Magic can be found in the unlikeliest of places. A slate-gray blob of clay, a blank white canvas, rich brown wood, or even soft beeswax. These materials carry endless potential and can be made into statues of animals, culturally significant totems, and beautiful, bright landscape paintings. Here are just some of the Northwest’s local artists who’ve unlocked the magic within.
Yvonne Buijs-Mancuso
Encaustic painting involves mixing color pigment into beeswax and using it as paint. The earliest users resided in Ancient Greece and applied this technique to create murals, boats, architecture, and sculptures. Today, some 3,000 years later, Yvonne Buijs-Mancuso incorporates encaustic mediums into her paintings and luminary sculptures.
Photograph by Kevin D’Haeze
Buijs-Mancuso previously owned a stained glass studio with her husband in Hartford, Connecticut, and has been creating glass art for the last 20 years on San Juan Island. While she still creates kiln-fired glass pieces, Buis-Mancuso has more recently gravitated toward encaustic mediums, which have opened up an entirely new potential for creation. Buijs-Mancuso is based in Friday Harbor and takes commissions. If you’re in the market for unique, dreamy art, you know where to go! Friday Harbor, yvonnebuijs-mancuso.com
Georgia Gerber
Georgia Gerber has been creating timeless life-sized sculptures in her Whidbey Island studio for the last 35 years. She studied bronze casting and sculpture making at Bucknell University, then attended the University of Washington for graduate school. After graduation, her professional career officially began.
Photograph courtesy of Georgia Gerber Sculpture
Gerber begins a piece by sculpting it in clay—an odor-free, oil-based clay, to be precise. After sculpting, there’s a multi-step process that eventually ends in casting the sculpture in bronze. While Gerber’s studio used to double as a foundry, where the bronze casting itself took place, she now works with Reinmuth Bronze Studio in Eugene, OR to cast her pieces. Much of the finish and patina are still completed on Whidbey.
Photograph courtesy of Georgia Gerber Sculpture
Around 15 of her sculptures are in public spaces, from a pig in Pike Place Market to a gorilla family at the Woodland Park Zoo. Sculptures available for purchase are listed on her website, and Gerber takes private commissions. Her art can also be found at three fine art galleries: the Rob Schouten Gallery in Langley, Gallery Mack in Seattle, and Northwest by Northwest Gallery in Cannon Beach, OR. Clinton, georgiagerber.com
Jay Bowen
Jay Bowen is an expressionist who works with steel sculpting, glassblowing, oil painting, poetry, and custom fine gold jewelry. An Upper Skagit tribal member, Bowen attended Western Washington University, Institute of American Indian Arts, and Rhode Island School of Design. His art is intended to heal and unite humanity by emphasizing the importance of connection, understanding, and concern for each other.
Photograph by Anne Godenham
One of Bowen’s largest sculptures, the 20-foot-tall “Spirits of Our Valley,” resides in downtown Mount Vernon. This Native American-inspired totem pole was designed by Bowen at the request of artist Milo White. White had a giant piece of steel in his yard, which he thought would make an amazing totem, but he realized that he lacked the cultural knowledge necessary to do the project justice. As such, White sought out Bowen, who chose to represent the Skagit Valley ecosystem in the totem, as it overlooks the Skagit River. Bowen aimed to create a vision of peace between native and non-native individuals. The totem features local wildlife, glass pieces by Lin McJunkin, and 300 rocks from the Skagit River.
If you visit “Spirits of Our Valley” and want to see more of Bowen’s work, much of it is on his website and available for purchase! Skagit Valley, jaybowen-art.com
Tom and Jennifer Dolese
Tom and Jennifer Dolese are woodworkers, teachers, and artisans. Tom thought he would be a geophysicist, but found a passion for woodworking after he built a small scribe-fit log cabin in the Beartooth Mountains. He met Jennifer in her hometown of Missoula, MT, where he started designing and building furniture. Jennifer took stained glass design classes and began working with Tom on pieces before expanding into marquetry, pictures made with wood veneers. Their daughter, Alexis, grew up to become a prominent woodworker herself, and runs Dolese Woodworks in Bozeman, MT.
Photograph courtesy of Terra Firma
Tom currently builds personal and commission pieces at Terra Firma, the Dolese’s Bellingham woodworking studio and gallery. Terra Firma also runs woodworking classes, where students can learn how to create fine wood furniture and crafts. Bellingham, terrafirmadesignnw.com
