“Dialogues From The Forest” continues at San Juan Islands Museum of Art

Submitted by SJIMA

Part three of “Dialogues From The Forest” opens at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art on Sept. 16 at 11 a.m. This exhibition spotlights five artists whose works have been featured nationwide.

All of the artists interpret the natural world and honor the abundant Northwest resources in their personal statements of celebration and concern.

“From Rocky Outcropping”: Jean Behnke, Michael Peterson and Peter de Lory, feature familiar yet refreshing treatments of our Pacific Northwest landscapes. Behnke, a printmaker and sculptor and Peterson, a sculptor, are from Lopez. The third artist de Lory is a photographer.

In the North Gallery, “Aboreal Beauty”: Kathy Gore-Fuss portrays the islands’ characteristic forests in lush paintings. “Burnt”: Lee Imonen fills the glass atrium with an interpretation of an everyday object and a message about consumption of resources.

The hours will be Thursday-Monday 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. until Oct. 1 when they switch to Friday-Monday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Admission is $10. SJIMA members and those 18 and under are admitted free. This exhibition introduces pay-what-you-can Mondays for all Mondays that SJIMA is open.

Museum staff hopes this encourages more people to enjoy these dynamic exhibitions.

The artists

“This series of sculptures puts into visual form our dependence on natural materials, and our need to balance our consumption of these resources,” said Imonen.

Imonen’s art has been shown and reviewed in Sculpture, Sunset Magazine and American Craft. Lee is a sculptor and instructor at Lane Community College in Portland, Oregon. He has his Master of Fine Art from the University of Oregon.

“Every character in the forest is connected to the whole.., I try to capture some of that feeling,” said Gore Fuss about her work, “Aboreal Beauty.” Her solo shows range from Seattle to Ellensburg and beyond. She has been welcomed to more than 25 invitational exhibitions at prestigious galleries and museums. Her works are in public and private collections such as Cisco and Evergreen State College.

“It appears that somewhere between my intention and lack of it an authentic art can reveal itself,” said Behnke.

Her extensive resume includes her Master of Fine Art from the University of Texas and inclusion in more than ten solo exhibitions in Washington and Texas. Behnke’s participation in group exhibitions include the Surge Festival, Fate of the Forest in Bellingham, and Seattle Printmakers’ Invitational.

“My organic abstract work in wood has always been grounded in the natural world,” said Peterson. Since 1986, Peterson’s organic, abstract work has been exhibited in group and solo shows throughout the U.S., including “Revolution in Wood” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and “Craft Spoken Here” at Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2012.

“I am interested in how humans relate to and alter the places where we live, whether it is the wilderness or urban landscape,” said de Lory, who holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute and Master of Fine Art from the University of Colorado. He also taught Photography at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and elsewhere.