First Thursday Reception, August 1, 5-9pm
Pink Sky At Night an exhibition of new monotypes by Annie Meyer. Meyer’s landscapes have evolved over the last 25 years studying the effects of light and sky with a limited palette of colors. This current body of work continues to explore this subject matter, with nuanced perceptions. Her subject matter for this body of work is the vibrant pink sunset skies of the Willamette Valley of Oregon.
Meyer’s compositions comprise three essential features: land, sky, and horizon. In some works, the sky dominates completely. Weather and light are perceivable, but not necessarily tangible. Reflecting upon these interactions, her intent is to produce something that speaks of the beauty of an unfettered landscape, and one that also feels timeless.
She builds her monotypes up on her press with numerous thin layers of colors and ink, which she carefully rolls on to create a smooth surface, and thus achieves nuances of light and dark. The result is that the viewer may not so much see the complexity as perceive it. For example, while the viewer might not explicitly see the base color of black it is nevertheless there, interacting with the subsequent layers of ink as well as the way in which light hits the paper, and then gets reflected back. The light emanates from the paper with such strength that it appears to glow.
Despite the natural focus of her work, Meyer is not concerned with making artwork that is factual, but rather makes work that reflects the emotional feeling of a landscape, space and skies. She grew up in the Midwest, where she spent a childhood staring at what seemed like a simplistic landscape, space, and horizon, but “what I realized later actually has much more depth - it became part of my soul and identity.” It is these questions of feeling, perception, and being that drive her to use art to capture a particular energy as opposed to a particular scene. Annie Meyer was born in Wisconsin in 1953. She has been drawing from a model with her figurative works since high school. She started painting landscapes, and making monotype prints in 1994. She moved to Portland in 1980. She does not have a formal art background, but she has worked closely with other master printers over the last 25 years. Meyer travels to places where she develops bodies of work, most notably Europe (France for 25 years), Eastern Oregon (Crow’s Shadow of the Arts in Pendleton, OR). In addition to exhibiting and selling nationally and internationally, she is a well-known Portland artist. Her work has been purchased by and displayed in prominent public spaces in Oregon such as OHSU. Her landscapes and nudes grace many homes and businesses throughout the United States and France.
