Art Marches on, in Manzanita

Prints by Christine Harrison and Jan Branham and ceramics by Shane Sjogren will fill Manzanita’s Hoffman Center for the Arts during the new gallery show, running through March 24. An opening reception will be held at 3 pm this Saturday, March 4, during which some of the artists will speak about their work and answer questions.

Harrison has lived on the Oregon Coast for the past 25 years. She is one of the founding members of the TIllamook County-based non-profit Art Accelerated. Her deep connection to coastal land, weather and water has greatly influenced her art. She looks to capture a sense of place in her work, which led her to investigate botanical dye printmaking. Using local flora and fauna to make dyes and ink, Harrison is able to physically embody the landscape. The pieces in this show were all made using local tannins and botanical prints.

Branham is a printmaker who splits her time between Manzanita and Corvallis. Her work is from the collection “Ansisters and Mancestors,” with pieces that incorporate linocut, woodblock, monoprint, collagraph and the mixing of media to satisfy her image-making curiosity. The collection is inspired by snapshots of Branham's relatives and family friends taken from the 1920s to the 1950s on a Kodak Brownie camera. Branham chose individuals from the snapshots, drew them in larger format, added embellishments and created printed, collaged, and mixed media images to develop a narrative.

Sjogren resides in Wheeler. The colossal vegetation of the forests and the pulse of the Pacific Northwest inform his ceramic works. His ideas flourish from observations of the environment of the Oregon Coast.

The Hoffman Gallery is located at 594 Laneda Avenue in Manzanita and is open Thursday through Sunday from Noon to 5 pm. For more information go to hoffmanarts.org or call 503-368-3846.