Sam Albright
Ellensburg, WA
Sam Albright, long-time Pacific Northwest artist, current watercolors are inspired by the gorgeous landscapes right outside his window.
MessageI live near a small, farming, college town in eastern Washington State, USA. and love being part of the long history of making art. People have been sharing their lives through painting for a very long time and as 21st century artists, we are directly a part of that lineage. When I stand in front of a painting I see the image as well as the actual brush strokes put there by the painter.
I am currently working in oils, watercolor and Flashe vinyl paint in a variety of styles. I’ve been told to narrow down my focus to one manner of painting, never being able to pull it off I finally embrace the joy of working with all the amazing materials we have, in whatever style that is needed. These past few years have been a time of getting back to basics, relearning my materials and reawakening the original reasons I began painting over 50 years ago. These works are quite varied. Each series happens in the months after an exploratory period where I experiment with materials and images then when everything comes together a series of pieces will happen. As an example, this last summer I really enjoyed getting up in the morning and heading out painting "en plein air" in watercolors or oils. This led to a nice series of little watercolor and oil landscapes.
Much of making art has to do with the craft needed to work with “real” materials like water, oils, ink and earth as well as the amazing digital tools we have. After the skills, tools and techniques of the craft are embodied then we hope some art will show up. A painting refracts and reflects light, it has a physical presence in a room and each painting is, by it’s very handmade nature, a unique, one of a kind object that has time built into it.
Seattle Music and Arts Foundation Creative Art School - weekend program 1971
1978 BFA Central Washington University
2020 'Fresh Paint' solo show Gallery-One, Ellensburg, WA
2019 'Two Eras' - retrospective - Gard Vintners, Ellensburg, WA
2018 On going display at Department of Ecology, Union Gap, Washington
2017 Purchase Award by City of Ellensburg - juried by Lisa Kinoshita at Gallery One
2017 'Rheology' solo show at Gard Vintners, Ellensburg WA
2017 LHAF McGiffin Award for contributions to the arts
2017, 2018, 2019 Dark Moon -Ellensburg, WA
2010, 2015 Gard Vintners Ellensburg, WA
2008 'Abstraction' - Gallery One, Ellensburg,WA with Austin Smith and Majka Sadel
2007 Alumni Show CWU
2006 Micro Museum - Brooklyn, NY
2006 InnerEye Elemental Edges at Brazillis Gallery - Ballard, WA
2005 Juried Show- Allied Arts- Yakima, WA US
2005 Solo Show Gallery One Ellensburg, WA
1993 Egg Tempera - Valley Cafe Ellensburg WA
1980 Blanchard Street Studio Gallery - Seattle WA
1978 Hired Hand Gallery, Seattle WA, US
Statement
Painting is a love affair with the world. Looking so deeply that every shape of bouncing light is a poem. Through the craft of pushing tiny ground-up earth particles around on a flat surface, the painter tries to share this experince. Painting is a visual, light language. A painting may be a cipher for something real or imagined, recognizable or not. Or a painting might be more about the paint itself. When successful, something of the artist’s experience while painting is shared with the viewer. When looking at a 30,000 year old image on a cave wall we are touched by the ochre blown from the mouth of a cousin. I feel a part of the long lineage leading back to those caves. These paintings are my way of sharing the loving observations of a year lived.
Powered by Artwork Archive