| Smith and Vallee open Edison gallery
By
Tara Nelson
The local woodworkers who put Whatcom County on the map for sustainability have now put their feet into the local art scene.
Andrew Vallee and Wesley Smith, the owners of Smith and Vallee Woodworks in Deming, have recently purchased a small space in the hidden town of Edison to form a new art gallery there.
Whatcom County residents may remember Smith and Vallee as the creators of the “Tree Exhibit,” which was featured at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham in 2004.
The exhibit used a nearly 118-year-old cedar tree harvested near Van Zandt, on a property known as “the River Farm,” was milled in Ferndale and became a series of furniture items.
The gallery currently features Bellingham artist Todd Horton’s “Present Tense” exhibit and an artist’s reception is planned from 5 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 14.
Vallee said Horton frequently uses animals “simple, elegant and mysterious” subjects to his paintings.
“Many of the paintings have a sense of stop frame action; catching the birds simultaneously from the past, present and into the future as they flutter through life,” he said. “There is activity, noise, conflict. Yet at the same time there is also a calm, repose and tranquility. The paintings seem to be dealing with a certain Buddhist view of the world with reposed foxes either ignoring ‘temptation’ or finding calm amongst the flutter and flurry of life.”
The Smith Vallee Gallery is located at 5742 Gilkey Avenue in Edison and can be reached by calling 360/305-4892. For more information about their Tree Project, visit www.thetreeproject.com. |
