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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
July 13, 1978     Shelton Mason County Journal
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July 13, 1978
 
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i ¸ ;, L: :i t4rt flows from backwoods cabin to city malls MARK LEE Washington, she studied speech "Personally, I might try some everyday basis, that I felt my It's a long way from a :kwoods cabin in Tahuya to e shiny concourse of a opping mall, but that's the Jrney Armae makes to sell her Lres, so she can continue doing nat she likes doing best - nting. "Armae" is how Arlene tith signs her work. It is also name used by her friends the one she prefers, for it appeared on her creations for p past 21 years. iLActually Armae is only 33, :It when she finished her first :[tnting at the ,age of 12, she |Ushed in 'Armae," a itraction of Arlene Mac, and ,:[ name stuck. [_Today, it still appears on the tings that come out of her lbin near the Tahuya River [lere she lives with her husband [d children. :[To earn her living Armae tw sells her paintings, depicting woods, water and wildlife [_rounding her, at those most inerican institutions - shopping lls. [IWhatever future generations rY decide about our age, 'r [Y e bound to credit us for ! e creation of that most |mographic of institutions - re Shopping mall. After all, r_er: .before in the history of r Ulture have so many people ::[different races, creeds and ]n,omic levels mixed together? [Yet shopping malls have |Ver been noted for their [metic re qualities and one of the _ ironic spinoffs from the [ of these shopping complexes [been the rise of the mall art |Seemsl'"- every time you travel L a mall, a new group of artists 1 set up shop so the masses of ] shoppers can ogle the artist's tk and even buy a painting, or ' (| But as you wind among the Lt, erc°lors, oil paintings and !s blowers, do you find your irene ti°n drawn more towards )re:tor than the created? t . You find yourself edering where the artists |:, atom? Where they go when fir day is done9 0iSOme seem" bored, totally ifferent to the comments i_ the passersby. Other artists I e obviously enjoying nselves, playing to the  creating new works crowd l'V, Watch, on the spot. while lAnd if you happen to be lading in front of an exhib,,t rng the name Armael [J es are she'll be watching r_ just as much as you'll be terving her. he "I hke to watch all tn d [erent kinds of Pe°pletingsin i they react to my pa r ! reactions usually fall into r ral groups and I try to guess [at a Person will like 0000hand |" For SOme reason both :tgtPe°ple and older adults ![,, o prefer more expressive ISSattWrhile more middleaged acted to my more !tic paintings. though Armae first picked 't °rush in her teens, she Start displaying her work i[mercially until just a few Its ago,, when she "sort of ]. stepped' her way into mall :,OWs. 'My mother-in.law was ]mt°ti,n.g a substitute material !  rathtional canvas and she =.d me to do some paintings aetnonstrate the material. So I did a couple of paintings and they sold right away, much to my surprise. And I was hooked." Since Armae had always wanted to spend the bulk of her time painting, she took note and began signing up for more of the shows. Nowadays, Armae is invited to increasing numbers of the mall shows. As she describes it, the invitations are the "first rungs on the long ladder to popular recognition." Next week Armae will attend her fifth show since the start of the new year - the most she's been invited to since she started. All total there are seven shows in the Puget Sound area. Besides the fact that her paintings are selling well, Armae probably gets asked to the shows because she enjoys displaying at them. Although some of the artists find it hard to maintain an air of joviality througllout the long hours demanded by the shows, Armae says it's important for the painter to remain active and alert because the enthusiasm can be contagious for potential buyers. And such a display usually includes executing a work in public. At first Armae says it was extremely difficult to paint in public under outside observation, but now she can block out all the hustle and bustle to concentrate on the painting. "I learned another important lesson my first time out. I worked really slow and it took me the whole week-long show to wrap up the painting. Along the way I managed to paint myself into several tough comers, but I finished the work and was satisfied with the end result. "Then I left it on my easel overnight and the next morning it was gone." Despite such mishaps, Armae has reached a point where she can now finish several paintings in the course of a show. "I wouldn't exactly call them my most intricate works - they're usually of some simple subject that can be executed rather quickly. "People like to see a painting as it takes form. Some even keep Working outside her Tahuya cabin, Armae brushes out an unacceptable foreground. "If something doesn't feel right, I take it out." coming back to check on the painting's progress, day after day. That's the main purpose for those paintings, yet sometimes even I'm surprised when one of those paintings often turn out to be one of my better works." Besides oil painting Armae makes use of a medium she terms "relief painting in redwood." For such work she calls upon the help of her husband, Gary, who equally shares artistic interests. He prepares a laminated redwood surface to which a rubberized coating is applied. Armae then sketches her painting and removes sections of the rubber coating, usually background areas, which are then sandblasted down several millimeters. The remaining smooth, raised areas are then painted in with detail by Armae. Over the years Armae says her painting has followed what she now realizes is a progression. Her first painting, which was done for her mother, was a copy of a landscape on the lampshade in her room. For a long time Armae concentrated on landscapes, but then small creatures began to also populate her canvas. Lately she's been more interested in rendering humans. Part of her interest in human figures coincides with a special series of paintings she has started depicting tales from American Indian folklore. "I'd say those paintings are the hardest for me. They take extensive research and I feel a lot of pressure to make the paintings authentic." Because of her Indian works, A rmae has now started displaying at western art shows. "And when you show a painting at one of those shows, you have to be sure every little detail is just right. If you make a mistake on say the tribal dress or put the wrong type of cheekbones on a Sioux, someone's bound to notice and then you might as well forget being considered a serious artist." Another reason Armae has grown to like displaying at the .shows is the close contact it What Armae calls one of her more expressive works sits in the sun outside her home. The surrounding trees and wildlife provide the inspiration, but the thoughts are her own. allows with other painters. "Even though the selling is highly competitive, I've always found the other painters very supportive, right from the start. When I get myself into a tough spot on a painting, I can usually talk with those people and finally figure out a solution. "I've also learned a lot about self-discipline by watching the other painters. Some of them are amazingly professional. They get up at a set hour each morning, work till lunch, then they're right back into it until supper. "Me, I've got a ways to go before I reach that point, but I'm getting better. Some of these people have been painting for 40 years. Maybe when I've been at it that long I'll have the same professionalism." One of the benefits of Armae's growing discipline is that her painting is "fast approaching" the point where it will earn her a living. Then my parents ,always continued to encourage me as I got older. If it hadn't been for them, i'm sure I would have dropped painting somewhere along the line." Although she was born in Tacoma, Armae's father supervised fish hatcheries for the state, so she grew up "out in the country." After graduating from a small high school in Southwest therapy at the University of Washington for two years. All the while she continued painting on a casual basis but started concentrating more on her art work after her father died in 1968. "Because I've always lived in the country, my painting has been influenced primarily by nature, which is why I enjoy living in Tahuya. Every day I can take in views of water, mountains, trees and an abundance of wildlife. And even the same settings change with the seasons and different lighting. "When I'm working on a painting, I just sort of collect sights I see as I'm traveling around the area, Maybe a particularly striking set of trees along the roadside, or a regal bird along the shoreline. "Anyway, I collect all these images in my head for a while and I go to the easel and try to combine my favorites into a pleasing composition on the canvas. "For me, that's the important thing - to paint scenes that feel good to me. Because then I have a certain energy and somehow that gets translated onto the canvas. Then, when people come along they pick up on that energy and feeling. Without that, my work's just another painting." For would-be painters, Armae has simple advice - "Paint, paint, paint. "Now, I've never had any 'classical training' and some people tell me I should try it. Others say, 'Don't do it; it'll ruin your personal style.' classical study someday, but riglat now I feel I gain the most from practice." Up until just a few years ago Annae estimated she completed five or six paintings each year. "But it wasn't until I started showing nay work and trying to sell it that I really got down to painting. Having the threat from an approaching show hanging over your head does a lot for productivity. "And it wasn't until I started painting consistently, on an work began to improve." Nowadays, Armae estimates that she puts the final touches on at least five paintings each month. "That works out to 60 paintings each year. Sounds like a lot to me, but I guess that must be about right. I never realized it was so many. "Well, that goes to show exhibiting at shopping malls may get tedious and crazy, but it sure has helped my painting." Armae (also known as Arlene Mae Smith) Thursday, July 13, 1978 Section of the Shelton-Mason County Journal son from the couple's Tucson home, Pettit said "they are mostly deadends." Andy is thouglrt to have wandered from iris home in the brushy desert country while his father slept and his mother was at work. An extensive search was conducted until noon the following day with Air Force helicopters, tracking dogs and even psychics trying to find the boy. Pettit said the search, conducted in 105.degree temperatures, provided no clues to the boy's whereabouts. Pettit said a $2,000 reward, donated by area individuals, remains in effect but said the case remains "a real mystery." Kais Stryker was raised by the Robert VanHoms of Belfair, her aunt and uncle. Mrs. Ruth Fortner of Port Orchard is her grandmother. Mark Stryker is the son of the Cecil Strykers of Allyn. Graveside services will be conducted Friday, July 14, 11 a.m., at the Twin Firs Cemetery in Belfair with Pastor Tom Harmonson officiating. Services are under direction of Batstone Funeral Home, Shelton. road can be widened. In the meantime, he says survey work will continue. Young said that overall plans call for the Grapeview Road to be upgraded in the future to meet the requirements for a state road. Actual work on widening the section of road would probably not start until next year, at the earliest, depending on the county's success in gaining the right of ways. Several people suggested that a plan be drawn up to establish a new arterial road through the area, so the Grapeview Road could remain a lightly traveled road and not become a major thoroughfare. In reply, the engineer explained that the possibility for following such a plan was slight and pointed out that the county is having enough difficulties acquiring fight.of-way just to widen the existing road. As for the perennial potholes, Young said the road will soon receive its annual coating of oil and gravel. Local residents cautiously negotiate the blind intersection of the Grapeview and Cronquist Roads. County Engineer Marley Young told Grange members last week that plans are in the mill to bring the narrow Grapeview thoroughfare up to state standards, but it's going to take a while. 100 negatives. "If the retouching's done nothing else, it's given me plenty of practice at fine brushstrokes. In fact that's the kind of painting I've always e;njoyed. "Some people keep telling me to switch to bigger brushes so I can complete my paintings more quickly; I guess by some standards I work rather slowly. But after all these years I doubt if I could change; I'd really miss all the fine detail." For Armae, critiquing her own work is a simple matter. "If I like something when I'm working on it and I feel right when it's finished, then it's a good painting. If I don't feel quite right, then it's a bad painting and I throw it away." Fortunately, those bad feelings have only cropped up five or six times in all the years she's been painting. "I think the most important thing is to keep painting and not worry too much about the outcome. Most paintings work out in the end. If I get too concerned about the way a 'painting is going to look, I never get it finished." Although Armae admits that great painters are rare, she also says that many people who should be painting aren't. "Painting's one of those things that most everybody . enjoys doing as a kid, but then it gets sorted out when you start growing up. "Maybe somebody gets overcritical because a child's paintings aren't traditional. That can be extremely damaging. Or maybe the child's parent never encourages any type ot expression - they can't see any practical purpose for such activity, so they simply ignore it and it withers away. For a kid to keep painting as he grows up, it takes a lot of encouragement." For Armae it was friends of her parents who provided the initial encouragement. "They used to bring me brushes and paints but, more importantly, they used to talk to me about what ! was painting. Tragedy has struck once again for a former Belfair family now living in Tucson, Arizona. Kais Stryker, 21, who recently appeared on a television station in that city to plead for the return of her missing and possibly kidnapped 1,8-month-old son, Andy, was killed last Sunday night when her pickup truck collided with another vehicle. Kais and her husband Mark, 20, moved to Tucson from Tacoma this spring in search of work following Mark's discharge from the Army. He was reportedly in Phoenix taking a physical to qualify for the Navy at the time of the accident. Kais was reportedly on her way home from a visit with her sister-in-law when she ran a stop sign and collided with another pickup truck. She was taken to St. Mary's Hospital in Tucson with massive head injuries with severe brain damage and died shortly after 9 p.m., according to Pima County sheriff's department spokesman Sergeant Mark Pettit. The driver of the other pickup, Milton L. Wilfred, escaped with only minor injuries after his truck rolled, Pettit saM. Kais' dog, with her when the accident occurred, escaped without harm. Although sheriff's detectives have received calls on the June 7 disappearance of the Strykers' Mother of missing boy killed in Tucson crash Road intersection. Young said that the county engineering department is aware of the problems with the Grapeview Road and has started a program to solve them. He said the main problem facing the department is acquiring the necessary right-of-way so the section of County officials attended last Thursday's meeting of Grapeview's Fair Harbor Grange to discuss plans for improvement of the Grapeview Road running between the local firehall and Allyn. Local residents first told County Commissioner Floyd Cole, County Engineer Marley Young and Assistant Planner Monty Anderson that they were most concerned with the narrowness of the road along that section. They also complained about the recurring potholes, lack of a three-way stop at the Stretch Island Road intersection, and the blind approach at the Cronquist For years Armae has done photo retouching for Tacoma-area photographers in Grapevi Road pgrading pl ed her home to earn the bulk of her ew u ann , income. It's work she was glad to have, but work that gets bu ight of =y p obl i ay ,o00iou00. is t r - -w r eros n w expected to complete more than