Birds, prominent subject matter in Northwestern art, are honored in this annual Bird Themed Art Show. This year features the multimedia creations of Diane Archer, the photographic transfer based work of Nancy Abens, the handmade mobiles and cut paper sculpture of Elena Nikitin, the assemblage art of Jennifer Norman and paintings by Ronald Yasenchak.

Diane A. Archer’s mixed media work is a continuing exploration of physical and emotional aspects of place.  It is influenced by her studies of Deep Ecology and Bioregionalism, and informed by the practice of looking for the sacred in everyday life.

The work for this show is composed primarily of maps of Western Oregon, images of native trees and birds, and found objects. The maps have been altered, copied, enlarged and/or stained. Images are either drawn directly onto the maps or applied with image transfer methods.  Found objects are added using vials, specimen cases and glass “windows” or are embedded directly into the substrata of the art. The finished art is coated with several layers of acrylic and/or wax to protect the surface from dirt and sun. 

All of Diane’s work is meant to acknowledge and celebrate our connections to the world around us and the world within us.

Elena Nikitin does a variety of work including: watercolor and ink drawings, sculpture from cut paper, mobiles and oil paintings.

The cut paper sculpture and mobiles made exclusively for this years annual Bird Show at the Chessman Gallery dazzle the eye and defies gravity, often suspended in mid air and are laced with detail.

“I am an avid birder. I love discovering this other world,” Nancy Abens said. “Going out birding, spotting a new bird through my binoculars, and then getting a good photograph of it, is thrilling to me.”

“The works here are photographic transfers of birds that I have spotted and captured digitally. Many are from my backyard, others from various travels. Being a very process oriented artist, just taking a photograph isn’t that enjoyable to me. So, besides using these images as inspirations for paintings, I decided to work with them as photographic transfers.”

“After taking many photographs of the birds I spot, I create various backgrounds for the images through layer techniques in Photoshop using other photographs I have taken of textures,” Abens continued. “The finished images are then transferred onto painted birch panels using a special transfer film and solution. In making these works, I was inspired by the early natural historians and painters such as Martin Johnson Heade, Audubon, and John Gould.”

Elena Nikitin has a degree in Architecture and a background in Palekh miniature painting. Palekh is a Russian folk handicraft of a miniature painting, which is done with tempera paints on varnished articles made of papier-mâché (small boxes and powder cases etc.).

Since the late 1990’s she has had four exhibits in Galleries in Portland, Oregon.

More recently, Elena Nikitin has worked as a fashion designer in her own atelier “Lena Couture”. She has had seven solo fashion shows in Portland, Oregon all consisting of couture clothing and art of her own design.

Jennifer Norman is a local artist that uses, as she puts it, “Trash” to create pieces of art. She says, “Who among us has not wished for a do-over?  My mission, as an artist, is to take what has been broken, discarded or washed up on the beach and give it new life. For this show she will be creating a series of bird themed assemblage art boxes.

Jennifer grew up on a family ranch, spending much of her time on horseback wrangling and taking care of animals. The earthy style of her art work reflects the dusty, rustic and gritty nature of her incredible upbringing.

The Chessman Gallery is inside the Lincoln City Cultural Center at 540 NE Hwy. 101 in Lincoln City.

For more information about this show or any of the many events going on at the Lincoln City Cultural Center, call 541-994-9994, head to lincolncity-culturalcenter.org, or become a friend on Facebook.