Local artists featured at Deming Library

Works by Paul Temperio, Max Lucy and others on display in meeting room

by Brita Adkinson
DEMING – Local artists will have their art on display in the new meeting room at the Deming Library, during summer and fall. The first art show opened July 6, featuring paintings by Paul Temperio of the South Fork Valley, and will run through Aug. 8. Among Temperio’s artworks are portraits and several striking images of Mount Shuksan.
On Aug. 16, Max Lucy will open the second exhibition, featuring photographs. Lucy, a 23 year-old graduate of Mt Baker High School, grew up on Mosquito Lake Road in Deming. Lucy’s father is a potter (co-founder of Cloudy Mountain Pottery) and his mother creates quilts.
“I’ve been surrounded by art and directly or indirectly encouraged to create my whole life by my parents,” Lucy said.
During his high school years, Lucy traveled to Costa Rica and South Africa with the Experiment in International Living. “For the first time I had my own 35 mm camera and was presented with subjects that were foreign to me and hence, personally captivating.”
After high school, Lucy attended the University of San Francisco and graduated with a degree in International Studies: Environment and Development, with minors in African Studies and Environmental Science. In those four years, Lucy traveled to India and Japan, studied abroad for a year with the School for International Training in Switzerland and Uganda, and also traveled in Europe, Egypt, and East Africa. Lucy’s photography pictures life in the countries he visited.
“The photos convey a shared sense of commonality that wherever one is in a US city, in a rural African village, in a national park, or in a different time, there are people who have the same simple emotions as people always have.”
Currently, Lucy works for the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD), an international organization which partners with more than 300 community-based organizations throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America to support sustainable change. The work involves public health, youth and education, environmental degradation, entrepreneurship, women’s empowerment, and human rights. Lucy’s photographs will be on display until September 12.
From September 27 until October 24, textile art will be on show, featuring quilts and other textile art by Paula Graham, of Deming. Around 20 years ago, Graham began making quilts, wall hangings and other textile art works, for herself and as gifts for friends and family. In the beginning, she learned rules and traditions in quilt making and worked in the established traditions. Eventually, Graham began making her own patterns and “bent the rules.” She said doing so “felt invigorating and allowed me to experience a sense of creativity that I did not expect fabric to provide.” These days, she has freed herself of all rules and enjoys creating new patterns and styles in her art.
During November, a group exhibition will feature local crafts.
In the spring 2010, the Friends of the Deming Library, a 500-member support group, formed a sub-committee called Foothills Arts and Crafts Exhibits, FACE, with the purpose to organize these art shows. “When we looked at the walls of the new meeting room, we thought this is a good place for showing art,” said Sharon Digby, committee chair and coordinator of the art shows. Digby, who previously worked for the Whatcom County Planning Department, has spent the last seven years supporting the Deming Library through the Friends. She served as project manager for the extension of the Deming Library, completed last year.
Art shows will be 4-6 weeks in duration. “We will be emphasizing artists from the foothills area, but are not restricting ourselves geographically,” commented Digby.
Local artists who wish to exhibit their art may contact Sharon Digby at 592-2286, or the Deming Library at 592-2422.