Blue Heron Gallery & Gifts

We are proud to present the work of Orient & Flume. Founded in 1972, this art glass atelier has specialized in the transformation of molten glass into poetic reflections of the natural world. Utilizing rare silver base glasses and "torch-work" techniques, Orient & Flume artists have created museum quality vase and hand crafted paperweights for more than three decades. Nationally acclaimed for its excellence in design and quality, Orient & Flume art glass can be found in many museum collections such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian Museum, DeYoung Museum, Louvre Musée des Arts Decoratifs, and Corning Museum of Glass.
(Photo: Orient & Flume Gold Hawthorne Vase)

Hanson Howard

"Things that Go Bump" is the title of an intriguing collection of paintings and sculptures by two Northern California artists. Candace Miller's figures of clay, wood and metal are playful and edgy-sometimes humorous, sometimes contemplative. She combines found objects with fabricated parts to bring her gestural characters to life.

Belinda Hanson's paintings and one sculpture verge more on the abstract, are wildly colorful, and feel familiar in an almost physical sense, the forms recognizable deeply within our own bodies. Her paintings are built using many layers of encaustic medium which is a process as old as ancient Greece, where portraits were painted on mummy casings with this tactile medium of wax, resin and pigment. The process employs the use of heated beeswax with pigments and resin to create hardness in the wax as it ages. After polishing with a soft cloth it becomes transparent and glistens to a sheen. It is extremely durable and lasting. Her one sculptural piece in this exhibit is an unlikely but amazing mixture of transparent tape and encaustic medium.
(Photo: Sculptor Candace Miller (left) and painter Belinda Hanson)

Mistwood Studio Gallery

Mistwood studio gallery overlooks the plaza, steps from Lithia Park. Kathleen Boyle Magnuson has painted professionally since 1977. Her work has been widely exhibited in galleries and shows throughout the West. Many pieces are in private and public collections both in the U.S. and internationally. Additionally, she has painted dozens of indoor and outdoor murals. She paints at Mistwood and her mountain studio. Born in Palo Alto, CA, Kathleen studied at Northern Arizona University, the Academy of Art in San Francisco, and holds a B.A. degree from the University of Arizona. She has taken portrait commissions for 27 years and owns an art business; Visions from Mistwood.

Describing her approach to art, she emphasizes her love of light, the natural world and ethereal color. Her main goal is for spirit to manifest through her work; meditation provides the inspiration. She has lived in the region for 26 years.
(Photo: Watercolor by Kathleen Boyle Magnuson)

B. Bayard at Studio A.B

Polka Dots, a series of new work by artist B. Bayard, is on display at Studio A.B through June 30. Bayard continues his exploration into the realm of digital images. Clouds, chaos and whimsical sayings create a sense of giddy foreboding.

Six years ago, Bayard traded in paint and brushes for a mouse and keyboard to create densely layered, highly saturated images with a working process that offered more satisfying results than traditional media. He states, "Now that I have a fair level of competence with the software, my working process allows for sustained intuition, fortunate accidents, and a complex layering of visual information, all of which I attempted in paintings, but there with only moderate success in creating the work I had envisioned. Now, it's less about the tools, and more about the inspiration."
(Photo: POLKA DOTS, V-09, B. Bayard, ink jet print)