Scott’S Art Usually Ushers In Holidays

Her images of idyllic rural scenes have captivated fans and collectors for more than a quarter century - so much so, in fact, that the Guinness Book of Records recently declared her the “Most Reproduced Artist in America.”

This weekend, Jane Wooster Scott stops in Spokane for two receptions at the Douglas Gallery, where she will unveil her new print, “House Calls.”

You may not readily recognize Scott’s name, but you certainly have seen her idealized images of early 20th-century New England if you’ve ever perused the shelves of holiday cards, calendars or jigsaw puzzles.

Her style is labeled American folk art, primitive and naive. “Americana comes closest,” Scott says.

During a telephone interview from Los Angeles, Scott talked about her creative process, why she thinks people are drawn to her work, and how things have changed since her big break.

“It constantly surprises me,” says Scott, who lives in Sun Valley, Idaho. “Luck has a tremendous amount to do with it - being in the right place at the right time. Which is exactly what happened to me at the beginning.”

That big break came in 1973 when a family friend was having his first show in Beverly Hills and didn’t have enough canvases to fill the walls of a very large gallery.

“He asked me to have a joint show and I said, `Are you nuts? No one is going to buy my stuff,’ ” recalls Scott.

That friend - comedian Jonathan Winters - talked her into it. Within one hour of the show’s opening all of her 40 paintings were sold to “this huge celebrity gathering who were there to see him, not me. It was kind of dumb luck,” says Scott.

“There are so many talented artists out there who can’t even get a gallery to look at their work,” she says. “There is a tremendous amount of talent we know nothing about and that’s sad.”

In the years since that first show Scott has become among the world’s best-known painters of Americana, with exhibitions of her original oil paintings and prints in Japan, Africa and Europe.

Scott feels her work touches a responsive chord in a broad spectrum of people for two reasons. The first is its simplicity. “What you see is what you get,” says Scott. “You don’t have to intellectualize it and think `what is she trying to say’ and `what is the real meaning behind those blobs of color.”’

The second reason is nostalgia. “Most of my paintings go back to the early 1900s,” says Scott. “That time appeals to me.”

Her paintings frequently portray a storybook ambience of Pennsylvania Dutch towns and New England hamlets. One such scene is captured in “House Calls,” a new print available exclusively through the Douglas Gallery. Scott calls it “a very sweet, simple little painting” depicting a country doctor in a horse-drawn buggy making his way through a gentle snowfall on a beautiful moonlit night.

“This is an original Jane painted that has not been previously published,” says gallery owner Danni Douglas.

Scott will be available at the gallery, 120 N. Wall, on Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. These receptions are free and open to the public. Regular gallery hours are Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Boswell Corner Gallery

An exhibit featuring the intricate prints and mixed-media drawings of Spokane artist Mary Farrell opens Monday at the Boswell Corner Gallery on the North Idaho College campus in Coeur d’Alene.

In one series of prints, Farrell has layered one image at a time in a succession of transparent and opaque colors.

“This work deals with the layering of information,” explained the Gonzaga University associate art professor. “The layers of tangled marks, as form overlies form, becomes a metaphor for the tangled nature of human interaction.”

An opening reception takes place Monday from 5 to 7 p.m. in the gallery. On Tuesday at 10:30 a.m., Farrell conducts a gallery tour of her exhibit, followed by a slide show discussion at 1 p.m. in the Driftwood Bay room of the Student Union Building. All the events are free and open to the public.

The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and is located near the lobby of Boswell Hall.

Ritzville Arts Festival

This weekend Ritzville (Wash.) hosts its Second Annual Arts and Antique Festival in its historic downtown district.

The festival features a range of fine arts and crafts. Western, watercolors and contemporary art will be highlighted along with metal sculpture and whimsical handcrafted pottery.

Children can make and display their artistic creations in the Kid’s Art Alley. Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. a community auction takes place in the Ritzville Trading Company.

On both days music will be performed by Frank Delaney and Linda Robinson with The Little Spokane River Angel Band, and Don Millard playing acoustic blues.

Festival hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Compton Union Gallery

Pullman artist Kathleen Bodley’s show “6 x 365” is hanging in Washington State University’s Compton Union Gallery through Oct. 7.

“The artist’s narrative paintings and drawings tell stories about landscapes and vulnerability,” says gallery directory Marty Mullen.

The gallery is adjacent to the auditorium lobby on the WSU campus in Pullman. Gallery hours are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, and also this Saturday and on Oct. 7.