Winter Solos II

EXHIBITIONS: Winter Solos II:
KATHRYN ALTUS
CHRISTOPHER HARRIS
DION ZWIRNER
DATES: February 4 - 28, 2016
OPENING: First Thursday, February 4, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Lisa Harris Gallery, 1922 Pike Place, Seattle, Washington
HOURS: Mon–Sat 10:30 – 5:30, Sun 11 – 4
URL: www.lisaharrisgallery.com

Lisa Harris Gallery presents three concurrent shows with works by pinhole photographer, Christopher Harris, landscape paintings by Kathryn Altus, and mixed-media abstractions by Dion Zwirner. A reception for the artists will take place First Thursday, February 4th, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.

Best known for the soft, painterly effects in his highly abstract compositions, Christopher Harris often employs a hand-constructed pinhole camera and long exposures. His newest series features the lush foliage and colorful blossoms of urban gardens. Harris was the recipient of an Artist Trust Gap Grant in 2002. In 2004, he received a Merit Award in Current Works, at The Society for Contemporary Photography in Kansas City, and received the top prize of 445 entries in The Northwest Eye, the Humboldt Art Council’s juried exhibition at the Morris Graves Museum in California. His work has been included in exhibitions from Chicago and Los Angeles to Philadelphia and New York.

Kathryn Altus uses the dramatic Pacific Northwest geography as a point of departure to create abstracted landscapes with a suggestion of near-infinite space. The soft edges, subtle gradations of color, and many delicate layers of oil in her expansive landscape forms impart a serenity and timeless character. Altus is a past Artist Trust Gap grant recipient who has been represented by Lisa Harris Gallery since 1993. In 1996 she was included in the Northwest International Exhibition at the Whatcom Museum of History of Art. Among other exhibitions in which her art has been featured are: “Temporary Contemporary,” (Missoula Art Museum,)“American Landscapes,” (Maryland Federation of Art, Baltimore), “Olympia: Through Artists’ Eyes” (Washington State Capitol Museum), and the Wright Exhibition Space (The Artists of Artech).

The natural world serves as inspiration for Dion Zwirner’s mixed media works on paper. These highly abstracted, evocative studies of water, earth, sky, and plant forms are alternately ethereal and grounded. The artist uses gouache, graphite, watercolor, and acrylic to create organic, intimate compositions in an earthy palette. Zwirner began her career in the San Francisco Bay Area and relocated to the Northwest where she has been showing for about 20 years. The artist is new to Lisa Harris Gallery, but not to Seattle audiences. One of her paintings was recently acquired by the new Bainbridge Art Museum and featured in its inaugural exhibition. Her work is also included in the collections of the Tacoma Art Museum, Swedish Hospital, IBM Corporation, and numerous others nationally.