The Silver Summit
Welcome to The Silver Summit Website!
In no way could I be more excited about this Event. I selected 25 artists to celebrate this milestone and each has created a work of art exclusively for The Silver Summit. The invisible curatorial thread in this sterling body of work is that each of the artists has subtly, esoterically, or evidently involved the number 25 in their offering. Below you will see the 25 works and each artist’s corresponding words as to how they involved 25 in their creation. *Thank you for recognizing the images herein cannot/do not capture the quality, strength, importance, or beauty of these works comprising The Silver Summit. Please call me if you have any questions related to this Event and thank you for noting all works are available for acquisition with the launch of this Preview Website. In closing, if you have received this Preview it is because you are among a small group of people who I hold in gratitude beyond the business of art. Happy Holidays. -Andria
Gala Opening Reception: 30 December 2011, 5:00-8:00pm
SILVER:
1. Of, relating to, or being a 25th anniversary or its celebration. 2. A valuable commodity. Bright; resplendent, precious. Recognized as “noble.” 3. A very malleable element that is capable of a high degree of polish, and has the highest thermal and electric conductivity of any substance. 4. Atomic number 47; atomic weight 107.87; melting point 960.8°C; boiling point 2,212°C; specific gravity 10.50; valence 1, 2.SUMMIT:
1. The highest point; the top. 2. The highest attainable level of achievement. 3. A formally arranged gathering of high-level leaders, called to shape a successful program. 4. Zenith. Peak. Crown. Apex.The Silver Summit Artists:
David Kimball Anderson Gregory Grenon William Morris
Jeanne Brennan Reilly Jensen Stephanie Peek
Pegan Brooke Steve Jensen Mark Rediske
Nicole Chesney Mary Josephson Ross Richmond
Ford Crull Jill Lear Chris Richter
Dennis Evans Rocky Lewycky Catherine Eaton Skinner
Lawrence Fodor Holly Lyman Rob Snyder
Jeff Fontaine Nancy Mee Del Webber
Darren Vigil Gray
DAVID KIMBALL ANDERSON
Silver Summit artwork title: “OFFERING BOX”
The golden light within the frame on the front of this Silver Summit Offering Box is a configuration of the moon and stars I witnessed at 5:30 am during a meditation period this past summer. The pre-dawn sky was literally breathtaking. I plotted the arrangement in my sketchbook, then returned to my meditation while the morning began to become light. Twenty-five moon and star points grace the front of this sculpture. The symbolism of this Offering Box is to reflect on our artistic giving and receiving of love, compassion, and wisdom.
JEANNE BRENNAN
Silver Summit artwork title:
“LOOK WITH YOUR UNDERSTANDING”
In my studio is an array of treasures of varied origins – some collected by myself, many gifts from friends. Most of these treasures end up in my sculptures and some are simply for my enjoyment and inspiration. When I am creating a sculpture at times I have a very clear intention of what I want to make, and other times I just spend time with my collections and let them inform and guide me. When I was pondering ideas for The Silver Summit exhibition I wasn’t overly excited about the ideas I was coming up with so I started spending time with my collections. While going through my archives I found botanical pressings a friend had given me a few years back. There was a little typed label on the corner of the box, Everett Community College 1986. Wow, these pressings are 25 years old! That was it – I choose this lovely red seaweed pressing to go into my sculpture and carry the thread of 25 into The Silver Summit.
PEGAN BROOKE
Silver Summit artwork title: “SEA, DAWN”
When asked by Andria to create a piece for the Silver Summit exhibition I was driving in the early morning, watching the silver morning light glisten in the air, on the mountains and throwing its light down onto the sea. I used the twenty-five lines of silver light in my painting to evoke the gradual lighting up of the sky and to honor Friesen Gallery upon its 25th anniversary.
NICOLE CHESNEY
Silver Summit artwork title: “QUELL II”
Since my first encounter with his work in 1997, I have been inspired by the writings of French philosopher Gaston Bachelard who once described himself “not as a philosopher so much as a thinker who grants himself the right to dream.” While The Poetics of Space is perhaps his most widely known book, a collection of essays titled, The Right to Dream has come to serve as an ever-present influence in my work.
To celebrate Friesen Gallery’s twenty-five years, I would like to share an excerpt from page twenty-five of Gaston Bachelard’s The Right to Dream. The essay is, “The Painter Solicited by the Elements”.
“Knowing that color works upon matter, that it is a veritable activity of matter, that color lives from a constant interchange of forces between light and matter, the painter, with the fatality of primitive fancies, renews the great cosmic dreams that bind man to the elements – to fire, water, the air of the heavens, and the prodigious materiality of the substances of the earth… All the time he is working, the painter is guiding dreams that lie between matter and light…”
FORD CRULL
Silver Summit artwork title: “EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN”
And these things too shall pass. Has it really been 25? What happened? Same as it ever was, same as it ever was. Give me one of those evocative visceral explorations of time showing an almost unconscious tracing of simultaneous experiences. One more trip down memory lane, new terrain, go insane, down the drain – the culmination of all that was lost marching now to a new lexicon. At the crossroads now. Another century seems like only yesterday, then it¹s another time again… I looked over yonder and what did I see? Another 25 again in a stream of consciousness…
DENNIS EVANS
Silver Summit artwork title: “RELIQUARY FOR LAKSMI”
Laksmi is one of the most popular goddesses in the Hindu Pantheon. Her qualities numbered 25 and the other gods coveted them. They are most Auspicious, and a few of her qualities are: success, nobility, holy luster, bounteousness, beauty and spiritual power. And longevity.
LAWRENCE FODOR
Silver Summit artwork title:
“TWENTY-FIVE VERMILLION”
The conceptual premises for my paintings are points of departure open to expansion, revision and dialogue as a painting develops. I began this painting with thoughts of twenty-five years, resonant silver and integrated histories.
It has been said that Mark Rothko once told his assistant that a painter must metaphorically eliminate his influences – make them obsolete – in order to find his own voice. In twenty-five years of painting I have learned that it is not my heroes or influences that I need to kill off, it is certain parts of my own paintings.
In the midst of every painting there comes a point at which certain marks on the canvas seem perfect, moving and key – critical to the painting’s very premise. I start working around these areas attempting to bring the rest of the painting up to the “level” of those passages, but those “perfect” and “best” parts of the paintings are not the solution, rather they are the problem. In order to move forward with the painting I need to abandon those passages, liberating myself to actively work in an open discourse with the picture allowing the original premise to broaden, flourish and evolve. I acquiesce, enabling the painting to find its own voice.
Twenty-five became: trusting intuition and compulsion, abandoning preconceptions and realizing how, by discarding something that I believe is the answer, I find myself. Silver became discovery and the eternal fire of spirit.
JEFF FONTAINE
Silver Summit artwork title: “BASE METALS INTO NOBLE ONES”
When asked to contribute to this 25-year milestone of Friesen Gallery I thought about many concepts and conceits. I thought of the struggle and the triumph of success in a sometime brutal industry. I thought of how every endeavor starts with the first step as well as every painting begins with a first stroke. I thought about time and experience. And ultimately, I landed on how I visually catalog and perceive years of time: building blocks rising in a historical and personal pattern. Therefore the 25 squares represent the years of this venerated Northwest institution, reading left to right and ascending from the darker foundations to the higher and brighter later years.
DARREN VIGIL GRAY
Silver Summit artwork title: “KINSHIP EARTH AND SKY”
The power of the world always works in circles. The number 2 and the number 5, if added together make 7. This is a sacred number in many indigenous cultures. There is a mandate in many tribes that call on the sustainability for the next seven generations of humans. Coming from an indigenous culture I think of time as a repetition of moments and occurrences that are cyclical in nature. The concept of time is an interesting one and instead of time passing through a human lifetime, we as human beings pass through time because it is infinite.
GREGORY GRENON
Silver Summit artwork title:
“INVULNERABLE TO ALL ENCHANTMENT”
Silver is one of the most potent of all precious metals, and is associated with the moon. Silver cannot be deflected by magical means, being invulnerable to all enchantment. It will increase the magical potential of a design or object that already has some mystical significance. Silver is lucky.
There are 25 silver 25 cent pieces in this work, including Standing Liberty (flying eagle) quarters and Washington quarters from the United States, along with several Canadian Elizabeth II quarters, all silver, all dating from 1964 and before and each silver piece represents one year of 25 years. This work can be complicated and can be simple. This work is the way in which I write, or make music that is in my head. It cannot be entirely explained ever. It is about women. I show the viewer that women exist, women matter, and this work is from one person, one man’s view.
REILLY JENSEN
Silver Summit artwork title: “VIN#…00025″
Impressed with Andria’s upcoming milestone of 25 years, I flashed back to 1986 and asked myself: She was opening a gallery, what was I doing?”
Everyone devises cues to remember days gone by, markers in time that we wrap our memories around. Mine are the cars I drove. In 1986 I was driving a Chevy V6 Luv truck with monsters painted on it. I draw and paint machines – both real and imaginary. This is the engine that was suck-squeeze-bang-blowing me around 25 years ago.
STEVE JENSEN
Silver Summit artwork title: “THE 25 YEAR VOYAGE”
Weighted down with 25 fishing weights, or all the stuff life sometimes has to offer. The boat still floats and remains on top, symbolizing human resilience.
MARY JOSEPHSON
Silver Summit artwork title: “AND ONE WISH UPON”
This artwork is composed of hand-cut glass tile mounted on a silver mirror. The image is of a women reaching for a star high up in the sky. Stars surround her and her dress is covered in stars, symbolizing the marriage of our hopes and dreams and our hard work every day in real life. Her body is shaped like an hourglass-the passing of time-the colors in the composition are almost entirely primary colors, red, blue and yellow a salute to life dedicated to the arts.
The title “And One to Wish Upon” comes from the 26th star-the one, which leads into the future.
JILL LEAR
Silver Summit artwork title: “34° 01′ 40.51″ N 118° 30′ 44.98″ W”
Place, measurement, proportion, and increment are the inspiration and the tools for my work. There is no more important measurement in the world of formal painting than the Golden Ratio. This painting is a Golden Rectangle with the Golden Section measuring 25 inches from the right creating another golden rectangle within which the vista onto the open space and the future is to be seen.
ROCKY LEWYCKY
Silver Summit artwork title:
“PEARL AND MARBLED ONYX”
This porcelaneous vase family, entitled “Pearl and Marbled Onyx,” features 25 fluted vessels of varying heights that share a unified form. Working with a family of this magnitude enabled me to compose more freely in the realm of still life. I balanced the visual weight and movement of the vessels to create harmony throughout the composition. With this Silver Summit vase family, I envision its expression being personalized when placed into its new home; thus, eliciting a sense of play in discovering its redefined composition.
HOLLY LYMAN
Silver Summit artwork title: “PASSION’S YIELD”
I see my work as a form of visual Haiku where a few disparate elements are combined to provoke new interpretations. Using common objects from both the natural world and the man-made world I try to create an experience of nature that is intuitively linked to the human condition. As a culture we seem to delight in the endless stream of distractions that tempt, entertain and otherwise distract us. What we have forgotten is a profoundly fundamental part of our being – instinct – an inner wisdom that if we listen quietly enough to engage with becomes one of our greatest gifts. “Passion’s Yield” celebrates this gift. My painting for The Silver Summit event has 25 layers of wax on the frame, the supporting element and foundation for the work itself.
NANCY MEE
Silver Summit artwork title: “PROSPERO’S BOOKS”
In the Shakespearean play “The Tempest,” Prospero, the Duke of Milan, was banished with his three-year-old daughter Miranda…to an island off the coast of Italy.
Gonzalo, the King’s Chancelor, secretly supplied Prospero’s boat with food, water, and clothes, but most importantly the most prized books from Prospero’s Library…
For this special exhibition a small collection of Prospero’s books which deal with the ideas germane to The Silver Summit have been assembled. There are 25 topics included in these rare glass tomes (excellence, integrity, respect, prosperity and many others which address qualities in endeavors.)
WILLIAM MORRIS
Silver Summit artwork title: “STONE VESSEL”
While he was paragliding here in Sun Valley this past summer I shared with Bill Morris the excitement of this milestone and the concept surrounding the exhibition. Certainly, I knew he wouldn’t come out of retirement for The Silver Summit, thus an invitation to participate would be naïve on my behalf. A month later I received an image that put a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. I couldn’t fathom what I was looking at – this absolutely breathtaking vessel from Morris’s private collection. He created it in 1985, and the face of it is a magnificent spiral of 25 stones! Sincerely, I counted the stones three times as I was trying to wrap my brain around this serendipity and his gift of care and support. At the risk of appearing ‘out there’, I absolutely believe this sculpture was indeed created for The Silver Summit.
– Andria Friesen
STONE VESSEL
17″ x 16.5″ x 5″
blown glass
$42,000.
.
STEPHANIE PEEK
Silver Summit artwork title: “WARMLIGHT”
Don’t expect to find any actual numbers within this tangle of flowers, leaves and insects. Rather, participate in the sensuous unfurling of these floating blossoms as a celebration of Friesen Gallery’s 25 years of generously unfolding beauty. After losing yourself in looking, you may want to slip back to an analytical counting of flowers and actually find 25.
MARK REDISKE
Silver Summit artwork title: “AJAN”
For my Silver Summit painting I have composed a grid of twenty five panels. These panels contain elements of words and numbers which correspond to silver as follows:
AG 47 symbols for silver 107.8662 atomic weight ARGENTUM Latin ARG Indo-European Latin root – means shining AJAN Haitian crole PRATA Portuguese D’ARGENT French PLATA Spanish RAJATA Sanskrit ARGENTO ItalianSome of these words or numbers are incorporated in initial layers and completely obscured – others are partially or wholly visible.
ROSS RICHMOND
Silver Summit artwork title: “CONTEMPLATES”
For Friesen Gallery’s 25th anniversary “The Silver Summit”, I chose to use Gaffer Glass’s color number 25, which is the luminous blue-green color of the figures, as my inspiration. Typically I only use opaque colors in my work, and this particular color is a transparent. I used silver leaf just underneath the surface to give additional depth and radiance to the number 25 color, as well as reference to The Silver Summit.
CONTEMPLATES
38″ x 20.25″ x 10.25″
blown glass, stone, wood
$21,000.
.
CHRIS RICHTER
Silver Summit artwork title: “12:13 AM”
12:13 AM began as a stand of twenty-five aspen trees for The Silver Summit. Methodically some disappeared into the paint, but are still ambiguously present, changing the identity and mood of this place. It could be a stark reminder of our own intentional or inadvertent human impact on nature. Or it might be a spiritual reference of letting nature take its course validating my own personal curiosity of wondering what happens in nature when we are not there to witness it.
12:13 – 12 trees on one panel + 13 trees on one panel = 25
AM – Ambient Mystrees
CATHERINE EATON SKINNER
Silver Summit artwork title: “KYUGEE V”
Twenty-five words of poetry honoring Kyugee (Tibetan for “flock”) and The Silver Summit.
the wind waits on still stone with the silence of the listening trees to join the upward wings of ravens toward the sky of memories
ROB SNYDER
Silver Summit artwork title: “STIR SHIVA STIR”
Move to the beat of “twenty five”. Each day I would create twenty five glass leaves grinding, polishing, stacking and gluing following the formula of twenty five. Day one; twenty five leaves. Day two, fatigued, only seventeen emerged. Day three, only eleven. Day four, a record of thirty three were created. My trajectory of twenty five leaves per day was already shattered in the wake of my apparent rebellion to outside structure. All I could do was keep going, to pull and form each tube of glass into leaf forms while an internal structure was being born within, until finally, breaking the (literal) mold, this new piece entitled “Stir Shiva Stir” was born.
Every act of creation must follow its own structure. In creating this sculpture I found myself reflecting on Andria Friesenʼs creation of her galleries, day by day, for twenty five years, dancing her own dance of creation. “Stir Shiva Stir” is a reflection of this process of creation and honors Andria for her breathtaking ability to gather works of art and weave together a forum of beauty, a weaving of relationship from artist to patron. Salute!
DEL WEBBER
Silver Summit artwork title: “THE HEART OF A TREE”
Drawing upon Friesen’s affinity for trees and extending the conversation of her seminal work. This collection attempts to capture the contemplative interior life of a tree. The journey of a tree starts from the outer-most margins, then traveling inward. The essence is at its center, past the leaves and the branches, its habits and its facade.
Twenty-five rings with 25 silver wraps.
