07/24/2026
This week’s featured artist is Andrea Vadner! https://www.vadner.com/
Andrea will be doing an artist talk in the Gallery tomorrow, July 25 at 2pm. This is an exciting opportunity to learn about her creative process and explore the 24 pieces exhibited with us.
Artist Statement:
In Fresh Air
ART STILL HAS TRUTH. TAKE REFUGE THERE.
Matthew Arnold 1822-1888
“Of all of the games of childhood, making pictures was the Best.
Of all of the substrates One could color on, Paper IS the Best.
Of all of the topics one could attempt to illuminate, The Earth and its Creatures are the Best.
I think by now I have tried or done "Everything" in the Visual Arts: movies, video, oil acrylic ink and watercolor, paper canvas wood and steel, leather and clay, high, low and raku, painting, sculpture, pots, small and monumental, writing illustration and bookbinding, chainsaw carving, construction and deconstruction, welding, metalsmithing, stone setting, knapping, costume, set, and interior design, backdrops, light shows, enameling, glass blowing, paper making, poster design, all printmaking, framing, photography, Happenings, Opera, furniture build and finish, murals..... across all genres...you get the idea.
Of all of this, paper and Crayolas and Grandma's watercolors were the First and have carried me through and brought me Home. I have come to focus finally, on things which are Basic, True, and Receptive: Earth, Trees, Teachers, Water, Women, and Living Spaces. These are things I know about. These are things I see acted on and changed by the busy lesser doings around us, things which are mortified but endure.
I began making things because it was fun, challenging, rewarding, and finally a refuge from Chaos and despair. I stop and paint when things are so quiet, so busy and Alive, so beautiful and basic that you know someone will come to plunder and change them forever. I treasure the many places I have been, and admit that by my going, I am a Plunderer myself. That's why I continue to make, and why I make images of Women who Continue walking through Every Challenge of our culture. I can choose the Beauty and put aside the Fear, every time I Color.
Do what you need to do. Help where you can. Leave it better than you found it. This is my Raising, I take refuge here.”
Contemporary Visionaries is free and open to the public until September 18. All artwork is available for purchase.