The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts presents “Of Kelp and Coos Bay,” an exhibition by Coos County artist Karin Richardson, from October 6 to November 25 in the Coastal Oregon Visual Artist Showcase (COVAS) at the Newport Visual Arts Center. The COVAS Showcase features mid-career artists living on the Oregon coast, rotating through the seven Oregon coastal counties. Karin Richardson will present an installation of kelp and mixed media reflecting her most recent creative focus. Richardson’s exhibit will also include a collaboration with her sister, Johanna Cielo, a textile designer, who will interpret Richardson’s work with acrylic and copperleaf paintings on canvas. The public reception for “Of Kelp and Coos Bay” will be held on November 3, with an artist talk at 6:30pm.
Karin Richardson was born in Coos Bay and grew up on the beaches of Coos and Curry counties, where she is currently a full-time studio artist. After receiving her undergraduate degree from The Evergreen State College, she studied hot glass at the Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle and spent summers at the Pilchuck Glass School before moving to Norway for an extended stay. Richardson returned to the dramatic landscape of the Southern Oregon Coast, which she calls, “a compelling presence that continues to inform and define my work as it evolves in a range of materials and media: raw/refined, ancient/modern, primitive/contemporary.”
Karin Richardson’s blown glass work, wood and glass totem sculptures, and mixed media works have been shown in museums on the West Coast, in the Southwest and in Chicago, and can be found in public and private collections worldwide. Her installation, “Remains to Be Seen,” was shown at the Coos Museum, and she was a featured artist on “Oregon Art Beat,” aired by Oregon Public Broadcasting (2012). Her work is currently at the Hawthorne Gallery (Port Orford), the Rowboat Gallery (Pacific City) and Your Spaces Designs (North Bend).
“Presently, a new muse has found me,” Richardson says. “And it is kelp.”
The COVAS Showcase is open Tuesday-Saturday, noon to 4pm.