The exhibit brings together six artists who originally connected decades ago in figure sculpture classes taught at Lane Community College by sculptor Ellen Tykeson. Although their creative paths have strengthened and diverged over the years, the six sculptors have maintained their connection and camaraderie. “As We See It” is a celebration of their artistic journeys, their shared love of art making, and the friendships that have sustained them along the way.
The public is invited to an Artist Talk on Saturday, March 7, from 1- 2 pm, when Ellen Tykeson and other “As We See It” artists will share their visions. The exhibit is open until March 20th.
Nadya Geras-Carson, whose early training was in theater arts and illustration, with a stint as a trainer and keeper of wild animals, came to sculpture later in her career. Through years of study at Lane Community College, she honed her skill. Geras-Carson draws on her background in theater, creating work that has a dramatic, and often humorous, slant. Among the over 15 pieces she exhibits in “As We See It” are sculpted animal heads that are like tongue-in-cheek portraits. She says of her work: “My passions for animals and humor are really the driving force behind most of my art.”
Anna Golden, who has an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Oregon, exhibits twelve colorful ceramic wall pieces and free-standing female figures in “As We See It.” She has shown her work in the 2021 Eugene Biennial at the Karin Clarke Gallery, in “Femina” (2022), an international online exhibition, at the Maude Kerns Art Center, New Zone Gallery, and at Lane Community College. Golden comments on her work: “I love sculpting the beauty of the female form and depicting women as goddesses moving through the world with grace, spirituality, and creative energy.”
Mary Maggs Warren, who shows nine pieces in “As We See It, has exhibited locally at Lane Community College and New Zone Gallery, as well as at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. Among her pieces, which draw largely on the female form, is a striking seated figure, half raven and half human. Warren works principally in clay, a medium that she says has a life of its own. She describes her process in this way: “While working with my hands a story begins. From that a sculpture emerges, telling of experiences I have known, or a moment that has captured my imagination.”
Karen Myers explores different pathways in her work, from calligraphy to watercolor to terracotta clay. Along the way she has been influenced by the playful and surprising creatures that adorn Japanese Banko ceramics. For “As We See It,” she exhibits thirteen pieces, including clay sculptures, watercolors, and hand-bound, mixed media artist books, all of which reflect her love of the natural world. She says of her work: Creating with clay connects me to Nature, and I, in turn, translate and interpret that experience in the natural world into my sculptures or paintings.”
Christine Paige, who began sculpting at Lane Community College and in private workshops, has shown her work in various local and out-of-state venues, including Maude Kerns Art Center, Lane Community College, the Springfield Museum, and the Northwest Sculptors Show in Pilgrim Firs, Washington. After initially creating figurative pieces in clay and bronze, Paige now carves abstract stone and wood sculptures, nine of which are on display in “As We See It.” She says of her work: “I express emotion in my sculptures, and hope they evoke curiosity or emotion in the viewer.”
Ellen Tykeson, longtime instructor of sculpture and drawing at Lane Community College, first was introduced to figure sculpture in Paul Buckner’s classes at the University of Oregon. She says that the knowledge Buckner imparted was the “gift of a lifetime, an open door to an ancient discipline that remains evergreen, where a mysterious harmony of design, form, and concept is elusive, but tantalizingly possible.” Tykeson has exhibited her work nationally and internationally and completed multiple public and private commissions, many of which can be seen locally. She shows nine pieces in “As We See It.”
