ArtSpring, in collaboration with Salt Spring Arts and SJIMA, is exhibiting a collection of work by San Juan Islands artists from April 21st through May 24th, at the ArtSpring Gallery, Salt Spring Island, BC, in the first of two cross-border exhibitions. The second installment will feature Southern Gulf Island artists at the San Juan Islands Museum of Art, September 22nd - December 4th, 2023.
This blog series explores the work of the San Juan Island artists currently exhibiting in the first of these cross-border exhibitions.
ARTIST - GLENN HENDRICK
Glenn Hendrick of San Juan Island is one of the featured artists in this international artistic collaboration between the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia, Canada, and the San Juan Islands of Washington State, USA.
Hendrick notes that her art is greatly influenced by the landscape of the San Juan Islands, where she currently resides. Prior to moving to the islands, she had only ever lived in large cities with flat topographies. Living amongst these small sea mountains, she finds herself endlessly fascinated by the stacked and layered perspectives they offer. From the ferry window, she sees the landscape shift across each other like backdrops being set for the next scene.
The steep hillsides of the islands provide vantages for observing great depth, but they also offer flattened and compressed perspectives that remind her of tapestries, 15th-century European landscapes, or Japanese Ukiyo-e landscapes. Hendrick's love for nature is also evident in her work, as the crows, beasts, trees, and flowers of the region make their way into her paintings at various times.
The Archipelago show is a unique opportunity to explore contemporary art inspired by the Salish Sea, a place of great natural beauty and diversity. This collaboration celebrates the unique character of the region and the diverse communities that call it home. The show aims to encourage an awareness of how the natural realm sustains us and what we can do to preserve the environment, both for our own well-being and for the future of our planet.
ARTIST STATEMENT I am a printmaker, painter, illustrator, and ceramicist living on San Juan Island. Across all media, my work is a process of both creation and discovery. Through layering, removing, and collaging I take an exploratory route- watching as each piece emerges, as if it had always been there.
Parting, Gathering, 2023 Multicolor woodblock print on Japanese washi paper 15″ x 20″, 17 x 23″
Mt. Young II, 2023 Multicolor woodblock print on Japanese washi paper 15″ x 18.5″, 19 x 24″
Receding, 2023 Multicolor woodblock print on Japanese washi paper 15″ x 18.5″, 15.5 x 23″
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Glenn Hendrick is a San Juan Island-based artist working primarily in printmaking, painting, drawing, ceramics, and textiles. Born in California and raised in the Midwestern United States, Glenn received a degree in printmaking, painting, and drawing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2006. Glenn relocated from Chicago to San Juan Island in 2013, eventually helping to found Alchemy Art Center where she has been Co-Director since its inception in 2018.
Glenn works across a variety of media, weaving direct observation of her surroundings with a more symbolic visual vocabulary. This current series of woodblock prints- informed by the endless variation of light and weather on the views of the Salish Sea- makes use of masking, overprinting, ghost printing, and collage to create subtle variations from image to image. By distilling the landscape down to its most elemental shapes, Glenn bridges waking observation, memory, and dreams.
Explore Glenn Hendrick's work in greater depth on her website by clicking here.
ArtSpring Symposium: Archipelago ⏤ Artist Panel 1
Experience firsthand the insightful dialogues of our Archipelago artist panels. This video captures a lively discussion among artists from the San Juan and Southern Gulf Islands, including featured artist Glenn Hendrick. Watch them share their creative processes, environmental influences, and community roles within the unique context of the Salish Sea. Recorded at ArtSpring, this is the first of two riveting panel discussions.
