LuAnn Ostergaard and Joseph Rastovich
LuAnn Ostergaard and Joseph Rastovich

Beauty can be found in the unlikeliest of places, as evidenced by a new art exhibition from LuAnn Ostergaard and Joseph Rastovich. This May, stop by the Gallery at the Park to see their unique perspectives both on art and on how they view the world.

Joseph Rastovich has been interested in sculpting since he was 14 years old, spending his paychecks on metalworking tools. By the time he was 18 years old, he had completed his first public sculpture, titled “Synergy.” Since then, he has created 14 more public sculptures.

Rastovich uses art to communicate deep truths about human existence and to make the world a better place through creative expression.

LuAnn Ostergaard, Joseph Rastovich’s mother, creates beautiful art prints that are sold to collectors nationwide, as well as in Europe and in Australia.

Ostergaard captures images that speak to her, and she often combines images, overlaying odd textures or weathered surfaces to create something completely new.

Her inspiration comes from the patterns and textures she sees in the world, such as those found in a metal scrapyard or a forgotten natural area. Her goal is to inspire viewers of her art to appreciate the beauty that goes overlooked all around us.

Like Ostergaard, Rastovich is also drawn to the beauty of imperfection. He uses raised welds, layout markings and weathered scars to show the artist’s hand, echo creative thought and remind the viewer of time.

The Ostergaard and Rastovich show will be on display at the Gallery at the Park from May 3 through May 29.

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Scholarship Show 2021
Scholarship Show 2021

Each year, as a way of supporting visual arts in the community, the Allied Arts Association awards an annual scholarship to a Columbia Basin College student and to a student working towards a master’s degree in fine arts.

This year’s scholarships went to Cheyenne Storer, a student attending CBC, and Aunde Cornely, an MFA student attending Goddard College.

Inspired by a simple fascination with the human form, Cheyenne Storer began drawing at a young age. She often tried to recreate people she had seen, finding that every person has an irreplicable individuality. Storer’s penchant for finding the beauty in those around her eventually spread to other organic life, such as foliage and florals.

Storer also states, however, that while she is always able to find beauty in others, she struggles to find it in herself. She uses art to explore her own vulnerability and to attempt to find the beauty she sees in others in herself. Art allows Storer to express herself, but she also hopes to use her art to reach out and connect with others. Through art, she can normalize and destigmatize mental illness, and she can let others know they are not alone.

Aunde Cornely, the MFA scholarship recipient, is earning her degree in interdisciplinary arts with a decolonial arts praxis concentration. For the past 13 years, she has lived on an island in the Salish Sea. Her work is inspired by the shifting nature of land, sea and sky, both in her current home of Washington and in her ancestral home of Ireland. Cornely is interested in the relationships between people, places and plants, as well as how these relationships reflect identity and embody culture.

Cornerly’s photography has been displayed regionally around the Pacific Northwest. Currently, she is creating new photographic work from Ireland and developing a short animation inspired by Irish myth, folklore, geology and archaeology.

The Allied Arts Association’s scholarship exhibition will be on display at the Gallery at the Park from April 6 through April 30.

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Vitae Cyclum, the life cycle of art
Vitae Cyclum, the life cycle of art

When we view a work of art, we tend to see it only as it is: a finished piece. We overlook the entire process—the development of new concepts and ideas—that brought the art to us in its current state. With her new exhibition at the Gallery at the Park, titled Vitae Cyclum, Jessica Heidi Stoker hopes to change that.

To help explain the “life cycle” of art, Stoker points to Da Vinci’s Last Supper, a painting that has seen so many restorations since its creation in the late 1490s that art historians believe there to be very few, if any, actual paint strokes by Da Vinci left. The Last Supper had noticeably deteriorated by 1517, but because other artists throughout the centuries preserved and restored the work, we are still able to see it today—at least, some version of it.

Stoker uses a wide array of techniques and materials to allow viewers to experience the way art can transform over time. Her Vitae Cyclum exhibition features many small, two-dimensional works interspersed among larger paintings of diverse female figures. The smaller works demonstrate Stoker’s experimentations with the materials used in the larger paintings, essentially functioning as a behind-the-scenes look at her creative process.

Stoker also explores themes relating to the male gaze, a feminist theory describing the act of depicting women from a masculine, heterosexual perspective, which represents the female body as a sex object for the pleasure of the male viewer. Stoker’s paintings of female figures are thought-provoking works meant to elicit debate over the general concept of gaze, as well as the specific ideas of the male gaze and the female gaze.

Vitae Cyclum will be on display at the Gallery at the Park from March 9 through April 3. To learn more about Jessica Heidi Stoker, visit her website at jessicaheidistoker.com.

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Empty Bowls and Randy Berglund's Digital Reflections
Empty Bowls and Randy Berglund's Digital Reflections

This February marks the fourth year of the Gallery at the Park participating in the Empty Bowls movement!

Empty Bowls was organized by artists and craftspeople to raise money for food-related charitable organizations around the world and to promote awareness of hunger in local communities. The Gallery at the Park will donate the money it raises from this project to the Tri-Cities Food Bank.

The Gallery will be displaying and selling about 100 bowls that are handmade by community members and local artists. The bowls are made from clay, glass and turned wood.

Throughout December, the Gallery also provided free clay kits and video tutorials for community members, who then brought bowls back to the Gallery to be fired and glazed. These bowls are now on display as part of the February show, so stop by to find yours or to see bowls created by others!

The suggested donation for each bowl is $20, which goes to the Tri-Cities Food Bank. Those who donate will also receive gift cards and discount coupons from the Gallery’s restaurant partners on a first-come, first-served basis. The restaurants that have partnered with the Gallery for this event are Anthony’s Restaurants, the Emerald of Siam Thai Restaurant, Frost Me Sweet Bakery and Bistro, and Dovetail Joint Restaurant.

Along with Empty Bowls, the Gallery’s February exhibit will also feature two-dimensional artist Randy Berglund and his “Digital Reflections.”

Berglund is a digital artist and graphic designer originally from Chicago, IL, though he has lived in the Tri-Cities for most of his life. He graduated from Whatcom Community College with an associate degree in graphic design and from Western Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in graphic design/new media. He has had his artwork displayed at the WSU Tri-Cities Chancellor’s exhibits in Fall 2012 and Spring 2013.

For Berglund, art is about exploring his imagination and transforming a blank canvas into an undiscovered world. He enjoys creating evocative pieces that allow viewers to examine how it makes them feel and what their relationship is to the art.

Berglund refers to his artwork as “digitally manipulated photography.” For each piece, he takes photos he has personally shot, and he digitally blends them on a computer. The result is art that is alluring, bold and surreal.

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Wearable art from Desert Fiber Arts
Wearable art from Desert Fiber Arts

Throughout November and December, the Gallery at the Park showcased Gallery Aglow, an annual event featuring beautiful decorations and unique gifts made by local and regional artists. Despite the obstacles that arose this year, Gallery members were able to organize a joyous Gallery Aglow event for the holidays.

Now that both the holiday season and Gallery Aglow have come to an end, the Gallery at the Park is ready for a new exhibit: Desert Fiber Arts’ wearable art show.

Desert Fiber Arts is a nonprofit organization for fiber arts enthusiasts. It originated in 1974 for the purpose of promoting education, appreciation and participation relating to fiber arts. Members of the organization come from all around the Tri-Cities and surrounding areas.

In September 2014, Desert Fiber Arts opened a studio in Kennewick, where everyone is invited to exercise their creativity. The studio provides warped looms, spinning wheels and carders, and study groups meet to explore topics such as tatting, knitting and basketry. Stop by to learn from the area’s leading fiber experts!

The show at the Gallery at the Park will feature wearable art created by Desert Fiber Arts members. The term “wearable art” encompasses a wide variety of fiber art, including baskets, tapestries, table linens and felted creations.

This exhibit will be on display at the Gallery at the Park from Jan. 5 through 30. To learn more about Desert Fiber Arts, visit their website at desertfiberarts.org.

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