Landscape by Susan Luckey Higdon and glass by Nancy Becker

November 2022 exhibit with Nancy Becker at Tumalo Art Co.

Hand-blown glass artist Nancy Becker and landscape painter Susan Luckey Higdon combine their similar love of color and shape in Dreaming of Water. The show opens November 4, 2022, from 3-7pm, during Bend Oregon’s Old Mill District First Friday Gallery Walk.

Finding an affinity that resonates for both artists about the mystery and movement of water, Nancy and Susan have joined forces to create art in their respective mediums—2D and 3D—for this November exhibit.

Glass becomes liquid when heated, swirling with color that Nancy shapes with mastery and wizardry into vessels, vases and platters. She is inspired by the natural world that surrounds her, creating colors and shapes that remind her of rivers, lakes, a gust of wind or the shades of autumn reflections.

Two sides of Nancy Becker's "Reflections on Sparks Lake", hand-blown glass.
Two sides of Nancy Becker’s “Reflections on Sparks Lake”, hand-blown glass.

Some of Nancy’s vessels are dense with color and others are transparent with notes of color swirling loosely throughout. The making of glass is challenging all the way through the process. Hand-blowing the glass using the furnace is only the beginning—each piece must be annealed, meaning it needs to cool very slowly so that it doesn’t crack. Only after the annealing is complete are the true colors of the piece revealed. The last step, polishing, must be handled with extreme care.

Painting of Tyee Creek by Susan Luckey Higdon
Susan Luckey Higdon’s painting of Tyee Creek, which feeds Devils Lake in Oregon’s Cascade Mountains.

Susan is transfixed with the movement and color of water, capturing it’s layers—the pebbles on the bottom, the creatures in the stream, the continually changing reflections. For the past few years she has been abstracting her work using composition, cropping in closely to find the essence of the scene. Her rendering is impressionistic but representational to capture the sense of place that moved her to paint. The chaos of pattern existing in nature is fascinating to her. Painting it so that it can be experienced is her goal.

Steelhead in Steamboat Creek by Susan Luckey Higdon
Susan Luckey Higdon paints the Steelhead holding in Oregon’s Steamboat Creek.

Both artists have been working in their chosen mediums for over 30 years. They continue to challenge themselves to interpret nature in a way that connects emotionally, intuitively and joyfully with the viewer.

Tumalo Art Co. is an artist-run gallery in the heart of the Old Mill District, open 7 days a week. 541-385-9144; tumaloartco.com.

Published by

Susan Luckey Higdon

Susan Luckey Higdon makes fine art in Central Oregon that reflects the natural beauty all around her. She paints landscapes, native fish in their underwater habitats and bird life. Painting large whenever possible her work is semi-abstracted using composition, loosely impressionistic and colorful.