Gallery 2015 now displaying work of local painter

The city of Enumclaw’s Gallery 2015 will present the work of painter Sharman Owings through Aug. 4. The display is sponsored by both the city and 4Culture of King County.

The city of Enumclaw’s Gallery 2015 will present the work of painter Sharman Owings through Aug. 4.

The display is sponsored by both the city and 4Culture of King County.

“Drawing, painting, textiles, clay – it doesn’t matter the material, creating has been an integral part of my life since I was a child,” Owings wrote in an artist’s statement. “Making things has always seemed like an uncomplicated way to express. Sometimes it’s cooking, sometimes sewing and often painting. You might even catch me in my husband’s sculpture studio, bronze in hand.”

Owings remembers her high school art classroom as a “Zen place” where she spent as many hours as she was allowed.

“I began to realize that color, not subject, was what fascinated me most,” she wrote. “Over the years I’ve developed relationships with watercolor, pastels, gouache, oil pastels and oil paint. Color remains the mystery and the reward.”

Owings participates in several online galleries, noting that the internet has broadened the art market and allowed her works to wind up in places like Holland, New Zealand and France.

Presently, Owings’ work is heavily weighted to portraiture, both human and pet.

“I guess in some ways it has come full circle,” she wrote. “The human face and figure holds more intrigue than almost any other subject.”

Gallery 2015 is in the council chambers at Enumclaw City Hall, 1339 Griffin Ave. Hours for the exhibition space are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.