Art, naturally

Nature inspired ceramics and paintings will be featured at the August show at the Hoffman Center for the Arts, on display through Aug. 26.

Featured artists Roberta Lampert and David Dickinson will speak about their work and answer questions at the artists’ reception, happening from 3 to 5 pm this Friday, Aug. 5.

Lampert’s show of stoneware and porcelain ceramic work, “Deep and Shallow Water” centers on the appreciation of and experience in nature, especially coastal themes of wildlife, geology and impressions of water and sea life. In 2020, she established propane service at her studio and built a soda kiln. The effects of wood firing—flame, ash and wind—complement the process, forms and texture that she now explores. Her hand-built pieces and thrown forms embody themes derived from experience in nature and observation of geological features. 

Dickinson’s show, “Awake in the Woods; Cascadian Forest Landscapes” is a series of plein air paintings that explore wild forests and their impacts on those who experience them. The paintings start with forest visits, mostly in coastal forests of Oregon and Washington, where plein air panels, drawings and photos are collected as studies. She seeks a way of making marks and expressing the forest that isn’t too specific, exacting or illustrative, but also not so simplified as to lose the chaos, punctuated by rhythms that relay the explosively generative, complex variety of flora that make the forest so compelling.

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.