Just hangin’ art at the coffee shop

Peninsula Art League’s winter show on display

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

The seating area at Kimball Espresso and Art Gallery in Gig Harbor was jam-packed with artists and their work Monday afternoon.

Members of the Peninsula Art League gathered to hang their creations for the Member 2009 Winter Show, which will hang throughout the month. All types of media will be represented during the show, from pastels, to photography, to sculptures.

PAL currently has about 200 members. The organization is entirely staffed by volunteers.

“It’s a great group of people, and everybody gets along,” artist Eric Peavy said. “Nobody’s on an ego trip.”

Artists are screened, but anyone from beginners to the very advanced is welcome to join, artist Myrna Binion said.

“Anyone can be a member or a supporter,” Binion said. “We have such a vibrant art group and a lot of volunteers. Our members are from all over — from Bremerton, to Tacoma, to the Key Peninsula. We have a lot of members from Olalla.”

Artists brought their framed work into the coffee shop and lined them up along the floor to await hanging.

“There really is a trick to hanging the work,” Binion said. “We have to start with one large piece and kind of add the rest like a puzzle.

“Sometimes it doesn’t work at first, and we have to rearrange it. For instance, you can’t put a tiny, delicate flower next to a huge, bold painting, or it will disappear. Everything has to flow together.”

Beverly Hanson brought in an eye-catching, blue-and-white giclee photo of Mount Rainier captured through a fish-eye lens taken through an airplane window. The circular pattern of clouds and sky around the mountain give the photo an almost dizzying effect.

“The clouds were just forming around, and I got this picture,” she said.

Nan Feagin’s piece is a pastel of cottonwoods. Peavy’s piece, titled “Red,” is an acrylic abstract of the English countryside.

“I hate naming paintings,” he said. “I just like to paint. I like the look and feel of paint — the splashes, strokes and lines. It’s what the German expressionists call ‘painterly.’ I’m tired of doing realistic landscapes, so now I just start with abstract and it eventually turns into a painting.”

Peavy explains his artistry while labeling each piece of art that is checked in the door at Kimball. Each piece must be tagged with the painting’s name, the artist’s name and the price.

“This is probably one of the smallest venues we show in,” Peavy said, looking about the room. “Finding a venue is very difficult. The owners here are wonderfully cooperative. A lot of PAL artists show their work here, so when we wanted to do our member show here, it was an easy move.”

He said PAL also has a show in the lobby at the Gig Harbor campus of Tacoma Community College.

PAL is a busy group, meeting every month at Peninsula Baptist Church.

“Members bring four or five pieces to share,” Peavy said. “It’s just to look and see what everyone else is doing. We really try to support art in this community.”

PAL hosts four regional shows a year and sometimes hooks up with other art leagues, like the Rainier League of Arts and the Olympia Art League, for combined venues. They will host a catered reception at Kimball from 2 to 4 p.m. Jan. 11, with an awards show at 3 p.m.

PAL members gather to display their artistic talent and, hopefully, someone will like their work enough to want to take it home.

“I do a lot of painting,” Peavy said. “If I could sell it all, I’d live on the Italian Riviera.”

Winter art show

Kimball Espresso and Art Gallery is featuring the Peninsula Art League’s Member 2009 Winter Show.

The gallery is located at 6950 Kimball Drive in Gig Harbor. For more information, call 253-858-2625 or contact the Peninsula Art League at 253-265-8313 or visit www.peninsulaartleague.com.

Reach Lifestyles Coordinator and reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by e-mail at susan.schell@gateline.com.