Newport welcomes back Mimi Cernyar Fox with an exhibit of new work, “The Coast – A New Vision,” in the Runyan Gallery.
Mimi Fox’s current work relies on images of the sea and from the sea from her new sand dollar paintings/mosaics to highly textured paintings that glitter with metallic and sand. They encourage one to think about our delicate sea life,” she states, “I want the sand dollar pieces to say something about living in a deeply loving and caring way in this rich and beautiful universe. The one thing we all have in common apart from our religions and our cultures is that we are all breathing the same air, relying on brother Sun and walking with mother earth.”
Mimi has almost always lived by the sea. “My husband, a fisherman and ships engineer, has brought me gifts from its waters including our food as well as incredible objects in the form of shells and bits of coral,” she says. “I have joined the fishermen for many years on their boats to study the movement and the light of the ocean. I am beguiled, too, by the sea-shell objects and during long meditative walks on the beach I gather sand dollars…”
A professional artist and long time passionate advocate for our coastal environment in the Pacific Northwest, Mimi grew up Mt. Angel, Oregon, where she studied art at Mt. Angel Academy with the Benedictine Sisters. Living on the coast, she took painting classes from William Runyan who encouraged her to obtain a formal degree. She received her BFA at Pacific Northwest College of Art PNCA) in Portland, Oregon. Fox then taught art classes at PNCA and also at WSU where she received her Masters in Fine Arts – Multi Media.
Mimi’s work was featured in an exhibition in 2008 at the Gallerie Etienne De Causans in Paris, France, and more recently at Brian Marki Gallery, Blackfish Gallery, and Beppu/Wyardia Gallery in Portland. Sand dollar mosaics and paintings are currently on display at Sun Rose Gallery in Seaside.
She moved back to the coast and taught at Oregon Coast Community College from 2004 to 2008. In 2004, she had an exhibition at the Visual Arts Center, “Ocean Cowboys: The Fishermen and the Fleet.” Funded by a grant in 2005 from the Lincoln County Cultural Coalition, she also taught ceramics to a small group of high school students in her studio in Yachats, encouraged them to come anytime she was home to work on their projects and hosted a reception where they sold most of their work.
In 2007, her painting was chosen for the Jazz at Newport jazz party (now the Oregon Coast Jazz Party) poster. She met her husband Dante Fox, a fisherman, they were married at the Little Log Church in Yachats and they now live in Raymond, Washington, on Willapa Bay.