Sara Moen, Lezlie Amara Piper, Sharon Servilio, and Alana Garrigues explore the harmony between the perceiver and the perfection of nature in Divine Beacons, an exhibit curated by Agnes Field, on view at Astoria Visual Arts April 8 through May 6.

Alana Garrigues, of Boston, Massachusetts, formerly of Portland, is an intuitive artist and poet whose artwork is deeply informed by nature and a sense of innate relationship between human story, memory, and art itself. Working primarily in pen and in water-based paints, she is in love with the magical relationship that occurs between pigment and water when nudged and left to reveal its natural patterns and inclinations. In addition to art making, Alana wanders among the trees, works at her local library, teaches writing and art classes, and runs {within} artist collective, an online gathering space for live co-working and conversations about what it is to be a maker. She is also a member of the Women’s Caucus for Arts.

Sara Moen of Astoria presents a new series of drawings depicting nurse stumps from an old logging site along Gnat Creek in Clatsop County.  Vestiges of their magnificent past, these stumps are currently “nursing” new life in an ever evolving forest (evolving both by natural systems and from human interventions).  Sara has developed a lifelike style of detailed naturescapes, drawn with charcoal onto wood panels, and this work furthers that exploration. 

Lezlie Amara Piper, also from Astoria, is a visual artist, writer, massage therapist and recently lapsed farmer. Growing up in the sage lands of Eastern Idaho, and residing in the watery Pacific Northwest for much of her life, she is most influenced by untamed nature and its systems, colors, nuances, and the natural realm that is the human body.  

Sharon Servilio, of Portland, works with paper in three dimensions: collage, folding, sculpting, and weaving, then finally painting each piece work to construct diorama-like reliefs. She is a member of the cooperative Gallery 114 and a recent recipient of the RACC Make, Learn, Build grant.

This is curator Agnes Field’s third annual exhibit in honor of World Earth Day, working to raise awareness about protecting our environment, conserving natural resources, and to repair ecological damage. “Nature is hardwired into our DNA and that is impossible to escape,” writes Agnes in her curatorial statement, “we have removed ourselves from nature and consider ourselves above or beyond its reach. Acknowledging our deep relationship to all living life, from plants to animals, restores the emotional and mental balance necessary to see the vast beauty around us.”