deb stoner: small artist at large

I love this picture. I was working on a project to document a couple in Vancouver's old established garden before some new building projects changed things too much. It was super interesting to go back to the same garden month by month and record the changes in the same plants. I'd been doing that all along actually, with our own garden, and the gardens of neighbors, but not with the rule that if there was going to be a bee in the picture, it had to come from that garden...that sort of thing. It kept me focused in a good way. One day Jane texted that the blueberries were ripe, but when I got there, a few days before the Fourth of July, I was really struck by the shapes of the allium and the clematis. So I went back on the 4th, picked these flowers, ate my fill of berries, and then made this piece. You can see it in person if you find yourself in Astoria, Oregon between April 13 and June 4, at Imogen Gallery. It'll be big: 42"x60". And it will be with my other big archival pigment prints in a solo show. I'm excited to share these with you!

42.5”x60” archival pigment print. Edition 1/3 on view now through June 4 at Imogen Gallery.

I was meeting a friend’s new puppy, but I actually kept getting distracted by their garden. Puppy or flowers…hmmm. Not always that obvious, but in May, in Amanda and Dennis’s spectacular garden, the flowers win. With a cinnabar moth and some kind of crazy flying beetle bug from my collection of winged specimens.

Now on view at Imogen Gallery in Astoria, Oregon, till June 4, 2019.

at Imogen Gallery, through June 4, 2019.

photo courtesy Evan Schneider, copyright 2019

40”x 54.5” archival pigment print. On display at Imogen Gallery through June 4, 2019. Edition 1/3.

Solo exhibition at Imogen Gallery in Astoria, Oregon, through June 4, 2019. Large scale archival pigment prints.

photo courtesy Evan Schneider, copyright 2019

The caterpillars are the larval forms of the cinnabar moth, which turn out in late May then all through June at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. One day, while caterpillar wrangling, I took a walk toward the library, and was surprised to see these apples already in such full form. Not ripe yet, but so beautiful.

detail of archival pigment print, 35”x48”, Edition 1/4

on view at Imogen Gallery

With our friend Peter, looking for bugs…

At Imogen Gallery, Astoria, Oregon, through June 4, 2019.

photo courtesy Evan Schneider, copyright 2019

A few years ago, I received an email asking if I knew the variety of tomato that I had used in making a photograph that was on display at PDX. I did, because Fred and I had grown it in our garden, and I enjoyed watching it change as it ripened. It was an Indigo Rose, and it started out a dark indigo color, turning more red as it ripened, but where the stem was attached, the shady bits always stayed dark blue. I emailed the gent back, and immediately got the response that of course it was, and that he was the scientist who bred that variety! He was Dr Jim Myers at OSU Vegetable Breeding Program, and invited me to come see what else they were up to. One day, late in their harvest, I arrived for a tour with my guide, Shinji Kawaii, whose specialty of Haskap berries is whole other story. Shinji brought me to an offsite farm where grapes, berries, apples and yes, Indigo Rose tomato varieties were growing, along with acres of other wonderful stuff. I worked in a small little office where decades of seeds were stored, and made this image. Not only was it an incredible day, but I do have to say, I really love this image. Imagine this at 40" x 55" on a cotton rag paper...or just come to Imogen Gallery in Astoria, April 13-June 4, and you can actually see it like that.

A cucumber beetle has lunch.

40”x55” archival pigment print. Ed 1/3 is at Imogen Gallery through June 4, 2019

From a lovely garden in Vancouver, with spectacular old varieties of flowers that do very well indeed in the Willamette Valley. As I continue with this project, I can now look at a picture I’ve made and sort out things like, hey, that tree peony’s blossoms are gone, while the other shrub peony is in full bloom….

detail of archival pigment print on view at Imogen Gallery through June 4, 2019.

35".5” x 50”, Edition 1/4

Archival pigment print, Ed 1/2, 71.5” x 52”

After spending 10 days at Summer Lake, Oregon on an artist residency called Playa, I was finally ready to make a portrait of the place. I had put note on the community board asking for friends to collect dead insects that they had found along the way, so it was an opportunity to connect more bugs and winged insects in my work. I really loved the slow making approach to this one.

detail from large scale archival pigment print, now on view at Imogen Gallery, through June 4, 2019

“Other Things That Might Be Happening During the Eclipse”

In the summer of 2017, everyone who lived near the path of totality was making plans for how to get exactly IN the path of totality. I had definitely thought about it, but didn’t make plans, and then a burst appendix sort of changed any plans we might have considered. This late summer garden study took place a few weeks later when I was feeling better. I love the bug’s eye view of what might be happening on any ordinary day near the path of totality. On view at Imogen Gallery now through June 4, 2019.

Large scale archival pigment print: 51” x 70” on lovely cotton rag paper. Edition 1/2.