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I grew up in the farmlands of the Skagit Valley with my hands in the dirt and my feet in the tidelands. Something about the land here takes a hold of you viscerally.
And though I have lived in many wonderful parts of the NW that is the reason I have never ventured too far from this valley. I believe that the river dikes and dusty farmland must be ingrained in my DNA and it will never let me go.
My parents moved to the Skagit in their early adulthood, my mom with her parents during WWII and my dad with the Civil Conservation Corp (CCC). In the late 1930’s my father worked as a hand on the Sternwheeler, Skagit Chief, delivering supplies to Seattle from Mount Vernon via the Skagit River. My dad had many adventurous jobs in his life but particularly enjoyed working on the river and telling stories about it. I too have spent a lot of time wandering the sloughs, fishing Northwest rivers and paddling out past the mouth of the Skagit and Samish, past the boats and shacks beached in the tidal grasslands where inside people lived. These backwater people had fallen out of the mainstream and onto rivers where they could exist in complete simplicity. Though this romantic lifestyle was something that I didn’t grasp fully then, I find myself desperately striving to find in my life now. Today a picture of the Skagit Chief hangs on my wall and when I look at it I hear my dad and the river tell their stories once again.
I remember as a little kid seeing a Gilkey painting. The Northwest seeped off of the canvas so much that I thought I could smell the freshly tilled dirt when I stood next to it. Even as a small child I knew there was something very special about his work. Later in college I fell in love with the movement of the NW School. The artist known as the NW Mystics and those that followed in their steps captured the spirit of this land through their use of color, white line spirits and traces of Native totems. All of their work, even thru their own stylistic individualism, managed to carry the same essence of the Northwest environment in some way. How could they not? Did they not all share the same grey-blue sky on a particular day? Tuned into their surroundings, culturally and environmentally, a paralled direction was created in those artist's works which became known as the Northwest Art Movement. You can see their passion for living here in their art. So there was no question for me as to why a place like Fishtown* attracted some of our most noted artists and poets when I paddled by in later years. And to think my father came by here too, decades earlier on the Skagit Chief, sharing the same emotional attachment to this land as of those artists who also chose to call this place their home.
Both my parents passed several years ago and my dad never got to see how my interpretation of the Northwest ended up on my canvas. I like to think he would condone my attempts to narrate the story of our valley in this timeless manner. We both witnessed our own major changes in the Skagit Valley during our individual life times. Fortunatly, there are still some places that are untouched or at least they've only been lightly treaded upon. For may that continue. Perhaps that is why I attempt to stop time in my work.
I had a show a few years ago in Seattle were an older gentleman in his 80’s approached the gallery owner and asked who was the artist. When he was introduced to me he replied, “No, you are too young to have done these paintings.” At first I didn’t quite understand his comment. I thought he
was being polite and complimenting me my use of medium (to an artist this is compliment enough!). Then I noted the sparkle in his eye and knew it meant much more than that. I had received the ultimate compliment. He was telling me that I had captured something from the NW that was from his past as well.
This retrospective (and current) view of the Skagit Valley is why I have chosen to call this show The Road Home. The road home for you might be places you may literally see on your way home today. Places you may not have noticed before or places that may remind you of the beauty of the valley today and of yesterday. If you ask me what this title means to me I will tell you that it is MY road home and I choose to preserve forever on paper.
LEFT: The Skagit Chief (1933 stern wheeler) at the mouth of the Skagit River.
ABOVE: Samish River, 32 x 60 soft pastel, 2009
*Fishtown was a small artist community located on the Skagit River near La Conner WA. Many successful artists, poets and writers lived and spent time there in the 60's and 70's and many found their beginnings there including artists Richard Gilkey, Morris Graves and Charles Krafft, poet Robert Sund and writer Tom Robbins to name a few.
