Bill Shumway
painter

The Philomath Open Studios group has continued this year to reach outside the box and invite artists around Benton County to participate in its highly successful annual weekend tour. I’m happy to be one of its invitees on two weekends at the Benton County Museum where the group is also on display in the main gallery for a few months.

On the first weekend (dates) , Mark Allison will join me with some en plein air paintings and some conversation and demonstrations. On the second weekend ( dates ), Herb Berman and I will do some portraiture work together.

I have a long history related to both of those disciplines. Portraiture, in all sorts of media was my main focus during my earlier years in New England. I paid for some of my college education by doing commissions in pastel, watercolor and oils. Later I worked in graphite, ink and printmaking doing fine arts and commercial work for publications and news papers. Although I’ve continued to do figurative images, I’m better known in the Northwest as an en plein air painter and often teach workshops , sometimes with Mark Allison, around the valley and in the cascades.

Acrylics and interference pigments have become my medium of choice more recently and subjects range from landscapes to dreams, poetry, totem animals or anything else that catches my attention. Stylistically I move from the very personal language of abstract expressionism to very representational imagery. I use whatever medium, process and stylistic language that is required to say what I mean.

My work can be viewed in many regional exhibits and at The Blue Dome Gallery in Silver City NM. I also show my work on a continuing basis at my gallery in Corvallis: Pegasus Gallery.