New Art Venue Joins First Friday ArtWalk LineUp in Ashland, OR March 7, 2014

Strawberry Flapjack 20x20 acrylic ©Sandi Whetzel 

Ticor Title Insurance proudly introduces their expansive business quarters during their debut as a First Friday Artwalk destination in Ashland, OR.  Adorned with Sandi Whetzel's vibrant, contemporary, flora art through the end of April, the business seeks to become a popular art venue. 

The first Friday of each month, the public is invited to stroll the historical downtown railroad districts, exploring the visual and tasty treats at many participating art venues from 5-8 p.m.  Ticor, located at 180 Lithia Way, near the corner of Lithia Way and First Street, is near the center of some of the popular art stops. Ticor will serve wine and chocolates to art observers this Friday and April 4th.

Chantilly Lace 18x18 acrylic ©Sandi Whetzel

Ticor management requested Sandi Whetzel's art  via Ashland Art Center's ART2Business program because they felt her uniquely textured, graceful floras complemented their contemporary, wide-open space.  Sandi is pleased to have her art hanging on the walls of such a spacious, contemporary building.  There is plenty of elbow room to comfortably  browse the exhibit space at your leisure while sipping wine.

Sandi Whetzel says, "I think people are looking for a simple elegance in an artwork that separates it from the ordinary.  That is my goal in blending fantasy with reality.  I aim to grab the viewer's attention:  Wow!  I've never seen anything like that!"

Besides her graceful, sensual floras, Sandi is becoming known for her paintings celebrating the wine experience.  Her wine narratives tickle viewers senses in ways they have not seen in typical wine-themed art.  She renders surprising, surreal wine scenarios:  Sensual.  Seductive.  Tantalizing.  Romantic.  Playful.  It's almost as if she produces advertisements for the wine industry.  See more of Sandi Whetzel's art here  .

A Love Triangle and Tryst: Art, Wine and Posh Nosh



The Unveiling 20x10 acrylic ©Sandi Whetzel



Like great food and wine, art is a pleasure of the senses.  These three sensual delights come together like players in a seductive love triangle, finding their tryst at Liquid Assets Wine Bar in Ashland, OR.  The willing participants in this triangle are an ample assortment of wine varietals paired with seasonal French-inspired cuisine.  This complementary duo shares a cozy ambiance with a seductive and stimulating art exhibit.  Sandi Whetzel, contemporary acrylic artist from Days Creek, OR, is a refreshing, recent addition to Ashland’s art scene.  Her vibrant succulents and other flora are on display now at Liquid Assets Wine Bar, Bottle Shop and Restaurant through the evening of May 12. 

Luscious colors and graceful shapes inspired from the plant world are a recurrent theme in Whetzel's art.  Fantasy blends with reality in Sandi's contemporary, surrealistic and frequently sensual delights--succulents, abstract flora and trees and her most recent passion to expand her wine series.  The artist is also known for her wine-themed paintings that have been used to promote the Oregon Wine industry.  Marsa Morse, curator for Liquid Assets art exhibits, has invited Sandi for a return engagement to exhibit a sampling of her wine series paintings at the wine bar in September.

In addition to participating in the First Friday Art Walks, Liquid Assets will host Rogue Creamery’s pairing of their cheeses with “Heydon Road” wine during the annual “A Taste of Ashland” weekend, April 30 and May 1^st.  Whetzel’s captivating art will be gracing the wall during that event also.

 

Top off your cruise of Ashland’s hot art stops during the First Friday ArtWalk, May 6 from 5-8 pm, with a rendezvous at Liquid Assets.  The food, wine, ambiance and the tantalizing art will tickle your senses.  Sandi will be delighted to visit with interested visitors.  The wine bar is located  at 96 N Main St., adjacent to the Bard’s Inn and the Plaza Inn and Suites and just a short walk from many of Ashland’s quaint Bed-and-Breakfasts.

You can view more of the artist’s work  here:

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
Originally uploaded by sandiwhetzel

Sandi Whetzel is seduced by the captivating, graceful forms she finds tucked away in nature. Her fascination with the discovered shapes compels her to enhance their graceful contours, infuse them with luscious color and feature them prominently in her paintings. Whetzel’s contemporary acrylic paintings embrace the nuances of shapes and patterns inspired by the plant world. Her current focus has been an intimate view of succulents; embellishing their engaging shapes with vibrant hues and sculptural textures.

Sandi paints in her home studio located at Days Creek, OR. She instructed community education art classes for Umpqua Community College from 1997 - 2013. She studied with accomplished artists, Kevin Macpherson, Tom Browning and Harley Brown. She treasures most the continuing association with her mentor artist and friend, Bonnie Hill of Roseburg, OR.

Several of Whetzel’s works have been used to promote the wine industry through wine-themed events in southern Oregon. Her work appears in Northwest Artists: A Collection of Works by Notable Artists of the Northwest. Her paintings are in private collections in Oregon, Washington, California, Colorado, Arizona, Kansas, Minnesota and North Dakota. She has exhibited in solo and numerous group shows during the last several years, including two shows at the Coos Art Museum, in Coos Bay, OR.

During her childhood, Sandi’s family changed residence frequently to follow employment in the logging industry of southern Oregon and northern California. She attended many small elementary and high schools, none of which offered any art education. As a teenager she enjoyed paint-by-number oil sets and she became interested in drawing briefly around the age of thirteen. After that, Sandi didn’t have much contact with art until later in life.

For years after she married, her only artistic pursuits had been machine sewing garments and home decorator items. A friend invited her to a fashion T-shirt painting class and she thoroughly enjoyed it. At the same time, Whetzel was mesmerized by PBS TV painting shows.

Near Whetzel’s fortieth birthday she purchased new home furniture but wall art was not in her budget. Sandi had grown up with a motto that had served her well whenever she couldn't afford something. It was, “…Necessity is the mother of invention.” She always derived a certain satisfaction with inventing her version of the desired object. She thought, “How hard could it be to do the paintings myself? After all, I have been painting T-shirts and watching the instructional videos on TV.” Sandi immediately started painting all on her own, making discoveries through trial and error. During that time frame, she also ran a child day care business at home. While the three toddlers took their midday nap, Sandi took out her paints and painted for an hour or so during the weekdays. Eventually she took art instruction from a very talented and devoted community college art instructor, Bonnie Hill of Roseburg, OR. In 1997 after only a few years of instruction, Bonnie recommended Sandi to replace herself as instructor of the classes. Bonnie became Sandi’s close friend and mentor; a treasured source of inspiration and knowledge. Whetzel instructed art at Umpqua College from 1997 to 2013.

When speaking of her art, Sandi has remarked, “I hope my art warms the spirit and inspires people to pursue their dreams. Art that does that for us helps to make our working and living environments more of a sanctuary in stressful times.”

SUCCULENCE! : Fantasy Blends with Reality: ACRYLIC PAINTINGS OF INTIMATE SUCCULENTS BY SANDI WHETZEL, CONTEMPORARY FINE ARTIST, FEATURED AT DIVA

SUCCULENCE! Fantasy Blends with Reality in intimate views of succulents by acrylic contemporary fine artist, Sandi Whetzel, this July at DIVA, the Eugene, OR Downtown Initiative for the Visual Arts in the Membership Gallery, one of six galleries at DIVA.

This lively collection of acrylic paintings celebrates luscious, stimulating colors, graceful lines, textures and intriguing motifs inspired by the artist's fascination with organic shapes in the world of succulents. Her art embraces and explores the nuances in shapes, patterns and color drawn from the plant world. Seventeen intimately cropped succulents are generously spaced along six white walls of the space devoted to Sandi's exhibit and two succulent paintings are mounted in the lobby entrance to DIVA. Many of her paintings in this exhibit feature very tactile textures and a couple of them are quite 3-dimensional. All nineteen paintings have brilliant chromas and graceful curvy lines in common.

Whetzel makes her home in Days Creek, Oregon in the southern part of the state. For the past twelve years she has been instructing Community Education art classes for Umpqua College in Roseburg, OR. Recently she has exhibited twice at the Coos Art museum in Coos Bay, the 2009 Inaugural National Art Exhibit in Gold Beach, OR, the Jacobs Gallery at the Eugene Hult Center in 2008 and solo exhibits at the Umpqua Valley Arts Association in Roseburg over the last few years.

Whetzel's painting design, Wine on the Vine II, won DIVA's Art Pour Favor competition for the Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 wine label gracing a special bottling of the wine for DIVA fundraisers in 2009. The Oregon Glide Wildflower Society selected her image of the Oregon Grape to promote the premiere Wildflower Show held in April 2009. Sandi is best known for her use of vibrant color and graceful shapes inspired from the plant world as well as her signature pieces to promote the wine industry in Oregon.

The opening reception for Sandi's exhibit at DIVA, 110 W Broadway, is Friday, July 3, 2009 from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm. The event is a part of Eugene's First Friday Artwalk. Typically, the first Friday of each month is devoted to the "First Friday ArtWalk" in downtown Eugene. The public is invited to tour several art galleries, see diverse art and enjoy meeting the artists and community leaders at the receptions as they stroll the comfortable distance between art exhibits. For more information regarding the details of the featured stops of the First Friday ArtWalk, hosted by Jeff Geiger, the Artistic Director of NO Shame Theatre of Eugene, click here .

Whetzel's Succulence! Fantasy Blends with Reality solo art exhibit is on display at DIVA from July 3 through August 1st, 2009. Regular gallery hours at DIVA are Tuesdays through Saturdays from noon to 6 pm. For more information about DIVA click here

Sandi Whetzel's Art Displayed at Upcoming Exhibit at the Hult Center in Eugene, OR, 7/18 to 8/23/2008

I'm pleased to announce that I will be one of 17 artists to display several paintings in the Jacobs Gallery at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, One Eugene Center, Eugene, OR 97401 from July 18 - August 23, 2008. The opening reception is Friday, July 18, from 5:30-8:30 pm. The title of the exhibit is "An Oregon Crafted Sampler".

Also, earlier in the day of the opening reception from 3:30-4:30 pm there will be an informal gathering of some of the artists to meet the public to speak about their art and answer questions. Please join me for the Artists Insights Talk. It will be an opportunity for you to learn more about our art.

I will be displaying several of my succulent series of paintings. Two of them are just finished and haven't been displayed anywhere else. I love playing up the vibrant colors and unique shapes of succulents and doing some fun stuff with textures on them. I am really excited about and proud of this series of succulent delights.

The Lane County Chapter of Oregon Crafted members was instrumental in making this exhibit happen at the Jacobs Gallery. A number of Lane County Oregon Crafted members submitted to the jury process for acceptance into the show. Then the Lane County Chapter invited members of the Douglas County Chapter of Oregon Crafted to submit to the jurying process for the exhibit. To my knowledge, only three of the seventeen artists accepted into the exhibit are from the Douglas County Chapter. I feel very fortunate and excited about being a part of this event.

You may be wondering what is Oregon Crafted? Oregon Crafted is a project designed with one over-riding principle: to promote stability and prosperity among Oregon's artists, handcrafters and related businesses. Soon after the Lane County Chapter formed, the Umpqua Valley Chapter formed.

Both chapters have produced an Oregon Crafted guidebook for their respective counties. The books are self-guided tours to art studios, galleries and points of interest within their county. The Oregon Council for Business Education has worked in partnership with Umpqua Valley Arts Association in the production of the Oregon Crafted guidebook for Douglas County. Yes, I am listed in the Douglas County Oregon Crafted Guidebook. If you would like a copy of that guidebook to aid you in your explorations of the studios of participating artists, contact me with an email addressed to artist1atfrontiernetdotnet and I will get a copy to you.

I hope you will check out the exhibit. I'd love to meet you at the Artists' Insights Talk from 3:30-4:30 July 18, and/or the opening reception that evening from 5:30-8:30. If you can't make it that day, the exhibit runs through August 23, 2008. The gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 12-4 pm, Saturday 11 am - 3 pm, and one hour before and during all Hult Center performances.