Spotlight – Douglas E. Sheldon and photography of Claire McGee
A two week spotlight show will be highlighting the art of Douglas E. Sheldon and photography of Claire McGee, both local artists. Their work will be on display on the center walls at the Yaquina Art Gallery located at 789 NW Beach Drive in the Nye Beach Turnaround, Newport Oregon. The gallery is open from 11-4 pm daily, seven days a week. The show will run from May 26th to June 8th, 2012.
Douglas E. Sheldon was born in Central Kansas. He began art classes in 4th grade and loved painting and watercolors from a young age. Douglas went to college with the intent to major in art and become an art teacher but reality hit him. He ended up working as a Visual Art Director doing window displays and merchandising for major companies like May Company, Meier and Frank and then was lead display person in the men’s department for Montgomery Wards. He worked in merchandising until going into landscaping when he moved to Oregon. He moved to the Oregon coast when he retired about 20 years ago. Douglas teaches watercolor classes on a rotation basis for the Yaquina Art Association as well as being a facilitator for the clay class. He has made it a priority to visit and paint most all of the National Parks and loves doing seascapes as well.
Claire McGee is a photographer that lives and has her studio in Newport, OR.
Claire comes by photography naturally. She says, “My parents met in a photography club in the 1940’s. My father was a photographer and my mother colored black and white photos with oils – to make color portraits. I grew up in a darkroom. Technology has come a long way since then, and I have evolved and refined my art with each passing year. I now use a digital camera, but I’m still pretty basic. No photo shop – and no computer generated images of babies flying in clouds…” Her background is Liberal Arts. She completed Nikon’s workshop in composition, and studied art at the University of Hawaii and Portland State University.Claire says, “People tell me I have a good eye, and that I capture the soul of what I see. You be the judge. My favorite subjects are nature and pets”.
Claire’s work can be viewed in galleries on Newport’s Historic Bayfront, as well as up and down the coast. Her work has been published in Sunset Magazine and KaNani (a University of Hawaii poetry journal). You can find out more about Claire and see more of her work at her website: http://clairemcgee.com
"The Barn" by Douglas Sheldon
"The Barn" by Claire McGee
"Covered Bridge" by Claire McGee
