((L-R) Wood working by Terry Foster, Oregon sunstone ring by Karla Proud, Three in a Row, 4×6 by Carolyn Waissman)
Despite working with different materials, each of this month’s featured artists at the Artists’ Gallery look for the spirit in their media and lets it inspire the final art. Robin McQuiston allows the glass to dictate the form. Karla Proud finds raw stones, sees the final gemstone in them, and creates artful jewelry pieces. Terry Foster draws inspiration for his woodwork by looking at the textures, intricate patterns, and grain in wood. And Carolyn Waissman discovers the personality and spirit of animals and portrays them in photographs.
Robin McQuiston has spent more than 25 years working with glass, starting with glassblowing in Seattle and now focused on kiln glass. “I’ve always been fascinated with glass and its many facets,” she says. “It’s the ability to manipulate this brittle medium to a variety of shapes and designs that bring it alive to deliver a moment of beauty to the observer.” Her pieces layer fused glass into designs echoing woven native blankets or stone-age cave paintings of horses. Bowls and platters cast colorful shadows as light shines through the rich colors of glass. She traces her path back to 1989, when she moved to Seattle and saw Dale Chihuly’s glass work for the first time.
For Karla Proud, the design is already there before she picks up a tool. “My imagination runs wild anytime I get my hands on a new Oregon gemstone,” she says. “I can easily visualize the final jewelry design and truly enjoy the process.” And it shows. Her artistic rings, earrings and necklaces are works of art as she enhances the beauty of the stone set in gold or silver. Some settings have an elevated elegance with embedded diamonds. Her path started in 1968, mining tourmaline in Southern California and opening jewelry stores built around natural history. Since settling in Bend in 2004, her focus has narrowed to Oregon sunstones, prized for a range of color and texture found nowhere else in the world.
Terry Foster builds his work allowing the natural character of the wood to guide the creative process. Along with shelves and other expected wood pieces, he creates wooden pens with artful mechanisms and kaleidoscopes. Some of his clocks and cribbage boards are filled with richly colored resin that accentuates the shape of the wood filling in cracks and creating patterns. “My work in woodworking is driven by a deep appreciation for the natural beauty and unique qualities of exotic woods,” he says. “Each piece I create is a celebration of the wood’s natural patterns and textures.” He lets the grain guide the process rather than working against it, a habit that started in high school and has carried through pieces sold at craft fairs across Central Oregon.
Carolyn Waissman has carried a camera since she was ten years old, shooting as a Brownie. A lifelong pull toward nature and wildlife led to years volunteering at the High Desert Museum, where she observed the animals, seeing their behaviors and personalities. Her wildlife photos bring the viewer close up into the lives of the animals. “The wildlife of Central Oregon is not separate from us — it lives beside us,” she tells us. Her portraits aim to show not just what these animals look like, but who they are. “We are not visitors here. We are neighbors.”