These three artists explore, in three distinct manners, spirituality and emotion in all aspects of life.  Jacquline Hurlbert’s work, Beneath the Surface explores human psyche through ceramic sculpture, while Rhonda Grudenic Burke’s oil paintings, Peace Against The Wall consider landscape as metaphor, and Ruth Armitage’s series of watercolor paintings, Personalities focuses on the drama of everyday life.

 

Jacquline Hurlbert has been working in her chosen medium since the early seventies. She has spent the last three decades honing her interests to exploration of the human form. For Hurlbert it is more then considering what the human body appears as, it is more important to her to explore what lies beneath the skin. What interests Hurlbert is “the accumulation of all of life’s xperiences that we wear on our skin. What you see is the top layer of a multi-layered creature, each layer a direct result of the experiences of the layer before it.” Hurlbert’s hand- formed sculpture isn’t always dominated by the figure, sometimes there are elements in a piece that link the work to human experience through metaphor, or alteration of the human form. The incorporation of oversized feet and hands, the elongation of the body, are intentional elements used to give a sense of strength and stamina, to provide the ability “to stand alone in the face of opposition”. Hurlbert’s work is saturated with a raw gracefulness that consistently provides a sense of comfort and protection. She has exhibited her work throughout the United States, has been included in the national publication Ceramics Monthly and has been featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Oregon Art Beat program.

 

Rhonda Grudenic Burke, a long time resident of Clatsop County, presents a new series of work titled Peace Against The Wall. Grudenic Burke, an oil painter known for ethereal depictions of landscape, has continued with the exploration of the cerebral and spiritual sense of our world. Grudenic Burke’s work consistently houses an intense yet quiet quality of light and spirit. Through a process unique to this painter, she reveals and uncovers multiple layers of contemplation evoking a sense of place and peace. It is apparent that her intent is to provide “a means for others to move freely between the spiritual and physical worlds.” The viewer is invited , sometimes by a lone figure to travel into this alter plane, to consider what might lie beyond the shrouds of mist, and step into the elusive light. Grudenic Burke will be featured on Oregon Art Beat in October. Her work has found its way into many private collections including that of the recently crowned King of Saudi Arabia and the actress Naomi Watts.

 

 

Ruth Armitage, who is a signature member of both the Northwest Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society brings to RiverSea Gallery, Personalities, a collection of watercolor paintings about people. Armitage is known throughout the Northwest for her bold use of color and shape. She uses both of these elements to establish a personal connection to her figures. “By painting semi -abstracted figures, I hope to allow the viewer room to feel a kind of ownership for my people. My paintings relate themes of endurance, joy, song , determination, and mystery.” Armitage’s goal in painting is to communicate. Her figures are carefully exaggerated to represent her own personality as well as to establish a connection between viewer and a sometimes evocative sense of emotion. Armitage has been a featured artist on Oregon Art Beat as well. She also has earned several titles of recognition and is an elected board member to the Watercolor Society of Oregon.

 

Although all three artists work in very different forms of expression, they have a defining connection to one another. All three have represented the emergence of the human spirit through metaphor. Each has carefully considered the impact of everyday life issues, the big and the small, trauma, loss and the consequential growth of the spirit as a result.