Join the Bainbridge Public Library for the October 2023 First Friday Art Walk, featuring artist Gregg Onewein
The Bainbridge Public Library is dedicated to spreading the joy of reading and the discovery of ideas with not just our local community, but with visitors from near and afar. In addition, the library is fortunate to house beautiful local works of art both inside and outside the building. Each month the library celebrates a local artist (or artists) with an exhibit, which opens monthly on the Island’s First Friday Art Walk tour, and includes a reception hosted by the featured artist.
The Bainbridge Public Library is proud to present an exhibit by artist Gregg Onewein
Gregg will host a “meet and greet” from 5pm-7pm on Friday, October 6th to open his new exhibit, “Paleo-Logic” for First Friday Art Walk
Artist Gregg Onewein spent 30 years at NOVA, Seattle’s first alternative high school, teaching a variety of subjects, such as history, art, photography and wood shop/boatbuilding. However, he also taught himself, “I have been an off-and-on self-taught artist most of my life. I have worked in many different media: drawing, painting, printmaking, wall sculptures and more,” he explained. “There are pieces in each of these categories at the October library art show. In addition, I have developed a technique of coating plywood panels with lumber store joint compound, then carving and painting it.” Most of the pieces he will be displaying at the library have a reference to ancient art from Paleolithic rock art to classical Western times. “With an ‘ancient’ degree in Anthropology, I have long admired mankind’s first images.”
Gregg is also a self-taught woodworker, and during his tenure at NOVA, he helped students build canoes and kayaks, which they would then take out for outdoor education adventures. “I have also built eight or ten boats for my own use, including kayaks, rowboats, a thirty-foot traditional Northwest coast canoe, and a 50-foot house barge that my wife, kids and I lived on for five years. It was our stab at affordable waterfront living,” he said.
Now that he’s retired, Gregg continues to hone his craft, doing much of the same things he did as a teacher, but now for himself. As he noted in his library statement, “I continue to do many of the same things now without getting paid…wait a minute! I have been an off and on artist most of my life and hope to provide visual entertainment at a good value. I have done everything from illustration to printmaking to murals. I would be happy to discuss commission work…and I charge less than your plumber.”
He also facilitates life drawing classes at the Bainbridge Island Metro Parks and Recreation District’s Strawberry Hill Center, something he’s been doing for almost 25 years. “I think of it primarily as a public service to my fellow Bainbridge Island artists, who are ‘my people.’”
If you are interested in talking to Gregg about a commission, he can be reached at altnative4@hotmail.com.
Gregg’s work can be viewed in the library meeting room for the month of October and on the library website, www.bainbridgepubliclibrary.org.
A portion of sales is donated to the library.
As always, thank you for supporting your Bainbridge Public Library and local artists. If you have interest in exhibiting your work, feel free to contact Linda Meier, art coordinator, at lindameier2000@gmail.com.
***Library content and images provided by Linda Meier, Bainbridge Public Library and Gregg Onewein.
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