“Images from the Interior” Art Exhibit Opens Friday at Camas Library

CAMAS, WA — “Images from the Interior” is a dual art exhibit from two artists who were introduced when they were selected by Second Story Gallery for its May show.  Both use their chosen tools to explore beyond the surface.  Often that surface begins life as a portrait but goes deeper to capture an inner quality.

Earlene Holmstrom sticks to pastels to capture the spark.  She will be joined by Douglas Keith who paints and sculpts to get to the interior of his subject matter.  They will unveil their recent works at a reception on First Friday, May 5, from 5 to 8 pm in the gallery. Keith experiments with a variety of textures and styles to capture his subjects, but he also notes his ideas and images come to him for some internal source.  He says he suspects they may come from the same place where dreams and myths originate, and that capturing them becomes a dialogue between the creator and the created.  His pieces range from dreamy landscapes to what could be death masks from an ancient–or alien–civilization.  His mediums include mesh, wood, basalt, molded cloth and paper.

While Keith looks inward for inspiration, Holmstrom spends her time observing passersby.  She says she loves the challenge of capturing subtle nuances in each face as well as the emotional message in the figure.  Nothing inspires her painting more than the people she encounters daily, she says. Holmstrom spent her teen years working at the Ringling Art Museum in Florida but only recently settled on soft pastels for her own style.  She says she loves the vibrancy, the layers that can be built on paper and the feel of them in her hands.  Walking into her studio, she says, is like walking into a rainbow. Both artists have turned to their mediums after careers in other fields.  Their combined show, a mix of images that delve into the interior of each subject, will open May 5 and continue through May 27 in the Gallery, upstairs in the Camas Public Library.  In addition to the artists, keyboardist Brad Jensen will be at the First Friday reception with live music. To learn more, visit www.camaslibrary.org