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Amy Roberts: “Vector 4” 39 x 10 x 7 inches. Wood, Plexiglas, metal.
Most Bainbridge Islanders know the coffee and pastries of Coquette Bake Shop in the open-sided Winslow Mall. Of course, they know Teriyaki Town and Lollipop Children’s Boutique. But perhaps visitors, and some Islanders, miss what is on the second floor. Among the offerings upstairs is the Amy Roberts Sculpture Gallery. It may seem tiny, but the work inside is large, powerful and visually exciting. Roberts has held a continuous solo exhibition of her works for the past seven years.
The gallery is much like a jewel box with glowing wall reliefs and sculptures on pedestals. Many of the artworks do seem to glow. Roberts plays with light and shadow. She says she creates “area of resonance,” not just light, but “how light plays with the dark.” Transparent black and frosted clear or white plexiglass is frequently used to obfuscate what is beneath, using the blur to spark the viewer’s imagination with what is mysteriously inside. While not illuminating her work from within, the works change all day long as the day’s light shifts. Her works are alive with this dance of light.
In their static state Roberts’ sculptures are minimalist constructions of wood, plexiglass, metal and glass elements. The elegant Vector Series also includes metal threads. Roberts thinks of the threads in particular as drawings. The wedge-shaped relief sculptures can stand alone, but also hang well together, playing off one another. She uses mirror glass inside which boosts and accentuates the light bouncing within its interior.
Other works, such as “Source 1,” display an intricate linear element across a broad field. These create a streak of contrast, a decorative flourish. These elements and patches (“Light Study II”), like the whole of her sculptures, are composed of readily found, common materials: wire and metal mesh wrapping, thread and fabric, ram-board (common in the construction trade), twigs and wood. Some of the luscious textures are achieved by burning the wood, like charcoal. So raw in theory once you know its secret, but a texture so elegant for the work itself.
Amy Roberts brings a lot of experience to her work, to her gallery. For 35 years she has worked from Bainbridge, right after she was awarded an NEA (National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship) for her early work in glass. She has exhibited in a number of Pilchuck and glass related invitational exhibitions nationally and internationally. She has some locally installed public oriented sculptures too at Eagle Harbor Congregational Church, at our Public Library and at the Norm Dicks Government Center Building in Bremerton.
Roberts was included in BIMA’s “Revering Nature” exhibition in 2017, and held a two-person exhibition in 2019 of her work at The Art Project Gallery, the immediate predecessor and somewhat briefly renamed Bainbridge Ats & Crafts Gallery. However, since her Gallery is also her studio, the works on display include the freshest sculptures an artist can present along with a selection of other recent works.
Amy Roberts Sculpture Gallery
278 Winslow Way East, Suite 200
The gallery is open Thursday – Sunday from 1:00 – 5:00 pm. Monday – Wednesday the gallery is open by request. Please call 206-317-4350
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ABOUT BILL BARAN-MICKLE: 2020 Island Treasure Awardee. Recently, Bill has enjoyed exhibiting in several international art biennial exhibitions. Of the three in which he has participated, he won Third Place for Sculpture from the European Confederation of Art Critics in the Chianciamo Biennale, at the Chianciano Art Museum in Italy in 2011, and First Place in Applied Arts in the London Biennale of 2013. In 2013 alone, he will have participated in eight exhibitions: from London to a two-person exhibition near home. In addition, Bill was asked to be a representative for CCAC’s exhibition celebrating 100 years of the Metals Department, and a mix of group shows in New York City, Miami, Seattle and Las Vegas. Bill is the designer of the 10 foot Equitorial Bowstring Sundial located at the Richie Observatory in Battle Point Park on Bainbridge Island, WA and completed in 2015.