First Friday Art Walk & Opening Reception: October 6, 5- 8 PM
Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 12 - 5 PM Appointments are available too.
About the Artists: Olga Volchkova lives in Eugene, Oregon. She was born in the Soviet Union in 1970 and trained as a professional icon painter and conservator before moving to the United States in 1998. In her paintings, Olga canonizes flora and fauna, employing the style and visual language of religious iconography painting. Replacing the saintly subjects with plants and creatures, she draws attention to their relevance and importance, emphasizing our interconnectedness over a human centered belief system. Olga spotlights this interconnectedness by paying tribute, in one painting, to the small living organism, chloroplast, without which humans never would have emerged and which we need for continued survival. In line with new revelations in science, Olga uses the aura and reverence of iconographic paintings to connect us with this evolving awareness of our shared complex ecosystem. Her intricate and glowing paintings do not attempt to teach us, but instead, pull us in to revere and resonate with the beauty and the pleasure of being in harmony with nature.
Marjorie Taylor, originally from Nova Scotia, lived for many years in Eugene, Oregon, where she was the Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon. As an artist, she is self-taught. Her work includes neuroscience imagery in hooked rugs, beadwork, and quilting. Marjorie’s current work, which she refers to as ‘vegan taxidermy’, are animal replicas that blend realism and fantasy. Using taxidermy forms, faux furs, chenilles, tapestry fabrics, and velvets, she often builds her forms true to size to capture their presence. Vintage needlepoint, a favorite material of Marjorie’s, recalls a tradition of handiwork in which the beauty of the natural world has been carefully stitched into domestic furnishings. Marjorie’s work has been exhibited in England, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. It has also been featured in numerous publications such as Science and the New York Times, as well as online. Her dresses that are made of recycled materials have been finalists in the World of Wearable Art International Design Competition in New Zealand, and worn at the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Sweden.
