Visit art displays at the Bandon Library in the lobby gallery and cases. Click here for background and contact information.
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The gallery is open to the public from Tuesday through Saturday during the library’s hours. Check here for current library hours.
October 2022 – November 2022
Bandon Library Art Gallery is pleased to welcome back Portland artist Allison McClay.
“In Solitude”
Allison McClay is a true painter of the unconscious; her subjects are always experiencing more than what is obvious at first glance. She illuminates the psychological realities of those she paints, inviting you to relate to them intimately. Some of these paintings were made during lockdown, and evoke moods and situations that will be familiar to all of us: the half-finished projects started halfheartedly and then abandoned, the ennui as days at home stretched on and on, the claustrophobia of the early days. But this is not the only territory she explores in this show. This time she brings us stories of early lighthouse residents: Mabel Bretherton who, with her two children, served as keeper of the North Head Lighthouse at Cape Disappointment from 1905 to 1907, and Cora, whose husband was keeper 20 or so years later. Cora came to a sad end (“Cora Jumps”), but the painting is a beautiful seascape that makes her decision a private one, made in solitude.
Solitude is the overarching theme of this show, where the people she paints enjoy, seek, grab a fleeting moment of, or suffer solitude. And what makes these scenes so rich is Allison’s exquisite attention to detail, to each strand of curling hair on head or cat, or the intricacies of pattern in a dress or bedclothes. Her paintings keep us grounded in their reality through this sort of care, without sacrificing the surreal elements in such paintings as “Sunday in August.” In fact, that care enhances the effect of these subtle details that you have to look long to see. There’s always more going on in Allison’s paintings than meets the immediate eye. Take the time to look and find the deeper story in each of them; you will be well rewarded.
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August 2022 – September 2022
“The Unaltered Image” Photographs by Thomas Glassman
A new artist comes to Bandon Library Art Gallery on August 1st! Thomas Glassman is an unusual photographer these days. Eschewing Photoshop or other alteration/editing software, Thomas works only with his camera to create minimalist, often surreal, images that draw one in close. The question, “What am I looking at?!” is inevitable, as these are unaltered, yet not necessarily straightforward photographs. Come close and peer through a knothole or realize you’re looking at both a piece of driftwood and its reflection, or that a seeming black & white photograph is actually in color. The world is full of mystery, but it can take an artist to show it to you. Thomas Glassman is such an artist, and we are very pleased to welcome him to Bandon Library Art Gallery.
June 2022 – July 2022
Bandon Library Art Gallery is pleased to announce its full reopening and resumption of two month-long shows.
A reception is scheduled for July 9th, 12 pm – 2 pm, in the Sprague Community Room at 1204 11th Street SW, Bandon, Oregon. All are welcome at the July 9th reception; refreshments will be served, and the artists will be there to discuss their work.
- “Sea and Sky,” which will run through the end of July, features skyscapes and seascapes by Vicki Affatati and Abby Lazerow brighten the often overcast Bandon days.
- The Neo-Classical African sculpture by Charles Tatum continues in the cases.
- Inside the library, Victoria Tierney has filled the Long Wall from one end to the other with watercolors and digital art.
A much-loved teacher as well as a painter, Vicki Affatati has made a series of brilliant skyscapes in acrylics, reveling in the colors of floating clouds and sunsets.
Sharing the gallery walls with Affatati is Abby Lazerow of Ashland, whose highly skilled oil paintings are of sea, swimmers, and coastal cliffs. Together these artists evoke the glory days of Summer, and serve as reminders to take in all the beauty of the South Coast of Oregon.
Inside the library on the Long Wall, Victoria Tierney has arrayed a collection of watercolors and digital art made with the program Art Rage. With a finger or her iPen and tablet she draws, colors, and paints, playing in a virtual sandbox, discovering new ways to express her seemingly limitless imagination. This digital work may be a complex abstract or a simple cartoon-like drawing, while her finely realized watercolor plants and portraits demonstrate her virtuosity with conventional methods.
Sculpture by Charles Tatum is in the cases! The renowned African-American artist was a resident of Bandon until the end of his life. He left his work in the care of his partner Patricia Soltys, who has shared a few pieces with the gallery.
SPRING, 2022
Sculpture by Charles Tatum is in the cases! The renowned African-American artist was a resident of Bandon until the end of his life. He left his work in the care of his partner Patricia Soltys, who has shared a few pieces with the gallery.
Vera Melnyk’s mosaics are still on the walls in the gallery.
Ava Richey’s paintings are on the Long Wall inside the library.
If you haven’t been to the gallery lately, stop by to see this wonderful work.