Oysters & Art: Featured Artists
BARBARA MALLON
Barbara is a local mixed media artist currently exhibiting in Ilwaco and Astoria. Her inspirations come from memories and experiences growing up in the Pacific Northwest. Many of her paintings are strongly reminiscent of marine coastal and benthic environments – the sights and sounds of a lifetime of observations carried out scuba diving, fishing, snorkeling, camping and exploring tide pools and wetlands here in Puget Sound, in Alaskan waters in and around Bristol Bay, and in the tropical waters of the Hawaii islands.
DON NISBETT
Although he was born in Missouri, the artist Don Nisbett has lived in the northwest for most of his life. Specializing in watercolors Don is as versatile as he is talented. Themes include crab, wine, fish, moose, golf, coffee and more. He stays busy throughout the year working on boat paintings, beach house paintings and fantasy portraits as well as other custom and commercial work.
You can find Don at the Crew House Gallery visiting with friends and fans while they sip on wine or enjoy some of his famous chocolate treats. Much of his work is customized while you wait. This is not your usual stuffy art gallery. Selling “Affordable art for real people” is what he does and you will find everyone from local fisherman to tourists are fans of Don’s art.
Don Nisbett’s Crew House Gallery
167 Howerton Way
at the Port of Ilwaco
Tel: (360) 642-8831
BETTE LU KRAUSE
Bette Lu’s adventurous spirit has taken her around the world by sea. As a merchant mariner on research vessels, tramp freighters, large oil tankers, and tugboats, she has explored many of the earth’s coastal regions. In 1991, she joined Lindblad Expeditions, first as a deck officer and a few years later as an expedition leader and naturalist, traveling and teaching in several wonderful destinations. Aboard her own 1934 36’ Monk wooden cruiser, she ‘gunk holed’ and kayaked around many lesser known islands and inlets of Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, Canada’s Gulf Islands and the fiords surrounding the first nation village of Alert Bay, BC. She has attended several special cultural events among the Kwak’wak’a’wak people. These days she lives in a small coastal town in Washington, and spends time in nature and painting in her home art studio. Much of Bette Lu’s art is inspired by the magnificent rainforests and salt water places of the Pacific Northwest.
