Armor by Heidi Kirkpatrick

Congratulations to 23 Sandy Gallery artist Heidi Kirkpatrick, who has finished in the top three for this year’s Critical Mass competition sponsored by Photolucida. You may have heard me talk about Photolucida before, that Portland-based photography non-profit that is near and dear to my heart. The work this terrific organization does much to further the field of photography as an art form.

From the Photolucida blog: “The Center for Fine Art Photography awarded their solo show award to Heidi Kirkpatrick. Heidi’s work champions the use of film and looks at photography as an object—she produces three dimensional photographic sculptures made with found objects and images (some pulled from Grey’s Anatomy). She explores topics such as family narratives, the female figure, and physical pain.”

Each year over 600 photographers submit their work to Critical Mass. The first round of jurying narrows the field down to 150 artists and then a group of highly-respected gallerists, curators, writers and other photography thinkers further narrow the field to the Top 50. From there, another round of voting and then three books and exhibition prizes are awarded to the very best of the best.

We are very proud of Heidi. Her window perch in the gallery is one of the most popular spots and when we re-open the gallery in February Heidi’s space will be expanded to include even more of her terrific work, with more frequent rotation. We are also planning a solo show in the gallery for Heidi in the fall, so stay tuned.

See more of Heidi’s gorgeous work here.

Congratulations, Heidi. Well deserved!

Librarian’s Choice Award Elizabeth Sanford

Hearty congratulations are in order to six award winning artists for our soon-to-end national juried exhibition, Infinite Possibilities.

Better hurry if you want to see these works in person, the show ends Saturday, December 29th. We’ll be here Friday and Saturday from 12-6:00.

Chosen by our juror, Dina Scheel, our Best of Show Awards winners are:

Macy Chadwick for Pathways

Susan Collard for Lodestone House

Susan Lowdermilk for Eadem mutata resurgo.

Chosen by a group of our librarian friends the Librarian’s Choice Award winners are:

Katherine Pulido for A Biological Case Study of a Relationship

Elizabeth Sanford for Six Sides of Science

Dorothy Yule for Memories of Science

The Librarian’s Choice award is a purchase prize. Elizabeth Sanford’s book will be purchased by the gallery and donated to one of our randomly selected voting libraries.

You can view a full online catalog of all the amazing works in this show here.

Congratulations to all!

The Observatory by Timothy C. Ely

The unique books of Colfax, Washington based artist Timothy C. Ely need very little introduction. He is one of those revered artists whose work has truly helped elevate the field of book arts into the realm of fine art over the last 20 years.

The very nature of his highly complex, deeply considered and beautifully crafted one-of-a-kind books command careful study and elicit awe from all viewers. 23 Sandy Gallery is honored to have one of Tim’s books featured in our new Infinite Possibilities exhibition. This book, created in 2007 is actually a study for a larger book of the same title, The Observatory. With this piece Tim delves into ideas of history, perception, optics, and the science of lens grinding. He tells us, “The Observatory is a visual laboratory where forays into the imaginary mind are made real by the measurements of the lens. This book honors such a location and, as a parallel aim, evokes and extends the range of the inner eye.”

You can learn more about this stunning book and see more photos of it here.

Untitled (Backyard) by Jim Kazanjian

Congratulations to 23 Sandy Gallery artist Jim Kazanjian, who was recently honored with a Lens Culture International Exposure Award 2012, Grand Prize in Single Image Category.

Jim has had two solo shows in the gallery so far and I’m a huge fan of his work. You can read the Lens Culture article here.

You can also see more of Jim’s fantastical images here.

To celebrate the publication of gallery artist Helen Hiebert‘s latest book, Playing With Paper, we’ve created a new curated collection of works in 23 Sandy’s inventory that feature handmade paper. More specifically, unique and limited edition works that feature handmade paper as an integral part of the artist’s conceptual framework. The paper may be made by the artist personally or designed and commissioned specifically for this project.

See the books, broadsides and portfolios that are part of our Handmade Paper Curated Collection here.  Of course, with five works featured, our talented author is the star of this collection.

Publication congratulations, Helen!

23 Sandy Gallery is pleased to present Infinite Possibilities, and juried exhibition of artist books featuring works from 46 artists from across the US, Canada and Australia.

A full online catalog for Infinite Possibilities can be found here.

The subjects of art, math, and science aren’t nearly as disparate as they sometimes seem. By those in the know, meaning those left-brained, analytical types, math and science are often viewed and described in artistic terms: the eloquence of an equation, the beauty of a concept. And as those right-brained, creative types can attest, critical exploration will often result in unique creations and unexpected discoveries. To all subjects, the spark of imagination is essential.

Infinite Possibilities Installation View

Infinite Possibilities shows us how math and science can be used as a source of artistic inspiration to book artists who are thinking creatively about such topics. Taking a wide range of approaches—from serious to humorous—participating artists explore mechanical and theoretical concepts extracted from a diverse range of scientific fields: from mathematics to medicine, space, architecture, engineering, physics, genetics, botany, biology, and more.

Juried by Laura Russell, owner of 23 Sandy Gallery and by guest co-juror Dina Scheel, a Bay-area book artist and collector, Infinite Possibilities features the work of the following artists: Alexis Arnold, Rachael Ashe, Alicia Bailey, Susan Bonthron, Servane Briand, Patty Bruce, Macy Chadwick, Judith Christensen, Susan Collard, Kindra Crick, Katie Delay, Timothy Ely, Casey Gardner, Patricia Grass, Karen Hardy, Lucia Harrison, Paula Jull, Heather Kasvinsky, Margarita Kloss, Bryan Kring, Susan Lowdermilk, Erin Mickelson, Cathryn Miller, Bessie Smith Moulton, Catherine Nash, Cynthia Nawalinski, Janis Nedela, Jackie Niemi, Carol Norby, Tara O’Brien, Meryl Perloff, Dr. Bob Pliny, Katherine Pulido, Sibyl Rubottom, Elizabeth Sanford, Jean Segaloff, Julie Shaw Lutts, Maria Talavera, Andrew Topel, Elsi Vassdal Ellis, Katherine Venturelli, Laurie Weiss and Marilyn Worrix, Thomas Parker Williams, Karen Wirth, Beverly Womack, Dorothy A. Yule.

Infinite Possibilities: Math, Science, Book Arts
On View: November 30 – December 29, 2012
Artists Reception: First Friday, December 7, 2012, 5:00-8:00 p.m.

A full online catalog for Infinite Possibilities can be found here.