The inspiration rose from different sources but the results were similarly spectacular for three local artists — Ken DeRoux, Robert Dean and Diane Baxter – featured in July at the new Burien Arts Gallery.
The opening reception for the artists’ show at the Burien Arts Gallery is Thursday, July 3, 5-8 p.m. at the gallery, 826 S.W. 152nd St. in Olde Burien. The opening is part of the monthly B-Town Beat Art Walk. The show runs through Aug. 3.
DeRoux, a Burien resident, will display his abstract paintings on canvas and works on paper.
“The work reflects my current concerns with the problems of making abstract art and how the work can provide a direct and unique aesthetic encounter for the viewer, how it can embody a sensibility about ways of being in the world,” DeRoux notes.
DeRoux’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions in Washington, Alaska and California.
He began painting in 1978 when he returned to his hometown of Juneau where he curated exhibits at the Alaska State Museum.
He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in photography/film in 1969 and went on to manage the Canyon Cinema Cooperative and curate films at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Burien resident Dean’s work is inspired by shadowy images he encounters on his solitary nightly commute.
Dean explains, “I work at night and have a long commute from Southwest King County to Northeast King County. The drive can be long and solitary.
“I pass construction sites, industrial areas and temporary night roadwork lit by spotlights. This mix of shadow and light, caught out of the corner of my eye—warehouses, backlit scaffoldings in the fog or rain. They are there one night, then gone the next.
“These mysterious passing images fascinate and inspire me.”
Dean earned Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Washington and University of Kansas.
His work has been featured at the Normandy Park Arts Festival.
Diane Baxter’s dramatic mixed media pieces are nearly six feet tall and measure 15 inches at the base.
They are composed of organic materials gathered locally, including dirt, sand and sticks. Brocade cloth, wax, ribbon, nails, paint, charcoal and even a little bear fur can be discovered in her work.
“The use of organic materials provides me with a real and intimate relationship with nature,” Baxter says. “Objects from nature carry a powerful energy that stays with them. Why else are people compelled to pick up shells and rocks to bring home with them?
“My art is mainly about the natural world or my sense of an inner landscape.”
Baxter was born and raised in Seattle but also has lived in Alaska. She originally worked in clay until branching out to create mixed media and collage.”
The gallery is operated by the Burien Arts Association and is open Wednesday through Saturday, noon-6 p.m. and Sunday, noon-4 p.m.
