Allison Collins | Painted Hills

The coming year marks Allison Collins' 35 year anniversary showing with Foster/White Gallery. We celebrate this October hosting Allison's 16th solo exhibition. Please join us, along with the artist, Thursday, October 6th from 6 - 8 pm to honor this auspicious occasion.

Collins latest source of inspiration is found in the Painted Hills of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. Collins draws upon the raw beauty of the 45 million year old fossilized landscape. Over time, bands have formed, layer upon layer, much like the development of her paintings. Paint is applied to the canvas, scraped away, reformed, evolved. Collins accentuates the passing landscape with languid rivers and roads, rolling hills, and trees dotting the horizon. Just as the Painted Hills change their color throughout the day with the passing of the sun, Collins' paintings transform as light moves across the canvas.

As stated by the artist:
"The Painted Hills is an actual place in northeast Oregon.
It is also a description of my paintings.
The hills get their name from stratified colored layers of soil.
My paintings are also stratified, layer by layer, color by color.
I like the idea of using a road trip as a metaphor for my painting.
The landscape changes as we move through expansive landlines onto small winding roads.
We can start traveling in one direction then turn onto another path.
My painting can start in one place and then change layer by layer. Finally these
Layers converge into a distillation of time and place, color and shape. The painting is done
And I am home."

Allison Collins studied painting with fellow Foster/White artist Alden Mason at the University of Washington and went on to receive her MFA from the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. She was granted a fellowship at the Whitney Museum of American Art and has since made a place for herself as an established Northwest Artist. Her work can be found in public and private collections including Seattle City Light, Seattle Water Department, the United Bank of Houston, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom.