Under the Western Sky

Confluence Gallery’s late summer exhibit, “Under the Western Sky,” focuses on artists’ responses to the landscapes and life in the Pacific Northwest. The exhibit opens Aug. 2 with a reception for the public from 4-8 p.m., and continues through Sept. 20.

Curators Michael Caldwell and Pearl Cherrington have invited more than 20 local and regional artists tot exhibit, many of whom are new to the gallery.

Allison Collins, a painter based on Lopez Island, draws on quilt-making traditions to create abstract, pattern-oriented landscapes. Many of her paintings reflect the open hills and agriculture of Eastern Washington.

Squire Broel, a painter, sculptor and glass artist from Walla Walla, will exhibit blown-glass assemblages inspired by her connection to the environment. Kim Mathews Wheaton, an oil painter from Moses Lake, captures the expansive topography and the filtered atmosphere of wheat-growing country. She has been featured in several exhibits in the Methow Valley.

Kathryn Altus, a Seattle painter whose canvases are characterized by the subdued grays and greens of the coastal Northwest, will also exhibit. Lanny DeVuono, chair of the art department at Eastern Washington University, often combines typography and text with austere oil paintings of clouds, trees and water.

Local artists who have accepted the invitation to exhibit include Mary Powell, Kathy Meyers, Laurie Fry, Sue Marracci, Cheryl Wrangle, Joelene Hale, Scotte Kilby, Gary Harper and Sally Ranzau.