William Traver Gallery - 40th Anniversary Show

I made it down to the SAM last week to get tickets for the Kusamma exhibit and ventured into the William Traver Gallery. I confess I hadn't been there for years. I have always loved the stable of artists, and their glass, ceramics, and sculptures. I always seem to not have enough time to visit the gallery when I am in the area to the the SAM. This time I made sure I would stop by.

This first piece is a painted glass piece by Dick Weiss titled "Pilchuck Self-Portrait". The technique and style of the painting reminds me of the late Italo Scanga who routinely showed at the gallery and spent some time at the Pilchuck Glass School. I was fortunate enough to have Italo visit my studio one semester during my enrollment at CGU.

While this may remind you of a Morris Louis painting, it is actually a ceramic piece by Jun Kaneko. This is one things I enjoy about the Traver Gallery. When there are 2-dimension works present, they tend to have a twist to them, typically they are something other than paint on canvas.

Preston Singletary's glass work continues to evolve. Probably close to 20 years ago I visited the Pilchuck Glass School during one of their open house opportunities. I met Preston when I suspect he was first starting out. I recall him cutting a sand blasting stencil of a salmon on a more or less traditional blown glass bowl.

I am quite curious of the process of this piece. It is a photograph etched into a slab of glass created by April Surgent. The title is, THE WORLD AS REFLECTED IN THE DOORWAY OF DREAMS AND INQUIRY. Cameo etched glass is the process, which a quick google search tells me is, "etching and carving multi-layered glass". Seems to me there should is a bit more to this piece than that simple explanation!

A fun blimp sculpture by Rik Allen entitled, ALPHA SATURNI.

Here is a reverse painted enamel on glass piece by Gregory Grenon and is titled, WHAT I SHOUTED.

And my favorite piece is the rubber and steel ANVIL by Peggy McNeel.

It was a pleasant visit to the gallery. The staff were courteous and helpful with questions. Bill (Willam Traver) was there and I was able to speak with him. He has announced his retirement and plans to use his sailboat far more often. Sarah Traver, Bill's daughter will be taking over the helm of the gallery so it will continue to be in fine hands.