“Seaworthy” Exhibit Opens at Newport Visual Arts Center
Gallery reception scheduled for October 3, 5-7pm (artist talk at 6:30pm)
Gallery hours: noon to 4pm, Tuesday through Saturday
The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts is pleased to present new works by Portland artist Amy Ruppel in the Upstairs Gallery, October 3 through November 29, at the Newport Visual Arts Center (VAC). Ruppel’s exhibit, “Seaworthy,” includes paintings, illustrations and prints by the commercial and fine artist. A gallery reception is scheduled for October 3, 5-7pm, at the VAC (777 NW Beach Drive), and the artist is scheduled to discuss her work at 6:30pm.
“I am forever researching and exploring the animal kingdom and the landscapes they thrive in and upon, be it by land or by sea,” says Ruppel. “This stage in my artwork delves back to my roots as a biology and natural science major in college, and even further back to my childhood growing up in the woods. I am an observer who reinterprets what I see through painting.”
Amy Ruppel was born and raised in rural Wisconsin, where she was left mostly to her own imagination, always dragging a stack of paper and a slew of pencils and crayons to her self-made fort in the woods among the deer, the glacial kettles and the Mammoth Ice Age Center. Colors and shapes derived by nature have always intrigued her, and she is still searching for that perfect oval, and that perfect orange-yellow and grassy green.
“This show is a throwback to classical painting for me in the drybrush technique, using acrylic paint and layers and layers of underpainting,” Ruppel says. “The airiness lends itself to the fast-moving cloud and color layers.”
Working as a full-time artist, illustrator and surface designer, Amy Ruppel’s clients have included the Seattle Children’s Hospital, Blik!, Clif Bar, Aladdin, Ace Hotel-Portland, Nike, Converse, Burton Snowboards, Gnu Snowboards, Target, Kid Robot, Logitech, Whole Foods, The Vermont Cheese Council, The Mercy Corps, Friends of Trees and Travel Portland.
Amy Ruppel was the 2007 U.S. Artist for the Oilily Artisan Series (Netherlands). Her work is included in Pattern Designs: Applications and Variations (MaoMao); Communicating with Pattern: Circles and Dots, by Mark Hampshire & Keith Stephenson; Tall Trees of Portland (A Collection of Portland Artists) by Matt Wagner; and Inside the World of Board Graphics by R. Raye and M. Strassburger.
The Upstairs Gallery is open noon to 4pm, Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, please call 541-265-6569 or email vac@coastarts.org.
The Oregon Coast Council for the Arts, a nonprofit arts organization, promotes and provides high-caliber arts experiences on the Oregon coast. Located in Newport it manages the Newport Performing Arts Center and the Newport Visual Arts Center and serves as the Regional Arts Council for the Oregon coast. For more information visit www.coastarts.org.