Opening reception June 2, 2006, from 5-7pm.

Local and multi-talented artist Beth Antonsen has devoted a lifetime to the creation of visual art. Now over twenty years into her craft, Antonsen steps forward to reveal a body of work demonstrating the different avenues she has explored and the people she has collaborated with along the way.

Antonsen’s educational background is in figural sculpture and furniture design/construction. She describes her furniture as having a Japanese aesthetic, with simple lines. Aside from furniture, Antonsen frequently makes art frames and is in the process of completing a small boat. While several furniture pieces and other three-dimensional works will be on display, Antonsen has placed woodworking on the backburner and has tapped into her artistic roots from her youth for this exhibit.

“I’ve gone back through my history, to when I was a teenager- I used to draw boats a lot.” Recent paintings and drawings of landscapes and still lifes, rather than figural works that dominated her early education, will be the major works on display. “Playing around and exploring- that’s what art’s all about,” says Antonsen of her most recent work. “I’m trying to find a new direction for myself.”

In addition to her new experimentations, Antonsen will show several collaborative works. A pair of drawings, one created by Antonsen’s niece and one Antonsen drew emulating that work, will be hung side by side. Both she and local painter Dave Rubin have worked together for years. Several of Rubin’s paintings will be included in this exhibit in custom made Antonsen frames.

Beth on Beth, an autobiography

I was born in Ketchikan, AK when Alaska was still a territory. My parents were first-generation Americans, born of Scottish and Norwegian immigrants. My father taught me to carve, fish, drive piling, steer a boat, cut down trees, and speak in “colorful” language. My mother gave me the little bit of finesse I possess, the gift of music, and books. She also encouraged me to attend art school.

While in Norway in 1972, I received further carving lessons and encouragement from an uncle and aunt. In 1978, I discovered the East Coast of America and began an educational adventure, which took me to craft centers, Parsons School of Design in New York City for sculpture, the Wendell Castle School in New York for furniture design/construction, and the marvelous museums and live music of Boston, New York City, Baltimore, and Rochester, NY.

After eight winters on the East Coast, I came back home and began to build a portfolio. After a 15 year financial struggle, brought on by a poor spousal choice, I am now free to pickup my art career and run with it!

I am a colorist painter, a figurative sculptor, a furniture designer/constructor, and a boat builder, as well as a musician and occasional writer. This exhibit documents my past artistic efforts, solo and in collaboration, and indicates where I may be headed. I have been called the Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Emily Carr of my time by people I respect, but only time will tell. A late bloomer, I am just now getting up to steam.