Photographs by Engle, who is both a student and full-time employee at WSU Vancouver, will be on display in the Engineering Life Sciences building Aug. 2 to Oct. 1. Engle’s work centers on nature, inanimate objects and scenery close at hand — things we pass every day but don’t often take the time to observe. Many of the pieces on display were photographed on campus and were captured using a 35mm camera. Some of the pieces in this showing (“Conversion,” “Unfolding,” “The Modern Flower” and “Spring Duo”) were digitally enhanced, allowing the artist to create a connection with the drawings and paintings of her great-grandfather. View Engle’s work online http://home.comcast.net/~engelk/.
Colorful encaustic paintings by Hilts will be shown Aug. 2 to Sept. 10 in the Student Services building. Like Engle, Hilts seeks beauty in the often-overlooked or commonplace. Hilt notes, “I am still searching to find the beauty in something that is right before your eyes, but you don’t see.”
Hilts’ work features oil pastels, a medium affording her both intense colors and the ability to bend and blend pigments. She begins by covering the paper with a fully saturated ground of color; on this base she builds her paintings layer upon layer. The artist then scratches through the top layers to reveal colors below or rubs the pigments together with a palette knife to impart a lively impasto texture to the painting. View Hilt’s work online at www.mollycliffhilts.com.
Entry to both exhibits is free. WSU Vancouver galleries are open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. WSU Vancouver is located at
