The Little Things show at Guardino Galleryin Portland is my favorite group show of the year. I don’t know how many years I have participated, but this year will be the gallery’s 18th year. For the current show, there are over 58 participating artists and the only requirement is that all pieces are 7×7 inches and smaller. I created 12 abstract paintings on cradled panels, each is 6×6 inches.
Here are my pieces:
“The Waters of the Night,” oil and cold wax by Dayna Collins.“The Sudden Dip into Evening,” acrylic and cold was by Dayna Collins.“The Heat of the Long Afternoon,” Oil and cold wax by Dayna Collins.“The Heart is Restless,” oil and cold wax by Dayna Collins.“The Flash of Summer Lightning,” oil and cold wax by Dayna Collins.“The Darkness of the Water,” acrylic and cold was by Dayna Collins.“Outside the Window,” oil and cold wax by Dayna Collins.“Dropped Through the Gate of Memory,” acrylic and cold wax by Dayna Collins.“Dreaming of Drums and Magic,” oil and cold wax by Dayna Collins.“Another Knot in the String of Time,” plaster, acrylic, and cold wax by Dayna Collins.“All the Moments of the Past,” plaster, acrylic, and cold wax by Dayna Collins.“A Deep Pool of Silence,” oil and cold wax by Dayna Collins.
The show runs through December 30 and all pieces are take and go. If you’re looking for original art and creative gifts, this would be a perfect place to shop.
First thing Monday morning, I drove out to Silverton and met up with Nancy Eng to hang our new show, Pathways and Passages. Hanging days are like piecing together a giant jigsaw puzzle. We both brought a lot of art, too much to hang everything, so we auditioned the pieces we had, moved things around until we found a place for most everything, and put the remaining pieces in storage. When something sells, the purchaser can take it with them if they are from out of town, and we can replace the piece on the wall with something from inventory. Here’s how our morning went.
A blank canvas at Silverton Arts Association Borland Gallery.
Dayna spread out her art in advance of hanging.
Dayna hangs her pieces. All of her paintings are plaster, oil, and cold wax on wood substrates.
Tapes measures are a necessity.
Merging the art of Dayna J. Collins and Nancy Eng.
The art of Dayna J. Collins on the left and Nancy Eng on the right.
“Dangerous Waters 1, 2, 3,” plaster, oil, and cold wax by Dayna J. Collins.
Little oil and cold wax pieces by Dayna J. Collins.
New series by Dayna J. Collins. Plaster, oil, and cold wax.
And then before we knew it, the show was up and we were finished.
Artists: Dayna J. Collins and Nancy Eng.
The opening reception is Friday, August 4, from 6-9 pm. Borland Gallery is part of the Silverton Arts Association and is located on the banks of Silver Creek in historic Coolidge-McClaine Park in Silverton.
Our December Art After Dark was cancelled last month due to snow and ice, so I’m happy to announce that it has been rescheduled for Thursday, January 12, 2017, 5-7 pm. The artists at the Art Studios at Mission Mill voted to go to quarterly Open Studios, so please join us as our next event won’t be for a few months. As you can see from the flier, we have a full line up of art and activities on the first and second floors.
It has been in the works since last summer and it is finally here: my new website. I am kind of over the moon excited for the clean, new look. I am grateful to Phil Webb of Dial A Tech who met with me frequently to discuss my ideas and then to figure out how to make it all work. The website went live about a week ago, but we’ve been working out little bugs since then. As of today, it has officially been launched. Phil was able to transfer all of my previous blog posts as well as my earlier archived posts beginning in 2009. This will be my ninth year of blogging.
My website is meant to be an introduction to who I am and the type of work I do and it will be periodically updated. However, this blog and my various social media sites are where I will be posting the most current content as far as my ever evolving art. If you’re interested in what I’m working on, where I’ll be teaching, and what shows I’m participating in, please subscribe to my blog, and follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook.
New year. New month. New gallery. New show. All of this means I have been busily and happily painting in plaster, oil, and cold wax.
I wrote about my new gallery last month, sharing the happy news that I was joining with Tory Brokenshire and Bonnie Hull to be the new owner-artists of the Compass Gallery. Our January show, Magnetic Pull, represents what art is tugging at our hearts as we begin 2016. All three of us recently wrote briefly about our individual magnetic pulls. I thought it would be fun for me to share what all three of us wrote:
Bonnie Hull
A person who makes art experiences the magnetic pull of the creative urge every day. As she goes on with it, the methods and media change, overlap . . . . collide maybe. “Mark-making” has become the single thread on which my own art practice hangs and I’m in the midst of discovering the commonality of what mark-making really means across a spectrum of activity. In 2016 my idea is to continue examining the relation between drawing and quilt making.
Tory Brokenshire
Magnetic pull is more than just a thought, it is a reality for anyone who is passionate about anything they do. I’m pulled towards the human figure, drawing, sewing, or sculpting in clay. Teaching and sharing figurative sculpture has also become a very important part of my passion. I believe everyone can feel a little bit of that pull to create.
Dayna Collins
Texture. Intersections. Excavation. Layers. Marks. Lines. Words. Color. Scratching. Scritching. These are the things that have pulled at me for the past several years. During 2016, I am hoping to dig deeper, incorporating more marks, more lines, more layers. A year of more, seeing how far I can push the processes I love.
The newly formed Compass Gallery has a fresh show in January with a fun twist. Throughout the month, weekly Wednesday – Saturday, from 11 am – 3 pm, one of us will be in the gallery working on our art and available to chat about our process, inspiration, and techniques. The show, Magnetic Pull, runs January 11-February 3, 2016.
Throughout January, join us as we work on our art in the gallery from 11-3 on Wednesdays through Saturdays. Here is the schedule:
January 13-16 Bonnie Hull will be stitching and drawing (and she invites people to bring their own projects and join her).
January 20-23 Tory Brokenshire will be creating whimsical characters in polymer clay.
January 27-30 Dayna Collins will be painting with her favorite mediums on pre-plastered boards: oil, cold wax, and oil pigment sticks.
Here are photos of some of my new work that will be included in the show:
The Absence of VoicesPeaceful SpaciousnessSeamless MovementA Jagged Mosaic
The exhibition begins January 11 and the artists will host a simple reception in the gallery on Thursday, January 14, 5:00-7:00 pm, as part of Art After Dark, when the second floor studios will be open and Max Marbles, bookbinder, will be in his first floor studio demonstrating a publishing technique. These events are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday-Saturday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. The exhibition will be on view through February 3.
My current show with Cynthia Herron, Ricochet, was hung last Tuesday and our opening reception was Saturday, but I’ve already been working on pieces for my next show so I thought I would give a peek inside my world of board prep.
I picked up my order of boards from Matt in Portland last October, then during November and into December I painted all of them, applied plaster, sanded, and sealed. I’ve already started to apply oil and cold wax to several, but for this post, I’ll leave it at the prep. And I’ll save the information about the show for a later post as well. It’s all very exciting.
Picking up my boards from Matt’s workshop in PortlandFrida inspects my new boardsBoards prepped for plasterPlaster marathon, boards everywhereBoards, sanding block, maskTime to sand the boardsOh, so many boards to sandPreparing to stain the plaster with acrylicFirst plop of paintI whipped up lots of fun colors to seal the plasterPainting the big guysReady to plaster the big guysBig boards, big spreaderUnderfootTruly underfoot
The Salem Art Group: Dayna, Kathy, Tory, Woody standing in for Celia, Katy, Nancy
I’m a member of the Salem Art Group, a closed, close-knit group of six women. We get together once a month, varying our activities. Some months we meet for coffee and to share what we’ve been up to, other months we take field trips. Regularly we meet for art play dates. And once a year we go on a multi-day art retreat in the woods. Earlier this year we decided it would be fun to do an art show together and last night we hosted our opening reception at The Art Department, a downtown Salem fine art store. Our show, Group Dynamics, will be up through the end of November.
The south wall, artist’s work left to right: Katy Vigland, Nancy Eng, Dayna CollinsThe north wall, left to right, the art work of Tory Brokenshire and Kathy Shen
I created three pieces for the show, which I started at our retreat back in August.
Camp Sherman art retreat 2014
Here are my completed pieces:
My art work, all are 16×20 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled boards“Fairy Tales & Poetry,” 16×20 inches, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled board“Curiosity & Tolerance,” 16×20, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled board“Insight & Imagination,” 16×20, plaster, oil, and cold wax on cradled board
And here are photos from last night’s reception.
Cynthia and Susan try on clothes created by CeliaTory and Becky, an old friend from when my son was in schoolCynthia and meKathy showcasing her workKathy reveals herselfValentine and Kathy discuss encausticsBy the end of the evening, we were all a bit rummyDayna, Kathy, Tory, Katy, and Nancy
