Sculptor VanZanden returns to Smith & Vallee Gallery for his fourth exhibition. In this body of work VanZanden continues his exploration of the sea, the natural life within it, maritime vessels, and the interplay between modern civilization and the environment. VanZanden's relationship with the sea takes on a deeply personal trajectory in many of his pieces, focusing on the passing of his best friends Gunther Jose Frank and Sean Mansfield who were lost at sea ten years ago. A self-proclaimed garbage artist, VanZanden works almost exclusively in repurposed materials.
Okazaki's paintings are intuitive, drawing on Northwest archetypes and revealing the magic of everyday life. Her paintings are often set in the idyllic natural world of the Pacific Northwest, featuring both farmland and the Salish Sea. In Okazaki's words, "I paint with a sense of immediacy and wholeness of experience, where the work evolves spontaneously, telling its own story. The act of painting is both a tactile response to the outside world and the telling of a dream narrative, where in both instances images are generated through the language of visual symbols and archetypes that I have assembled over decades of work."
