PULLMAN, Wash. — The Compton Union Gallery at Washington State University begins the 2002-03 school year with an exhibit of watercolors by Spokane artist Shani Marchant. The exhibit, “Within the Dream,” opens Monday, Sept. 16, and continues Monday – Friday through Oct. 5. The gallery is also open Saturday, Sept. 21. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In the exhibit, Marchant captures the colorful, fluid life of the ocean, its grandeur and mystery, in subtle watercolors, said Marty Mullen, gallery director. The artist brings to the exhibit more than 25 years of experimentation with the medium of watercolor and a great deal of research on her subject matter. Fascinated with ocean life, she has become an amateur naturalist in the process of reading books, watching documentary films and even visiting pet stores.
Marchant has a bachelor’s degree from Fort George Wright College in Spokane and a Master’s of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore. She has had one- and two-person exhibits in galleries throughout the Pacific Northwest, as well as in California, Pennsylvania and Hawaii. Her last solo exhibit in the Pullman area was in 1987 in the Fine Arts Center’s Gallery II. Her watercolors are exhibited in many public and corporate collections including the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority house in Pullman, Pinnacle Productions and Nordstrom in Seattle, Howard Productions of New York City, and the Public Prosecutor and Public Defender offices in Spokane.
The exhibition of Marchant’s watercolors is made possible with the cooperation of Spokane’s Lorinda Knight Gallery, 523 West Sprague Ave., which represents the artist and exhibits her work regularly.
