Hoffman Gallery
February Gallery Exhibition
Exhibit-Thursdays–Sundays | February 5–28 | 12:00-5:00pm
Opening Reception February 7 | 3:00-5:00pm
Gallery is closed the last Sunday of every month
Hoffman Center for the Arts | 594 Laneda Avenue | Manzanita
Free and open to the public
Featuring works by
Brenda Fugle, Claudia Hollister, and Alison Dougherty
Alison Dougherty
Alison Dougherty (b.1977) is an American painter and curator based in Portland, OR. Her paintings are a visual experience forged in a range of energy drawing from her own experiences in life. Her impressions of the world are abstractly layered in large forced brush-strokes and impactful sgraffito style scribbling with intentionally placed marks of color, thrown thick pigment, and softly blended atmospheric backgrounds.
Intuitively she works to pull the viewer beyond layers of paint into intimate spaces that simultaneously push back leaving the viewer with feelings of wonder, questions, and contemplations. She is making a statement to the world through her work. Beautifully bold, challenging, thought provoking and witty. She is constantly challenging herself with new ideas and concepts while experimenting with an ever-evolving color palette.
“I paint to remain in the present, while simultaneously reflecting on the past, which becomes my inspiration for the future.” -A.D
Alison is the owner of Outlier Gallery a mobile art space she built inside a step van. Inside here she shows her work pop-up style. You can follow her adventures on Instagram @outlier.gallery & @alisondoughety.fineart or sign up with your email to receive event information and view available work at alisondougherty.com
She is the current director and curator of Ford Gallery PDX. Her mission is to support new, emerging and established PNW artists.
Brenda Fugle – Emerging Rock Portraits: A Healing Journey
This sculptural clay collection, Emerging Rock Portraits, unfolded when Brenda was too frayed to think. Broken and disoriented from a string of tremendous losses, she would walk the local beaches and trails collecting rocks. Brenda gathered them as evidence that she would survive. These rocks, smoothed or broken, shaped by their circumstances anchored her. Â She, too, was altered by her extended season of heartache, but would survive and emerge anew.
Brenda started layering clay over the rocks to capture their form. Sometimes her emotions drove the piece, other times the rock guided the process. She utilized raku and traditional firing methods. Â
Brenda sews padded coverings for the rocks so the clay can dry partially in place. As she then cuts the clay off, she accentuates the seams when she reforms them. It feels important to capture wounding and healing.  Brenda was further intrigued by cutting away clay and exposing the rock below. This unveiling felt true – life takes away, but what is revealed is both unexpected and hopeful. She started forming two layers over the rocks with the rock underneath emerging from the burden of pain, circumstances, life patterns, and family stories. Â
Each piece in this collection has evolved with emotions of its own. It often surprised her to see the weight of her grief or the joy she was beginning to feel.  She offers this collection in the hopes that this expression of healing might encourage others in their journey.
Artist Bio
Brenda was the anxious, shy kid, trying to be invisible. She came alive in kindergarten standing at an easel- dipping chalks in water and watching the colors slide across the page. It wasn’t what she was making, but how she felt: finally settled and totally unaware of her surroundings.
Brenda pursued Biology in college and career, but art was continually her refuge. Mostly self-taught, She has freely experimented with various mediums: painting and pastels, creating textiles and collages, working with clay, always trying to capture her known and unknown emotions.Â
Three years ago, after profound losses, Brenda returned to clay, desperate to process her grief. Two sculptures in the Squid and this collection are the result.
She is currently living her best life here in this wild and beautiful community called Manzanita.
Claudia Hollister – Into the Blues
As a cyanotype artist, Claudia is captivated by the interplay of light, utilizing a process that combines alchemy, nature, timing, and technology to create an intricate dance between artistry and science. In 2014, she started exploring cyanotype printing techniques, rich in history dating back to 1842, which allowed her to utilize the process for backgrounds in her encaustic paintings.
Since the 2020 lockdown, Claudia’s garden has become her sanctuary and source of inspiration. Photographing with her iPhone, she uses her creativity to allow the unique compositions of her garden flowers to transcend beyond what the camera sees. The distinctive blue hues characteristic of cyanotypes emerge through the sensitized paper exposed to UV / sunlight, emphasising the transient nature of light and time. Reminding us of the importance of our delicate relationship to nature in our lives.
In this time of Al digital creation, Claudia values the tangibility and unpredictability of traditional techniques. Each print and collage is a testament to the serendipity of the process, where the unexpected results spark new ideas. She continues to create ways to document her garden, which will encourage viewers to slow down, engage with the details, and enjoy the beauty of my world of vintage modern cyanotypes as art.
Artist Bio
Claudia Hollister’s artistic journey weaves together nature, craftsmanship, and innovative techniques heavily influenced by the stunning landscapes of the Pacific Northwest and her passion for gardening.
A versatile artist, Claudia has excelled in sculpting, painting, porcelain, and jewelry design. Her resume includes collaborations with notable companies such as Reed & Barton, Orrefors Crystal, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Godiva Chocolates. Her works have been showcased at the Renwick Gallery and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.
Transitioning into porcelain marked a pivotal moment in her career, leading to important commissions for institutions, including children’s hospitals, corporations, and the Marriott in Denver Tech. In 2008, she embraced encaustic painting, including experimenting with cyanotype prints as backgrounds for her artwork.
The 2020 pandemic shifted her artistic focus, inspiring her to photograph flowers from her garden for cyanotype prints. This evolving practice captures the fragile cycles of flora, resulting in vintage modern artworks distinguished by stunning shades of blue. Her choice of unique papers enhances the depth and character of her cyanotype prints, which have gained recognition across the US and Australia.
Based in her Portland, Oregon studio, Claudia continues to push the boundaries of her artistic expression. Her work is a harmonious fusion of natural beauty and technical mastery, using innovative methods to invite viewers to experience mesmerizing blues.
