WHERE: Roby King Gallery, 176 Winslow Way E.

WHEN: November 1 – December 1, 2019

The last time Zwirner’s work exhibited on Bainbridge Island may have been a suite of paintings in the “Revering Nature” exhibition at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) in 2017. Zwirner’s painting “Descending Mist” was one of the earliest artworks that entered the museum’s permanent collection. If you missed it, you may still come across it when the museum rotates its collection. BIMA’s chief curator, Greg Robinson, described her work as “… suggesting landscapes without being representational. Her evocative style moves between realistic and abstract.”

In this month’s show, Zwirner is exhibiting much smaller, albeit intimate, mixed media works on paper. The collection on exhibit spans a range similar to the one described by Robinson. The work “Terrain” might be closest to the representational end of the spectrum. It is a cross section, or strata, of below earth to sky. Rather than depicting scientific facts, Zwirner evokes the cold dampness of the earth and journey to the sky as an emotional experience. Where will the viewer linger? In “Dancing Trees” it is the title alone that alerts the viewer to the ethereal landscape. Otherwise the dance gestures may well be still photos from a strobe light performance of a Twyla Tharp dance.  The series “Elsewhere” offers a range of suggested landscapes.

Zwirner says traditional landscapes do not interest her. Rather, she says she  searches “ … to convey seen or felt experiences … fracturing volumes and fragmenting space … to separate natural elements from their remembered surroundings.”

Zwirner has been an artist all her adult life. After a substantial period in California, and over 20 years back in the Northwest, she has held eight solo shows at Davidson Gallery, and two solo shows at Lisa Harris now Harris Harvey Gallery, both in Seattle. She has exhibited nationally and internationally (China, Italy, England). The Tacoma Art Museum, the Museum of Northwest Art, and our BIMA have all collected her work.

This is a two-person show, with Zwirner exhibiting alongside Melinda Whipplesmith Plank from Portland, an equally accomplished printmaker who works primarily in woodblock prints. Her more recognizable landscape imagery inspired by her cattle ranching heritage is powerful, luscious and delightful. Together, this month’s exhibition is wonderful.

But wait, there is more! Pamela Wachtler has a solo exhibition of monotype prints. The Roby King Gallery is offering a second whole exhibition this month several doors down at Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty office (240 Winslow Way E.). Wachtler’s works are intimately scaled pastoral landscapes done in what she describes as the American Impressionistic style of “The Philadelphia Ten” – a group of painters from the early 1900s.

 ABOUT BILL BARAN-MICKLE: 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.