PULLMAN, Wash. — Washington State University’s Compton Union Gallery continues its spring exhibition schedule with the exhibit “Minutes and Points,” a recent work by Lonnie Hutson and Gail Siegel of Deary, Idaho.
The exhibit will be from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday-Friday, Feb. 24-March 14. It includes recent paintings, drawings and mixed media works that reflect its creators’ individual passions as well as their collaborative approaches to life and art.
Hutson has spent much of his life outdoors working as a wilderness guide and outfitter. He has seen firsthand the pressure human activity has placed on the physical environment and all life that exists within it, especially the Northwest American river ecosystems.
He describes his art as being about cause and effect. In his landscapes, he combines objects (natural and man-made) and landscape in a distortion or compression of space, time and perspective. By doing so, he hopes viewers will discover something new or begin to ask questions.
Siegel’s passions are the people, places, objects and occurrences of everyday life that are most cherished but often taken for granted. Her work is inspired by many things, she said, including a humming bird bathing in a trickle of water in her yard, a friend surviving breast cancer, her young nephew rowing a boat for the first time, the color of light in the early morning, and the August wheat that looks like velvet.
She develops her paintings through the layered application of paint and image over time and then sands through the layers, revealing hints of the past. She sees her paintings as she sees life — rarely simple or hard-edged, each layer influenced by what lies beneath it.
Hutson has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Washington and a master’s degree from the University of Idaho. He also has been an instructor for the UI’s art department. His wilderness experience includes a board membership and whitewater guide for the Mountain Water Co-op in Seattle, licensed river guide for Grand Canyon/Northwest Dories and area manager for Oregon River Experiences. In 1993 he started Salmon River Design Inc. as architectural and marine designer/builder and began building wooden dories for his whitewater trips and other outfitters. Since 1999, he and his wife Gail have operated Salmon River Dories/Sundog Expeditions, organizing trips on rivers in Idaho, Alaska and Oregon, and through the Grand Canyon.
Siegel received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and master’s degree from the University of Idaho. Before coming to Idaho, she worked as a graphic illustrator and designer in Florida, and was president of Concept and Design Studio Inc. She has taught at the University of Idaho as an instructor and adjunct assistant professor of art. Since 1996, she has served as director of the UI’s University Galleries. She also serves as vice president of Salmon River Design Inc., and is a board member and secretary of Salmon River Dories/Sundog Expeditions.
