wish my work to be viewed as how I see it in my mind’s eye, not from a lens.
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Artist Story
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I started working professionally in the arts about a year after I graduated fom the University of Washington (Seattle) in 1988. My first creative works were hand-pulled serigraphs (or silk-screen prints). I do not recall how many actual images I created, but I hand-printed and sold my serigraphs until 1996. It was at that time I finally realized that all those printing inks, thinning solvents and screen cleaning chemicals were extremely toxic and very harmful to my health. So I turned to what I have always found enjoyable - drawing. Creating screens to print through required my drawing of course, but silk-screening did not allow me to be spontaneous with colour and texture.
Me at my booth, Circa 1993
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Every serigraph I produced was totally planned out in advance. There was not room to change an idea in mid-stream. So I looked for a drawing medium that was still hands-on and intense in color. I had purchased a set of oil pastels but had not yet found the time to experiment with them; I was still printing serigraphs - I had to make a living of course.
The event that prompted me to work with the oil pastels full-time was the following: I had loaded up my truck to go to an art festival to sell over the weekend in Corvallis ,OR. I arrived in Corvallis on time and proceeded to check into my hotel. They did not have my reservation, but they discovered they had booked me for the following weekend. No problem, there were plenty of rooms. I then went to the show site to start setting up and saw not a soul. No spaces were marked and there was no staff around to answer questions. I finally dawned on me that I drove down on the wrong weekend! I turned around and drove home. So there I was, completely ready for this show, all my book keeping was caught up, and all my orders were filled. So finding myself with a completely open week, I decided to finally experiment with the oil pastels that I bought. I almost immediately discovered that I loved to work with the oil pastels. I could not believe that it took me so long to figure that out.
"Island Nights" serigraph 1994
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I fell in love with the colours and the feeling of freedom to be able to add spontaneity to my work. Using black paper as the background to my drawings occured right away, since I was already silk-screening on it and I had 100's of sheets. Also, as it turns
Deepwater, 18 screen serigraph Circa 1993
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out, the black paper I had been printing on, I discovered, was a paper designed to be used by pastel artists. My work has grown quite a bit since I first started silk-screening and even since I first started to draw with the pastels.The style that you see is uniquely me. It is my natural drawing style. I do not work from photos. I discovered early on that if I see a photo, I will try to make my image look like the photo. One, I do not do that very well and two, I do not wish to create realistic drawings. If I just let myself freely draw what I see in my mind's eye, I believe that my energy is fully expressed in the finished work. This is what I wish to portray and for the viewer to experience.
An interesting side note about my unique style, is that I can see the definite effect that the years of creating serigraphs has my oil pastel work. Serigraphs have very sharp edges to color areas because you print through stencils. I became accustom to the look. In general, in my pastel drawings, I don't
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| "Valley Vista" oil pastel, 2000 Portland Arts Festival Poster Image |
like the large color areas to touch. On a conscious level, the black outlines in my work serve to deliberatly define and intensify the emotion of my work. But on an unconscious level, they perhaps originate from my serigraph days of creating stencils and I am creating that stencil-like appearance. Also, I have noticed that I will work on a single area of a drawing exclusively. I will not start another area of the drawing until what I am currently working on is completely done. This harkens back again to when I would hand-print one stencil at a time on a serigraph. I still may go back and do a some
additional colour work on my drawing (my sponteneity will kick in), but in general I don't work on several different areas of a drawing at the same time.
I am currently still working on my art full-time and making my living from it. The year 2008 is my 18th year doing so. I hope that I can still continue to impress you with my work as it grows with me. Thank you for your support!
I welcome your e-mails...brett
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Some of my more recent Commissions & Projects:
2007 - The Pastel Journal Magazine - October 2007 Issue - full page article
2006 - Bella Strada Arts Fest., Bellingham WA Event Artist
2005 - Featured Artist in Whatcom Symphony Calendar
2005 - Skagit Vally Tulip Festival Official Artist See poster above. Click to purcahse from festival store
2004 - Volume 1 American Art Collector, published by Alcove Books. I am a featured artist in this publication
2003 - Neurodisk / Capital Records Commission
Album art commission for recording artist Eric Hansen. Album name "Colores del Alma". Click this link to hear the album (barnes & noble) or try CD Universe
2002-2003 OneHeart, OneWorld International Exhibition
I was one of 20 US artists to participate in this UNESCO/NHK sponsored event. The event combined artwork with poems from people with a disability. The exhibit traveled worldwide with a stop at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.
2002 - Jan issue of Oregon Home Magazine - short bio on my work
2000 - Portland Arts Festival / Portland Rose Festival poster commission
2000 - Poster Commission by the Corvallis Arts Commission, Corvallis ,OR
RECENT AWARDS
2007 - Festival Award, Art & Air Fine Art Show, St. Louis MO
2007 - Festival Award, Saratoga Fine Art Show, Saratoga CA
2004 - 1st Place Drawing , Portland Arts Festival, Portland OR
2003 - 1st Place Drawing , Portland Arts Festival, Portland OR
2003 - “Critics Choice” Award, Corvallis Fall festival, Corvallis OR
2003 - 2nd Place Drawing category, Edmonds Arts Festival, Edmonds WA
2002 - 2nd place Drawing category , Portland Arts Festival, Portland OR
2001 - 2nd place Drawing category , Portland Arts Festival, Portland OR
2000 - 1st place Fine Art category , ARTFEST, NW Museum of Arts & Culture, Spokane WA
2000 - 2nd place Drawing category , Portland Arts Festival, Portland OR
1994 - Best of Show , Wenatchee Apple Blossom Festival, Wenatchee WA
---& several more.....
SHOWNGS
2006 - St. Louis Fine Arts Festival - St Louis, MO
2005 - Washington State Convention Center , 2nd Floor Exhibit Space - Seattle WA
2006 - 2001 Utah Arts Festival ,Salt Lake City , UT
2006 - 2001 Bellevue Festival of the Arts , Bellevue WA
2006 - 2001 Kings Mt Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA
2004 - Vivid Distractions, 2-man show, Allied Arts Gallery - Bellingham WA
2004 - Cascade AIDS Project juried Auction Exhibit - Portland OR
2004 - 1994 Best of the Northwest, Seattle WA
2004 & 2006- New Originals show, feature exhibition, Potlatch Gallery - Poulsbo WA
2001, 2003, 2006 Spring to Art / Art Walk, feature exhibition, State of the Arts Gallery - Olympia WA
Many,many more... ( 18 YEARS WORTH of Juried Art Exhibitions in N. America )
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