March 4, 2022 to May 1, 2022
Lincoln City Cultural Center – PJ Chessman Gallery
540 NE Hwy 101, Lincoln City, OR 97367
(541) 994-9994
https://lincolncity-culturalcenter.org/chessman-gallery/
Exhibition Statement:
This exhibition features the artist’s explorations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Molly Wullstein Van Austen, took a 175 foot roll of paper, using graphite, Conté crayon and colored pencils to illustrate her thoughts, memories, and imaginings. The gestures in Conté crayon are brought together in this exhibit as the 175 foot drawing winds its way through the gallery. Van Austen reflects on “a long life and a long drawing” having lived through the Polio pandemic as well as the COVID19 pandemic. “The isolation makes me concentrate on others. Each image in this long drawing is a meditation on some dear person in my life. That brings me joy and sadness. Memories prolong life and intensify our emotions”.
Painter, Molly Wullstein Van Austen, has had numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the Quirini Stampaglia Palace in Venice, Italy, and the United States National and International Exhibition in Rome and Paris. Her work is included in private collections in Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Mexico as well as the United States. Many years ago her grandmother took her to the WWII USO in Salt Lake City. She watched a soldier drawing another soldier. Impressed, she said, “I want to do that”. She has been drawing and painting ever since.
Van Austen maintains her studio in Oregon. As a teacher, her doctoral studies in Art Education were at New York University. Retired from teaching, she was a longtime resident of Lincoln City and is a member of The Casbah, a group of Oregon painters, writers, sculptors, musicians, and thespians dedicated to furthering the arts.
"As I place line on paper I watch as it begins to dance. Sometimes it is a ballet. Sometimes it is a clog slog and not infrequently a tap dance. It spins, turns, stretches, reaches a vivid height and then by the roll of the dice it collapses. Meandering or rushing, it gyrates and shouts for color, taking on a life (and a gamble) of its own from Gesture to Jester
The relationship of one image to another becomes a metaphor as astonishing as life itself.”
In the News
From Gesture to Jester: Finding the Reality of Memory
Visitors will also be able to explore this idea for themselves by drawing on a new roll of paper to create our very own community long drawing.
March 4, 2022 // Lincoln City Cultural Center // Gallery Staff
Art from the quarantine life
Artists emerge from the shutdown with work created in isolation
May 18, 2021 // Oregon ArtsWatch // David Bates
Previous showings
May 4, 2021 to June 19, 2021
Parrish Gallery – Chehalem Culture Center
415 E. Sheridan Street, Newberg, OR (map)
Gallery Season Sponsor: Art Elements