Compose yourself

Truly one-of-a-kind art from work from Ben Killen Rosenberg and Katherine McDowell will be on show at Manzanita’s Hoffman Center for the Arts from Thursday, June 2, through Sunday, June 26.

Rosenberg said his images are the result of a lucky find at the Hoffman center site.

“Where the Wonder Garden now is, the old Hoffman house used to sit,” he said. “Studio space rented for $100 a month and for a time before its demolition, I had a small studio on the second floor. I come from a family of gleaners and artists so when there was a call to help clear out and take down the building, I showed up to see what might be salvaged.”

Between the floor and the subfloor, Rosenberg discovered a vapor barrier made of large sections of movie posters and advertisements from the 1940s.

“Some were in remarkably good shape; all were large and in sections,” he said. “The more I looked at them, the more I saw the stereotypes and unintended irony of the images for viewers now. The subtext intrigues me, and that’s true of all my work. These monotypes and monoprints are all inspired from these posters.”

To create the work in “Abstract Seascapes,” McDowell layered various colored printing inks on to a plexiglass plate with rollers, brayers and paintbrushes, then ran the plate through a hand-cranked press with the highest-quality printmaking paper.

“These prints have been selected from my ‘Lake Monotype’ series,” she said. “Started in 2008, this series contains over 450 original, one-of-a-kind prints inspired by Lake Michigan. This work is a celebration of my love for the colors and textures of nature. The term ‘monotype’ means that only one print can be made, so each one is unique.”

The Hoffman Gallery is located at 594 Laneda Avenue in Manzanita and is open Friday through Sunday from 1 to 5 pm. For more information go to hoffmanarts.org or call 503-368-3846.