Former EWU instructor and local artist Garric Simonsen returns to Eagle stomping grounds showcasing his collection of new works.

Simonsen’s work will be presented in EWU’s Gallery of Art, located in the Art Building. His work will be up from Sept. 27 through Oct. 26. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Admission to view the gallery is free.

Nancy Hathaway, gallery director, is in charge of choosing artists to display their work. She picks artists typically over a year in advance. Currently, Chris Tyllia is covering for Hathaway while she is on sabbatical for the quarter.

“Nancy usually wants to show local artists,” said Tyllia. “Garric is a local artist, he works and lives in Spokane. So, if she sees their work out there in local venues, she’ll often ask or send out some calls. She also will accept unsolicited proposals, packets or portfolios for shows. It’s kind of a little bit of everything when choosing artists.”

Hathaway and Tyllia are familiar with Simonsen’s work and the timing was just right to feature him in the gallery. “Garric was actually an adjunct here years ago,” said Tyllia. “So, I worked with him and knew of his work. We have always liked his artwork … and there was time in his schedule that he could fit in.”

Simonsen’s art inspiration comes from interest in his family history. He uses different mediums along with numerous family artifacts.

“Simonsen works with traditional materials and inter-disciplinary approaches, including dry-etching, encaustic, collage, hand-coloring and digital print, the evolution of what could be classified as his anti painter persona …” according to Simonsen’s website.

Members of Simonsen’s family were loggers in the Pacific Northwest and he demonstrates a connection to that history in his artwork .

“A lot of times wood and by-products of leather has been a reoccurring theme in my work,” said Simonsen.  “I think that comes from my family history on my mom’s side … and I think in the last 10 years or so I’ve been really interested in that history and that somehow kind of found a way to be a common thread or theme in my work.”

Within the assemblage of Simonsen’s family heirlooms is about 1,500 vintage postcards, ranging in age from about 75 to 100 years old. He takes these postcards that display images of destinations around the world and turns them into collages.

“I had a pile of these [postcards] on my office desk and I kind of combine multiple postcards together, to create one single landscape,” said Simonsen. “Yet they happen to be all from different locations.”

Other work by Simonsen that’s being featured in the gallery includes blown up photographs of his great grandmother, great grandfather and grandfather, that he’s done visual drawings over.

“Those are kind of more of an interest to me because there’s a direct connection with the family and the tradition of hand coloring photographs, that has been around for a long time,” said Simonsen. “If you look at some of the postcard collages you will see some of this hand coloring.”

“Before there was color print they would take black and white photographs and just add color to them with a brush. So with these large prints I see a connection to that tradition using modern technology.”

Simonsen feels great about displaying his work at EWU. He taught there for a while and is familiar with most of the department.

“I’m really excited to show there,” said Simonsen, “All of people have shown there throughout the years and it’s an honor.”

To find out more about Simonsen and his artwork, go to www.antipainter.com.