The artwork of three Olympic College Shelton students is on display at the Shelton Civic Center. The student artists – Pat Denney, Kimberly Wheeler, Ph.D., and Robyn Patterson, attended the College’s first Discover Welding and Create Your Own Welded Project sessions offered by OC Shelton’s Community Education. The sessions were held fall 2015 at the Shelton Weld Shop, 50 Fredson Road.
The pieces are being displayed as part of Shelton’s Civic Rotating Art Gallery Display, sponsored by the City of Shelton Arts Commission and are on display from Dec. 1-Feb. 28, 2017.
The City’s Community Development Director, Mark Ziegler, speaking on behalf of the City’s Arts Commission, said, “We are pleased to have local artists displayed in the City’s busy Civic Center. Bringing various art mediums into public view provokes thought, stimulates conversation, and adds life to the building’s walls.”
To be eligible for this program, artists must be professional or amateur artists living in Washington working in two or three dimensional media. The selection process is juried by the Shelton Arts Commission which chooses art that reflects the history, artistic, cultural and natural diversity of Washington. Selection is based on artistic excellence and adherence to the chosen themes. All work must be original and created solely by the artist.
“We are thrilled the Arts Commission selected artwork created by our students. OC Shelton has a fantastic Community Education program that continues to grow,” OC Community Education Manager Allison Smith said. “We’ve had students travel from as far away as Sequim to attend this class. It’s a fabulous and inexpensive opportunity to learn the craft and use professional equipment.”
Olympic College Shelton offers an array of community education classes in the state-of-the art Transit-Community Center and welding is available at the Taylor Shellfish Bronze Works facility. The College is building a new shop that will allow welding programs to be offered on-site at the Shelton Campus on Alpine Way. The new facility is slated to open in May 2017.
About the Artists
Pat Denney is a 30-year Mason County artist, usually painting in watercolor and acrylics, but now also enjoying new challenges in metal. It all began with a one-day “Women in Welding” Saturday, over a year ago, which led to more classes at the Olympic College weld shop last year. Pat is from Centralia, where she took assorted art classes at Centralia College, long ago. She designed and built a seven-foot copper cross for her church, did lettering on a twelve foot horse drawn parade wagon, as well as helping to groom six Belgian draft horses to pull it, and currently has 20 feet of roses painted on the front of her barn.
Kimberly Wheeler, Ph.D. took the welding classes for the sheer joy of playing. “We’re the only animal on earth that puts off having fun. Glass, metal, beads, wood, mosaic, welding, plasma cutting, paint, sound, water, fire – Kimberly wants to play with it all. THer goal is to create a life of artistry play, and bring others along through workshops and coaching. Kim’s other interests are learning to play the handpan, photography, gardening, remodeling and writing.
Robyn Patterson retired in 2012 from a career at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She dabbled in a few different mediums: fused glass, glass mosaics, and driftwood. One fall, she and three girlfriends took the “Women in Welding” class offered by Olympic College. She was hooked! Robyn was instrumental in creating the OC Community Education Welding classes. She and her husband both took the classes and learned enough to explore and refine on their own. One of Robyn’s pieces won first place in the multimedia category at the Civic Center’s spring art show earlier this year.