GUY ANDERSON - November 20, 1906 – April 30, 1998



It is with great pleasure that i.e. presents this exhibit of works selected from the estate of
Guy Anderson. 
 
  It was in 1959 that Guy Anderson settled into the Skagit Valley. He rented a house on the edge of La Conner, where he found inspiration from the vast skies and natural settings of the surrounding area. He gathered rocks and driftwood, which he composed around his rustic home in various assemblages. For a time, he rented a studio on the main street of La Conner. Later, he bought property on Caledonia Street, building a house and studio there. He began painting large works on roofing paper purchased from a local lumber company. Working with large sheets of paper on the floor in the studio above his living room, Anderson used thinned oil paint and large brushes. The scale of the format enabled his brushstrokes to become expansive and expressive, and it was these paintings that brought him to National attention.
  It is the often overlooked smaller works of Anderson which are the focus of this exhibit; the woodblock prints, sketch book drawings, and large drawings on heavy paper. He drew and sketched since he was a child growing up in Edmonds, Wa. Countless years of sketching from life models,  animals and his surroundings is what brought the fluidity to his later large scale luminous paintings. The small sketches reveal not just the sensitivity of his hand, but also his constant practice of attuning to life forms all around him. The richly colored block prints inform us of the enormous influence of the Art of the Salish Coastal tribes had on Anderson. And in these we see as well his studies of Asian prints, scrolls, religions and philosophies. In the painting "Reach" we see the expressive depiction of Anderson's deep sense of place as well his expansiveness of spirit. He remained in La Conner until his death in 1998 but his world reached well beyond.