Artists Terri Meenach, left, and Sasha Syssoeva Fair hang pieces in the West Wing hallway of Two Rivers Art Gallery, Monday. In the background, Kyle Byers hangs a new light fixture. The gallery has just finished a large renovation including new LED lights, carpeting, and fresh paint. February's exhibit features the work of Sonia "Sonny" Ramsey.
Joyce Hiatt, Marie Alice Hurst, and Cindy Uhrich (pictured from left to right) hang art Monday for the reopening of Two Rivers Art Gallery in Wenatchee.
Artists Terri Meenach, left, and Sasha Syssoeva Fair hang pieces in the West Wing hallway of Two Rivers Art Gallery, Monday. In the background, Kyle Byers hangs a new light fixture. The gallery has just finished a large renovation including new LED lights, carpeting, and fresh paint. February's exhibit features the work of Sonia "Sonny" Ramsey.
Joyce Hiatt, Marie Alice Hurst, and Cindy Uhrich (pictured from left to right) hang art Monday for the reopening of Two Rivers Art Gallery in Wenatchee.
WENATCHEE — Sonia “Sonny” Ramsey, has chosen more than 20 pieces of art to be installed in the front room of the freshly renovated Two Rivers Art Gallery for the month of February. Her subject matter includes flowers, animals and fruit in acrylics, and also artwork in stained glass.
For “First Fridays,” an open reception will be held at 5-8 p.m. at the art gallery, 102 N. Columbia St., Wenatchee. Jeannie McPhearson will play piano, and Goose Ridge wines will be served.
“I like flowers, so I do a lot of flowering, flowered things,” Ramsey said on the phone last week, “And I like animals. I like cats, lots of cat faces. I haven’t done any dogs, but birds. I joined the Leavenworth gallery up there and painted — I don’t know how many — pictures of birds.”
“The galleries in Leavenworth are all closed,” said Ramsey, “There used to be many, but the other places have all become wine tasting rooms.”
Ramsey went to the University of Miami for a Bachelor of Arts degree in commercial art, and attended the Academy of Fine Art in Florence, Italy, earning a Master of Fine Art degree.
“I’m sure you’ve seen the picture of the ‘David’ (statue by Michelangelo); that’s the academy, right there,” said Ramsey.
“I walked past the ‘David.’ We had a nude model every day and learned figures and structures and muscles. Every evening we went to the hospital and cut up cadavers! I speak fluent Italian now, after living there for a year.”
Three years ago, Ramsey, who is originally from New York, moved to a house in Wenatchee with roses and vegetables growing in the garden. She’s also lived in Leavenworth, as well as California and Arizona. She just turned 82 and has been painting for about 50 years.
Since she developed an allergy to oil paints, she uses primarily acrylic paints now.
In her studio there is “tons of glass sitting there” for stained glass work, said Ramsey. She just finished a piece of a moose for the Hunters Club in Moses Lake. She has designed stained glass windows for homes her husband built and also created 28 windows for a Catholic Church in Leavenworth.
Several of Ramsey’s floral paintings have sat on the altar of the Grace Lutheran Church in Wenatchee during church on Sundays, in lieu of real flowers.
Two Rivers Art Gallery is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday through Saturday, weekly, and from 1-4 p.m. Sundays. Members of the local collective gallery will also exhibit their works for sale in other parts of the space.
Discuss the news on NABUR, a place to have local conversations The Neighborhood Alliance for Better Understanding and Respect ✔ A site just for our local community ✔ Focused on facts, not misinformation ✔ Free for everyone
