Exhibitions
Overtone: Three Painters of the PNW
On display in Gallery Two: Joan Belmar

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In this exhibition, we have selected three painters from our own corner of the USA: Cyrus Chartres, Kathy Kimball, and Eric Adrian Lee. Sharing little else in common than locality within Pacific Northwest and motivation toward the abstract, each artist offers his/her own distinct deconstruction of observational and perceptual experience.

Cyrus Chartres views his practice in oil painting as "a laboratory of sorts" in which he seeks to merge otherwise divergent ideas and materials. He believes that painting in the abstract forces strategy in the absence of representation, and exceptional decision-making with regards to basic elements in painting (composition, color, line, texture, light, etc). The result then focuses our consideration toward such properties and/or the absence there-of. Cyrus Chartres studied at the University of California at Berkeley and has shown in exhibitions throughout California, New York, and Washington.

Working primarily in acrylics, Kathy Kimball sees her naturally evolving process as a rendering of moments in time. Beginning as intuitive scribbles and developing through layers of interaction with the canvas, she aims to capture an "intangible subject without the use of language", that is, these colors and forms which surround us in everyday life are key to our perception. Kimball feels that this unspoken dialogue is perhaps more dynamic than any other form of conversation, and explores how we "connect, divide, and define" ourselves as individuals.
Kathy Kimball earned her BSN from the University of Washington in 1975. In addition to her career as a nurse, she persisted in her artistic practice for more than 20 years. Retirement has allowed Kimball to return to painting full-time, and we are pleased to bring her to the forefront as a new artist to Gallery IMA. Kimball has been included in exhibitions and collections throughout Washington, California, New York, and Washington D.C.

The mixed-media paintings of Eric Adrian Lee concentrate heavily on the concepts of presence, form, texture, and intuitive gesture. Yielding full attention to surface, material, and a willingness to be "present", raw form and texture emerge from canvas. Through a process Lee has described as "impulsive and reactionary", he aims to emulate daily existence, subsequently inciting emotion and sensation within the viewer, while maintaining an element of mystery.
Originally from Vancouver, WA, Lee spent much of his youth living in Europe before moving back to the U.S. to earn his BFA at Greenville College in Illinois. After beginning his career in Denver, CO, he moved once again to Portland, OR, where he has continued his career for more than a decade.

In Gallery II we display the work of Joan Belmar, whose technique in 3-D painting utilizes acrylics, gouache, and ink to explore the properties of contemporary materials (i.e. plastic, paper acetate, vinyl, fabric, and Mylar). The unique elements of such materials, when layered in space, allow for variations in transparency and light as the viewer moves in relation to the work. Referencing various lines, symbols, grids, and colors encountered when exploring maps, Belmar aims to evoke concepts of time, change, and movement.
Originally from Santiago, Chile, Joan Belmar lives in Washington D.C. and has been exhibited and collected worldwide.