With his show “Coming
Home,” Skip Enge will return to Camas to exhibit art and original poetry at
Second Story Gallery during the month of June.
Skip grew up in Camas,
graduating in 1971 from Camas High School. He paid a visit once before, holding
a previous one-man art show when the gallery first opened upstairs in the Camas
Public Library.
Now the artist is truly coming
home, having just moved back to Camas after 38 years away. “How this town has
changed!” he remarks. He spent a long career as the exhibit designer for the
Oregon Historical Museum in Portland, where he created hundreds of displays,
developing the conceptual, structural and graphic schemes for each of them. He
says he was also a builder of the exhibits, heading the work
crew.
But Skip emphasizes, “I have
always painted.” And for the past several decades, he says he has painted
exclusively in watercolor. He remembers being “art-oriented” at Camas High
School, then working summers in the paper mill to save for college where he
earned a Fine Arts Studio Painting degree from Western Washington University.
He says he mixes up his approaches, changing scale and style to meet a theme.
Some of the bodies of work he has created have been urban landscapes,
fly-fishing inspirations, and botanicals. He’s looking forward to painting
Lacamas Lake again, he adds.
“Recently I have worked at
incorporating painting and poetry. Symbolism leads me when I choose subjects to
paint, whether from life, from image studies or purely conjured.”
Skip
explains. “The ‘Coming Home’ show is comprised of my most recent work, created
in the last year . . . some large pieces, small paintings, and poetry.” He
calls it a diverse group of work in approach and subject matter, “but I like to
think with each one I celebrate the love I have for the medium of
watercolor.”
The artist says he has sold
hundreds of works and received countless commission opportunities over the past
30 years. The largest ones to date hang in the Firstenburg Tower of Peacehealth
Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver.
“I truly enjoy showing, meeting
people and sharing my thoughts about the nature of creating my work,” Skip
says.
He will be on hand to meet the public during First Friday, June 7, from 5
to 8 p.m. at a reception that will feature music by Tom Mann. The gallery is
open late that night and then is open to the public during regular library
hours, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday
through Saturday. The “Coming Home” exhibit continues through June
29.
Artist's Reception
Friday, June 7
5-8 p.m.
Music by Tom Mann
