Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Don't Use Facebook To Sell Art by Mark Edward Adams

Photo of  Sun River Resort Early Morning
by Michael Orwick
A great post that puts into words what I have been thinking about lately (and yes am guilty of). I would love to hear your thoughts.

Don't Use Facebook To Sell Art
by Mark Edward Adams
https://www.facebook.com/MarkEdwardAdamsSculpture

People do not go to Facebook to buy things. They use it to socialize with others. When you suddenly start throwing a sales pitch at people for your art, you become that guy at the party trying to sell you insurance. It is the wrong place at the wrong time. You also lose an element of trust. You are no longer the artist trying to share your gift to the world. You turn into a website trying to sell things to people.

http://faso.com/fineartviews/69011/dont-use-facebook-to-sell-art

So what is the point of the Facebook? Facebook is the social equivalent of a handshake. It is the opportunity to meet someone and decide if they are worth a conversation. This is your shot to connect with another person and see if you have anything in common. You put aside the sales pitch and tell people about your art and see if it resonates with their life. You also listen to their feedback - it is a conversation.  


To read the full version please visit http://faso.com/fineartviews/69011/dont-use-facebook-to-sell-art

To see what I have been upto on FaceBook please visit https://www.facebook.com/MichaelOrwickArts


Photo of  Sun River Resort Early Morning 
by Michael Orwick

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Unveiling at Stormy Weather arts Festival this weekend


Lenne Vineyard 20x60 oils on canvas.
Finally Finished!!! 
What do you think?

This has been one of my favorite spots to paint for a few years, but the light moves so fast in the evening and there is just so much I wanted to capture. 


Available from Dragonfire Gallery 
5034361533
123 S. Hemlock Street, Ecola Square,
Cannon Beach or 97110


Getting ready for Stormy Weather Arts Festival November 1st, 2nd & 3rd! Michael Orwick is shown here with a group of budding young artists (including his daughter, Elena) who will all be displaying their artwork on our Children's Wall this year. So much fun! Please check out and like https://www.facebook.com/DragonfireGallery

Cannon Beach presents Stormy Weather Arts Festival Nov. 1-3
Fall is a great time to visit the beach. All those blustery clouds, big waves and evenings around the fire. So if you’re planning a trip around early November, think about taking in the annual Stormy Weather Arts Festival in Cannon Beach. It’s three days of arts events with writers, singers, composers, painters and sculptors, Nov. 1-3.
Tickets: chamber@cannonbeach.org or 503- 436-2623. Information:cannonbeach.org.


Friday, October 4, 2013

It’s three days of arts events with writers, singers, composers, painters and sculptors, Nov. 1-3.

Cannon Beach presents Stormy Weather Arts Festival Nov. 1-3

Fall is a great time to visit the beach. All those blustery clouds, big waves and evenings around the fire. So if you’re planning a trip around early November, think about taking in the annual Stormy Weather Arts Festival in Cannon Beach. It’s three days of arts events with writers, singers, composers, painters and sculptors, Nov. 1-3.

Tickets: chamber@cannonbeach.org or 503- 436-2623. Information:cannonbeach.org.


Art galleries will present special exhibits and artist demonstrations and host receptions for their guest artists. Other events include a Quick Draw Demonstration and Auction on Friday night — artists work for one hour to create a finished work — and a Saturday night concert with award-winning blues artist Curtis Salgado in the 200-seat Coaster Theatre.
Artists, some of whom will demonstrate the process of making their art, include sculptor Georgia Gerber, known for her 25 bronze wildlife sculptures at Portland’s Pioneer Square Courthouse and the life-size bronze pig, Rachel, at the entrance to the Pike Place Public Market in Seattle. Bend glassblower Michelle Kaptur will be at the glassblowing studio, Icefire Glassworks. Bronze Coast Gallery will host five of the country’s top sculptors including Oregon’s David Crawford, Joshua Tobey (Colorado), Carol Gold (California), Jim Eppler and Robert Rogers (Texas).

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Wish all my show reviews were as eloquint! What a great write up by Luke Fannin for the Show at the Gallery at the Watershed in Eugene.

Jeff White & Michael Orwick: Masters of Light, The Gallery at the Watershed 



Jeff White & Michael Orwick: Masters of Light, The Gallery at the Watershed


“Masters of Light,” featuring landscape painters Michael Orwick and Jeff White, is the latest show at Eugene’s Gallery at the Watershed. While these talented artists more than merit solo exhibitions, it truly does seem as though their paintings belongs together. Beyond the very general, their work isn’t overly similar, and yet it’s exceedingly complementary. As the show’s title suggests, the depiction light and its myriad effects is central to the work of both artists, but Orwick and White have taken their mastery into realms much more complex, far less tangible, than simple light and shadow.

Just why these artists fit so well together is not so easy to pin down. Maybe it’s the way they utilize negative space, drawing the eye through a painting while simultaneously engaging the edges of the canvas, never for a second allowing us to forget what might lie beyond -- as in White’s “Enchanted Moments,” where sky and water heighten the layered effect of clouds and mountains, asking us to keep looking up, up, up... Or in Orwick’s “Get Low,” where the moon seems to be pulling the sky down into the otherwise crowded tree line. Or is it the way each, in his own distinct manner, occasionally leaves ever-so-subtle traces of the uncanny, from the other-worldy red glow of Orwick’s “Crimson Clover” to the awesome figure who seems to be emerging from the clouds in White’s “Talisman at the Gates”?

Perhaps it is the striking range each displays in this show. White’s “Harmony in Motion” is an apt example of his trademark dramatic skies and cloud formations, swinging wildly between utter serenity and perpetual, swirling chaos. This painting stands in stark contrast to his pointillist landscape, “Fall Splendor,” and its profound, perfect stillness. Orwick’s range is perhaps less stylistically obvious, but, in terms of effect, just as dramatic. The familiar beauty of “Oregon Vineyard” is representative of his appeal. With its glowing rows of vines receding into a climbing, hazy landscape, this piece manages to be both quaint and expansive. In contrast, “Cool Breath” eludes the overtly familiar altogether. All detail is lost in shadow, heightened by the golden light of the background, creating a mystery far more inviting than it is imposing.

But maybe the answer is closer to home. Gallerist Amy Isler Gibson calls Orwick and White “beloved Oregon artists,” and of course she’s right. These landscape painters are two fine examples of the Pacific Northwest’s deep pool of artistic talent, and those of us privileged enough to see their work on a regular basis, to live in and near the landscapes that inspire them, is enough to make us feel a certain sense of ownership -- pride, even -- in these two artists who, in a manner of speaking, represent us and our corner of the world.

But, perhaps unintentionally, Ms. Isler Gibson’s simple sentiment points to something at the very heart of these artists’ work, the quality which seems to tie them together so well: it is not merely the artists who are beloved, but the Oregon they depict. So powerfully do Orwick’s stately vineyards and meditative sunsets, and White’s astonishing skyscapes and serene woodlands, impose themselves upon our own emotional memory that they become the places we live, visit, and remember -- as much as, even more than, their real-world counterparts. Orwick compares it to storytelling, whereas White sees something akin to a Rorschach inkblot, but the result is the same: these are more than just landscapes; they are our venues, settings in which we, the audience, become characters with unique experiences. Such an accomplishment transcends mere regional appeal, and requires so much more than solid technique and talent with a paintbrush. It demands empathy and human understanding of the most profound kind. Plein air painters are always saying how the eye sees differently than the camera -- well, as Orwick and White clearly show, the heart sees differently than either.

For all it has to offer, here is a show that simply doesn’t stop giving. It includes the work of a special guest: one Elena Orwick, nine, daughter of Michael. In her artist’s statement, Miss Orwick says, “I see beauty in everything and everyone ... and that is what inspires me.” This infectious, precocious charm notwithstanding, her work evidences startling talent and maturity in one so young, from the elegant simplicity of “Last Leaves” to the surprising depth of “Golden Hour on the Bend.” I’m far from qualified to throw around the term “prodigy,” but this young artist is one to watch.

“Masters of Light” runs at the Gallery at the Watershed, 321 Mill Street, through September 14.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Willamette Valley Plein Air is nearly here!!!

ART Elements Heeaer
Meet the artists
Meet the artists and see the work 
Artist Reception August 29, 2013

This summer our four featured artists took multiple excursions together throughout the Willamette Valley to produce paintings for ART Elements Gallery. "Painting outdoors is the best way to learn and grow as an artists," says oil painter, Michael Orwick. "The constant change of light, wind and color challenges you to grasp a moment in a ever-changing environment. Our time out and about will make my future work stronger."

"The gang gets together about once a month in the spring and summer time to plein air paint all over the Willamette Valley.  It's always an adventure full of laughs, stories, and shenanigans. Oh! And paintings too!" says Romona as she giggles and winks at her cohorts.
Willamette Valley Plein Air @ ART Elements, Gallery Artist Interviews
Willamette Valley Plein Air @ ART Elements, Gallery Artist Interviews

  
Romona Youngquist
ROMONA YOUNGQUIST
Self taught and painting since the age of four, Romona Youngquist grew up amongst vast landscapes and the thunderous big sky of Oklahoma. The severe contrast between shadow and light carry you right into her paintings of weathered architecture, flowers, fields and country roads. "We are honored to be one of the few galleries carrying Romona," says ART Elements Gallery owner and art consultant Loni Parrish. Though Romona is a painter that rivals the masters, I'm sure few of them were notorious for raising squirrels, puppies and all critters of the Pacific Northwest. All living things are attracted to Romona's quick loving and easy going personality. "We love having her live five miles from the gallery. She's a quick call away for clients that want to meet the artist behind the breathtaking paintings. When they meet her, they are always astounded that such large masterpieces came out of this petite woman." 
 




MICHAEL ORWICK 
Michael Orwick started his career as an animator in the Will Vinton claymation studios and quickly moved to illustration. His storytelling, his signature style "Inspired Expressionism," is evident on every canvas he paints. Every viewer is left feeling reminiscent of something familiar and wanting. Michael uses the entire Pacific Northwest as his painting playground spanning from the Oregon coast, Mt. Hood and the vineyards of the Willamette Valley. Michael is a natural teacher and often holds workshops and classes in various mediums. He prefers to teach people out in the plein air, in the elements.


DON BISHOP 
Don Bishop, a northern California native, is the quieter soul of this rambunctious bunch of artists. His grandiose quiet landscapes reflect his demeanor. "There is something so peaceful about Don's work. They are very reflective, meditative pieces. There are times in the gallery where his trees blow in the summer breeze, the clouds trail across the canvas and somehow the days troubles melt away," says gallery manager, Lauren Wylie. Don's work and tonal style reflects those of the early California plein air impressionist artists.
 
 
 
 
 
 
BRENDA BOYLAN
Oregon native Brenda Boylan, the newest artist to ART Elements Gallery, is a sprite bubbly artist that paints lush and rich oil pastel paintings. She has earned the distinction of Signature Membership with the Pastel Society of America, the Northwest Pastel Society and has been published in several fine art magazines. For such serious and honorable accolades, she seems to be the trouble-maker/instigator of the group. "She is always laughing and seeing the bright side of every occasion, we see that in her paintings. Her pieces bring you joy, peace and highlight details that one wouldn't normally see. Her layers of color with hints of random highlights of orange and deep blue keep your eyes drawn to the detail and care of each of her pieces," says Lauren. 





We're in Southwest Art!

  
Art Elements Gallery
 
The Gallery is open to the public
604 E. 1st Street
Downtown Newberg, OR

HOURS
Tuesday - Saturday from 10 - 5 p.m.
and by appointment by calling  
(503) 487-6141





 Our art is also featured at the following Oregon wine tasting rooms this season:
   Beaux FreresBella Vida 
                
See you in the gallery soon! 
 
Sara Starnes, Lauren Wylie & Loni Parrish
The ART Elements Gallery Team
The Art Elements Team
PO Box 1060  |  604 E. 1st Street  |  Newberg, OR 97132 
gallery@artelementsgallery.com
Phone: (503)487-6141    
  
Find us on Facebook

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

The Art of Landscape workshop in Cary North Carolina

Current Workshops:

Friday, August 9, 2013

We would like to announce one show with two special openings!

Gallery Show:  MASTERS OF LIGHT
Welcoming 3 very special artists to Eugene:

Mr. Jeff White returns for his first full on show in Eugene in many years!  A beloved and favorite Oregon artist.  Magically peaceful yet passionate landscapes that take you in, deep in, both towards and away...

Mr. Michael Orwick, award-winning Oregon Plein Air artist, known for his gorgeously colored landscapes and a special focus:  the vineyards of the PNW...

And we are proud to welcome Ms. Elena Grace Orwick, 9 years old, already well deserving of this, her first public show ever.  Ms. Orwick is under strict instructions that 100% of sales are hers, for college, ice cream, or whatever she and her parents decide.  That might rule out puppies, might not.
Elena has already shown a gift for 
composition, color theory and both figurative and abstract design.  

 
Show and Event Dates:
 
All 3 artists show together from August 6 - September 7, 2013
Gallery days and hours: Tues - Sat, 11am - 5 pm
 
 
Artist Reception/Talk for Jeff White:  
FRIDAY, Aug. 9th, 
7-8:30pm
 
Artist Reception for Michael and Elena Grace Orwick:  
SUNDAY, August 11, 4-5:30 pm
 
PLEASE JOIN US! 
 
 


JEFF WHITE
MICHAEL ORWICK
ELENA GRACE ORWICK

Sincerely,
 
Amy Isler Gibson, Owner/Manager
The Gallery at the Watershed
321 Mill St., Suite 6
Eugene, OR 97401

Monday, July 29, 2013

First art show together with my daughter! The Gallery The Watershed in Eugene

I'm so excited to be showing with my daughter in our first show together, in fact it is her first show ever (she is only eight years old)   and it is with the fantastic Jeff White! 
Thank you to The Gallery The Watershed in Eugene for this great opportunity.
I know you all want to be there at the opening so here are the details:
Artist Opening Reception Sunday, August 11, 2013
from 4pm - 5:30pm
For those that can't make it that very day, the show is running from Tuesday August 6 - Saturday, September 7, 2013.
The address is 321 Mill St, Suite 6 Eugene Or. 97401
(541) 844-1668
http://tgatws.com/

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Cannon Beach Workshop is just a week away, make sure you get one of the last spots!



Last Chance to sign up for this years Workshop with Eric Jacobsen and Michael Orwick at Cannon Beach,
June 24-28, 2013

Workshop Dates: 6/24/2013 - 6/28/2013
Location: Cannon Beach, Oregon

Phone Number: 503 329 2167
Country: United States

Price: $500.00

Come and join Eric Jacobsen and Michael Orwick for a unique and exciting plein-air workshop at Cannon Beach.

This will be a 5-day workshop:

June 24th through 28th. 2013, 9am-4pm each day

This workshop leads into the Cannon Beach Plein Air and More Event
http://cbgallerygroup.com/plein-air-more-june-28-30-2013

Accommodations in town this year! The artists have arranged for a block of 10 adjoining rooms with views of Haystack and connected balconies.

Eric and Michael will conduct this as a dual workshop and students
will benefit from expert advice and painting tips from each artist.
Along with daily painting demos and informal lectures there will be
group critiques and plenty of one-on-one teaching in the field.

Email either Eric or Michael for a supply list and registration information:
Click here to email Michael Orwick orwickarts@gmail.com
or call 503 329 2167

http://michaelorwick.com/workshop/6840/painting-coastal-color-and-light
http://jacobsenstudio.com/workshops


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Painting Color and Light, Eugene!

Painting Color and Light, Eugene!

WHEN:
August 12, 2013 @ 10:00 am – August 14, 2013 @ 4:00 pm
WHERE:
The Gallery at the Watershed
321 Mill Street #6
Eugene,OR 97401
USA
COST:
$300
CONTACT:
 Amy Isler Gibson 541-844-1668E-mailEvent website 
Watch master painter Michael Orwick demo a painting from start to finish!
Michael Orwick We will focus on the fundamentals of landscape painting while exploring the beauty and atmosphere of the area. Each day will include a demo and a group discussion about painting techniques, materials and philosophy, with individual easel time and helpful critiques. Beginners welcome! You will learn the importance of observation rather than using formulas and recipes to paint what you actually see and feel. This workshop explores composition and design, value and color harmony, along with brushwork and edges. Demonstrations will be directed at oil painters, but concepts and principles will apply to all painting media. We will meet at The Gallery for discussion then walk or drive to the nearby, lovely park and Willamette River area.
About: Michael Orwick
Michael Orwick is a renowned Oregon painter known as an excellent teacher as well. He is represented in Lane County by The Gallery at the Watershed. During August his work will be shown at The Gallery at the Watershed with fellow Oregon master Jeff White. Their show will include works by a very special guest artist, Michael Orwick’s 8 year old daughter: Elena Grace Orwick. Please join us for their opening on Sunday, August 11, 4-6 p.m. and give Elena a warm welcome to her first ever show. She joins two Oregon art stars!
We are a contemporary art gallery on the cutting edge in Eugene, Oregon.
Our mission: Sharing exceptional contemporary artists, art, and art education with the world community.
Max. Attendees: 10
Contact:
Amy Isler Gibson
541-844-1668