June 2026 Sunriver Scene - Flipbook - Page 9
Nature as muse: Artists’ Gallery Sunriver featured artists
By Barb Gonzalez
Leonardo da Vinci said, “Art will never be able to exist without nature." The
abundance of nature around Sunriver
and Central Oregon has a strong influence on the work of June’s featured
artists at the Artists Gallery of Sunriver.
Whether it’s the color of beads, Silly Dog
Art Glass, moody watercolors or landscape photography, each is imbued with
colors and images of nature in spring.
Emily McFadden has been seeing earrings in everything since 2020 – in the
wing of a butterfly, a colorful stack of
dinner plates, the palette of a summer
garden. A native Oregonian and Bend
resident since 2014, Emily came to seed
bead artistry with creativity already in
her DNA. Her mother is a sculptor; her
great aunt was a bead artist. Working in
the fringe hours around homeschooling
her two kids, she puts together delicate
or bold patterns where color comes first
and the design follows.
"As soon as spring starts to round the
bend," she says, "I crave all the bright
colors that come with spring and summer – this is when I start dreaming up
the bright, happy designs that will help
usher in the fresh new season," McFadden said. That spirit of the season is
exactly what you'll find in her work, now
at the gallery under her business name,
The Fringed Hour.
Cheryl Chapman has worked with
glass for more than 30 years, the last
12 of them devoted to the demanding
art of glass enamel painting. Chapman
paints directly on the back of the glass,
with each original piece going through
as many as five kiln firings resulting
in richly colored images that are seen
through the surface of the glass. Her subjects are a joyful reflection of the living
creatures around us from cats and dogs
Emily McFadden
Holly Fischer
to rivers filled with fish, fields of foxes,
curious owls and, most recently, birds. "I
am always inspired by the flora and fauna
around me," Chapman said. "Lately I've
been trying to capture the grace of birds
and the way they flit and flow through
my garden." Detailed patterns suggest
bird feathers as each flies with a garden
flower. Look for her artful lamps and
jewelry collaboration with metal artist
Anton Yakushev.
Working in both photography and
ceramics, Holly Fischer keeps the
natural world as her
constant subject. Her
lens has taken her to
Patagonia, where she
photographed Mt. Fitz
Roy in Argentina and
the mountains of Torres del Paine in Chile,
and this summer she
heads to Tanzania to
photograph the Great
Migration. Closer to
home, her photography captures the fleeting light and expansive
landscape of Central
Oregon. Her ceramics bring that same
sensibility into form.
Works from her “Birch
Series,” now in the gallery, feature ceramic
Cheryl Chapman
Dianne Lay
vessels inspired by the layered patterns
and tones of aspen and birch trees,
blending natural texture with refined,
sculptural form.
For Dianne Lay painting is a calling.
Her work captures the quiet poetry of ordinary moments and carries the memory
of every place she has ever lived. The
vast skies of her Nebraska childhood,
the misty greens of Oregon's Willamette Valley, and now the high desert of
Sunriver all find their way into her paintings. Working primarily wet-in-wet, she
lets pigment, paper, water, and light do
their part, each piece a quiet balance of
intention and surprise. Lay was awarded
signature status in the Watercolor Society of Oregon, a recognition of her
dedication to the medium. She paints
what moves her and invites viewers to
find their own moment of stillness in
the work. Join us for Second Saturday
on June 13 from 4 to 6 p.m. Artists'
Gallery Sunriver is located in the Village
at Sunriver. Visit artistsgallerysunriver.
com for gallery hours and information.
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JUNE 2026 SUNRIVER SCENE
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