Melinda Thorsnes has been exhibiting both locally and nationally since 1972. Using bold color and thick creamy strokes of oil, combined with an outstanding sense of humor and wit, she transforms ordinary daily subjects into delightful narratives with a deeper meaning.
These paintings, individually abandoned by the artist as lemons, collectively presented offer us a refreshing dose of lemonade. Please join us for this once in a lifetime show and meet the artist.
Regarding her background and influences on her work, Thorsnes has written: “I came from a nomadic family whose territory ran the West Coast, from Elsinore, California to the Seattle area. After I was born, our small faction stayed pretty much around the Portland area. When my grandmother died in 1971, I inherited the family photo albums and set about painting reconstructions of events that I was, in some cases, too young to remember. My Uncle Todd was once the proud (and somewhat successful) purveyor of ‘Todd’s Famous Waffles.’ My father, his other brother, and their cousins sold cars, worked the carnie circuit up and down the coast in the summer, and once were arrested for ‘rum running’ in Puget Sound. They were a quick-witted, fleet -footed and colorful bunch, and I am proud to have inherited some of those traits. Through the years, my work has expanded from family matters to personal and political issues and back again-a Journey for a sense of place and for recording the region’s people and events that have and do affect my life.”