The Michael Gibbons Book Launch Exhibition

Paintings from the Book "Painting in Nature."

Representing thirty-five years of oil painting locations around the world

“This man has painted landscapes we all know and love, giving them back to us in a form we can understand.” 

Mark O. Hatfield - Oregon U.S. Senator

Exhibition Details

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Exhibit Dates:                                          August 11 – September 24, 2021

Opening Reception:                                August 6th (Friday) 5:00-7:30

Closing Reception and Book Launch:   September 25th (Saturday) 12:00-3:00

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Closing Reception & Book Sales:   September 25th  11:00-3:00

Location:        Giustina Gallery at the LaSells Stewart Center – South Gallery

                        Oregon State University;  875 SW 26th Street, Corvallis, OR

                        lasells.oregonstate.edu     541-737-2402

Hours:             Wednesday-Friday, 8:00am-5:00pm

Exhibition Summary

            Welcome to an exhibit of paintings represented in this newly published fine art book, Michael Gibbons – Painting in Nature.  Over 20 plein air paintings of locations in the Yaquina River Watershed of Oregon and around the world have been generously loaned from private collections and the Michael Gibbons Signature Gallery, Toledo, Oregon. Born in Portland in 1943 and a fifth generation Oregonian, Michael Gibbons has been actively painting the Oregon landscape for 55 years. 

Fine Art Book Launch

The launch of the fine art publication, representing the extensive career of this regional oil painter, will be celebrated at the reception on September 25th, from 12:00-3:00pm.  This will be the first opportunity for the general public to purchase the book.  

            Over 150 images of work from Oregon and around the world are integrated with Gibbons’ personal reflections on painting and his philosophy of creating art based on observing nature:  “When I’m painting in nature, it is the divine experience of the land that feeds my inspiration.”

Artist's Voice

            Preferring to work alone, Gibbons isolated himself among the trees and waterways where he could listen to the voice of the land.  The artist used the painter’s tools to give substance to that voice and spirit by communicating space, color, form and light through his innate talent and refined execution. “What is painted is of secondary importance; how it is painted is the critical aspect. It is in the execution of the painting that the possibility of interaction with it takes place,” he said.

Sacred Landscape

            Michael Gibbons’ paintings communicate nature’s sacred voices onto a painted surface for the viewer to experience, become part of, and respond to. “All of the world we experience, every human being, every bush, every tree, and every rock is a gift to us for this part of our earthly experience,” he said.

            When en plein air (in the landscape), he would often come to a place that felt right to him where he’d pause, find a bush he could hang on to and grab a branch. “‘How would you like to be seen?’” he’d ask. “You can almost hear the chorus of the different trees. It’s a sense. You don’t hear words, but the language is right there. It’s a living being.”

This Exhibition is sponsored by the Yaquina River Museum of Art

The Yaquina River Museum of Art, located at 151 NE Alder Street, will be open from Noon-4PM on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and during First Weekends.