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Opening Reception- Sharon Spencer at Rob Schouten Gallery
April 6 @ 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Rob Schouten Gallery presents
Sharon Spencer
bronze and stone sculpture
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 6 from 5 – 7
During Langley’s First Saturday Art Walk
Sharon Spencer has had a long and distinguished career as both a stone sculptor and bronze sculptor. Walking into the gallery, almost all of our visitors are drawn to the sensuous beauty of Sharon’s sculptures. Their simple elegant lines and extraordinary patina finishes strike a deep chord, and almost automatically has one reaching out to softly run one’s hands along the sculptures’ forms.
In recent years health issues made it increasingly difficult for Sharon to continue working, leading to her retirement this past year, and subsequent moving away from Whidbey Island after having been part of our arts community for more than twenty years.
The gallery is celebrating the accomplishments of this extraordinary artist and exhibiting the last available works in bronze and stone. Included are both stylized figurative and abstract pieces in a variety of sizes and patinas.
Born in Salinas, California, Sharon began her love affair with carving after leaving her high school teaching position in the 1970’s.
“Carving for me is very exiting. It can be very deliberate and thought-out, or it can be totally free, with no idea in mind as to the direction I might go. The spirit of the piece seems to be within, and coming out of the material, as well as within and from me. At times it feels as if someone outside myself is doing the carving.”
After a number of years working in stone, Spencer began her exploration of bronze, and with it, her exploration of the amazing patinas that give her work such characteristic color. Patinas are a treatment of the bronze with various salts, minerals and acids that react chemically with the bronze to change its color. Working with Artworks Foundry in Oakland, Sharon became a master at this, and often has her pieces look like stone or marble, or getting deep reds and lapis blues, or delicate feather patterns.
Sharon’s work reflects her fascination with Native American, Eskimo, and Asian cultures. It affirms her respect for animals and the earth, and this thread is constant throughout her body of work, which ranges from large outdoor abstract pieces to small-scale, figurative work.
Her materials can also vary from bronze or found natural materials, such as sticks and grasses to sandstone, steatite and Italian translucent alabaster, pulps and bamboo. Besides her exploration of avian forms, a recurring theme is that of the vessel, whether in bronze or stone, in the form of a nest or water basin.
We hope you can come by and enjoy the beauty!
Rob Schouten Gallery, a premier showcase for Whidbey Island and Northwest artists, is located at 101 Anthes Avenue, Langley WA at the corner of First and Anthes. Winter gallery hours: Weekends 11 – 5; Tuesdays & Wednesdays by Appointment, and other Weekdays 11 – 4.
For further information, call 360.222.3070 or email info@robschoutengallery.com
RSG #1 – Shadow Dancer – bronze by Sharon Spencer – 14.5”h x 21”w x 7”d
