Gallery at Town Center is open for business with show featuring J. Gordon and Amy Redmond

The Gallery at Town Center Presents

J. Gordon and Amy Redmond

August 11 - September 26, 2020

We’re open! The Gallery at Town Center is exhibiting a selection of works by Graphite and Ink Artist J. Gordon and Letterpress Print Artist Amy Redmond. See these works and the creations of over 80 other local artists during gallery hours: Wednesday – Saturday, Noon to 5pm.

J. Gordon

Artist Bio

Artist, curator, and educator J. Gordon has long had a fascination with other species. From an early age he began filling his sketchbooks with all manner of creatures both real and imagined. Choosing to focus on painting and sculpture throughout his undergraduate degree, it was while completing his masters that he rekindled and deepened his love for the medium of graphite.

"For me, the act of drawing from an outside source such as a photo or from life, is an attempt at some deeper level of understanding about all of the elements that make up the subject. 

"When I draw something, like a deer or an owl, I also do a considerable amount of research about the species. How do they fit within their ecosystem, how has evolution shaped them and how does that tie into their behavior, what folklore has grown up around them, and so forth. 

"All of these elements come together to deepen my appreciation and respect for the other species we share the planet with. Of course most of the folklore around animals tend to include elements of magic and the supernatural, both of which I'm not afraid to bring in. I've always been drawn to the otherworldly."

Currently residing in Bothell, Gordon teaches traditional observation drawing techniques at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology and is the curator and exhibition designer at the Kirkland Arts Center. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Kansas in Lawrence and his masters at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia.

Amy Redmond

Artist Bio

Amy Redmond began letterpress printing in 1998 when her book design work became a quest to learn fine typography. Her multi-year apprenticeship with fine press printers/publishers Chris Stern and Jules Faye (Stern and Faye, Printers) cultivated an appreciation for traditional and experimental methods.

Exploring the duality of letterforms as language and image, she composes editioned prints using metal and wood typefaces, at times incorporating linoleum carving, collagraphs, and pressure printing techniques. Precision requires planning, but migration might be allowed once ink hits paper: color organically shifts; misfeeds inspire future compositions. Committing an idea to paper leaves a tangible impression, simultaneously inviting resolution and opportunity.

Amy holds a BFA from James Madison University (Virginia) and prints in her private studio, Amada Press. She works with local non-profits as a visual designer, and teaches letterpress printing at Seattle’s School of Visual Concepts. She is a 2018 Artist Trust GAP Award recipient and a member of Seattle Print Arts.

Artist Statement

EI Series is an iterative group of letterpress prints exploring type as image, under the constraints of time: an exercise in spontaneity and the catharsis of being fully present in the moment, marking a departure from the safety of my premeditated approach to printmaking.

All nine editions in EI Series are composed of metal and wood types set by hand one character at a time, overprinted in several layers using a Colt’s Armory platen press. Letterpress is a "relief" printing process, meaning that the raised surfaces of the type are inked and impressed into the page, leaving a tangible impression.

These editions were created during a single marathon session, in which all prints started with the same base layer: a composition made from the letters “E” and “I”. The sheets were then divided into 9 stacks of 9. Designed layer by layer as letterforms changed and the ink color shifted, each stack became its own unique edition — a “call and response” process between the artist and the type in which the divergent and parallel paths of a conversation are visualized.

NEW! Want to browse local art online? We just opened the Gallery Online Shop! The virtual shop includes handmade masks, paintings, sculptures, and more. Thanks for supporting our local artists!

Gallery Questions? Email Lisa at gallery@shorelinearts.net