Deb Stoner

Mere mortals in front of the front of the Palos Verdes Art Center. Building wrap in situ til December 2, 2020.

I love this spectacularly dramatic piece called “Hello Mate”. The hot pink and blues of the anemones in springtime in the Willamette Valley really glow on this east wall bathed in southern Californian light.

The entrance faces south, and the portico with four columns and a lighting fixture was a wonderful thing to deal with in issues of image continuity, relationship to all the parts, and scale. of course. Taken in late afternoon when the sun from the west highlights the west facing portico, and throws everything else into the shadow of the PV hills.

The Palos Verdes Art Center, wrapped in my still life photography. 2019-2020.

I wish I could tell you that it looks like this every night….but this was taken on the show’s opening night, with full Hollywood lighting to give viewers a unique and exciting look at my work.

This wall is almost like a secret find, tucked away at the back of the building. The folks who work there use this door, and it pleases them greatly that this beautiful piece greets them as they come and go.

and in turn it shades the south and east facing walls of the Palos Verdes Art Center. I love seeing it all the different times of day.

The six foot tall portico on top of the 13 foot tall columns gave me a lot of room to play with scale in a way I’d never considered. The wrap material, vinyls chosen appropriate to their substrates, on the columns is thinner and more flexible than the more rigid wall material, a challenge for the installers.

With me, for scale. At the Palos Verdes Art Center, near Los Angeles, California. September 7th, 2019 through December 2, 2020. The exterior of the building is “wrapped” in my still life photography in the form of large scale vinyl digital prints. From February 8-November 23, 2020, the Norris Gallery inside PVAC features a solo exhibition of my work, “More Pictures About Flowers and Bugs”, by appointment only due to Covid 19.

I was meeting a friend’s new puppy, but I actually kept getting distracted by their garden. Puppy or flowers…hmmm. Not always that obvious, but in May, in Amanda and Dennis’s spectacular garden, the flowers win. With a cinnabar moth and some kind of crazy flying beetle bug from my collection of winged specimens.

On view at Imogen Gallery in Astoria, Oregon, till June 4, 2019.

at Imogen Gallery, through June 4, 2019.

photo courtesy Evan Schneider, copyright 2019

Large scale archival pigment print: 51” x 70” on lovely cotton rag paper.

“Other Things That Might Be Happening During the Eclipse”

In the summer of 2017, everyone who lived near the path of totality was making plans for how to get exactly IN the path of totality. I had definitely thought about it, but didn’t make plans, and then a burst appendix sort of changed any plans we might have considered. This late summer garden study took place a few weeks later when I was feeling better. I love the bug’s eye view of what might be happening on any ordinary day near the path of totality. On view at Imogen Gallery continuing through summer 2019.

I love this picture. I was working on a project to document a couple in Vancouver's old established garden before some new building projects changed things too much. It was super interesting to go back to the same garden month by month and record the changes in the same plants. I'd been doing that all along actually, with our own garden, and the gardens of neighbors, but not with the rule that if there was going to be a bee in the picture, it had to come from that garden...that sort of thing. It kept me focused in a good way. One day Jane texted that the blueberries were ripe, but when I got there, a few days before the Fourth of July, I was really struck by the shapes of the allium and the clematis. So I went back on the 4th, picked these flowers, ate my fill of berries, and then made this piece. You can see it in person if you find yourself in Astoria, Oregon between April 13 and June 4, at Imogen Gallery. It'll be big: 42"x60". And it will be with my other large scale archival pigment prints in a solo show.

42.5”x60” archival pigment print.

40”x 54.5” archival pigment print. On display at Imogen Gallery through June 4, 2019.

Solo exhibition at Imogen Gallery in Astoria, Oregon, through June 4, 2019. Large scale archival pigment prints.

photo courtesy Evan Schneider, copyright 2019

The caterpillars are the larval forms of the cinnabar moth, which turn out in late May then all through June at the Oregon College of Art and Craft. One day, while caterpillar wrangling, I took a walk toward the library, and was surprised to see these apples already in such full form. Not ripe yet, but so beautiful.

detail of archival pigment print, 35”x48”, Edition 1/4

on view at Imogen Gallery in Astoria, Oregon, till June 2019

With our friend Peter, looking for bugs…

At Imogen Gallery, Astoria, Oregon, through June 4, 2019.

photo courtesy Evan Schneider, copyright 2019

A few years ago, I received an email asking if I knew the variety of tomato that I had used in making a photograph that was on display at PDX. I did, because Fred and I had grown it in our garden, and I enjoyed watching it change as it ripened. It was an Indigo Rose, and it started out a dark indigo color, turning more red as it ripened, but where the stem was attached, the shady bits always stayed dark blue. I emailed the gent back, and immediately got the response that of course it was, and that he was the scientist who bred that variety! He was Dr Jim Myers at OSU Vegetable Breeding Program, and invited me to come see what else they were up to. One day, late in their harvest, I arrived for a tour with my guide, Shinji Kawaii, whose specialty of Haskap berries is whole other story. Shinji brought me to an offsite farm where grapes, berries, apples and yes, Indigo Rose tomato varieties were growing, along with acres of other wonderful stuff. I worked in a small little office where decades of seeds were stored, and made this image. Not only was it an incredible day, but I do have to say, I really love this image. Imagine this at 40" x 55" on a cotton rag paper...or just come to Imogen Gallery in Astoria, April 13-June 4, and you can actually see it like that.

A cucumber beetle has lunch.

40”x55” archival pigment print. Ed 1/3 is at Imogen Gallery through June 4, 2019

From a lovely garden in Vancouver, with spectacular old varieties of flowers that do very well indeed in the Willamette Valley. As I continue with this project, I can now look at a picture I’ve made and sort out things like, hey, that tree peony’s blossoms are gone, while the other shrub peony is in full bloom….

detail of archival pigment print on view at Imogen Gallery through June 4, 2019.

35".5” x 50”, Edition 1/4

Archival pigment print, Ed 1/2, 71.5” x 52”

After spending 10 days at Summer Lake, Oregon on an artist residency called Playa, I was finally ready to make a portrait of the place. I had put note on the community board asking for friends to collect dead insects that they had found along the way, so it was an opportunity to connect more bugs and winged insects in my work. I really loved the slow making approach to this one.

detail from large scale archival pigment print, now on view at Imogen Gallery, through June 4, 2019

In November, the Lan Su Gardens brings out their collection of old growth chrysanthemums. This image is made with some of their cultivars that are over 50 years old. With hops from another Portland garden.

On view in Portland’s sanctuary in the city, the Lan Su Chinese Garden. I am showing 30”x40” archival pigment prints in the Scholar’s Study, through July 31, 2019.

This piece is of a lotus blossom that came from the Lan Su greenhouse. How lucky am I to get to visit such places!

On view in Portland’s sanctuary in the city, the Lan Su Chinese Garden. I am showing 30”x40” archival pigment prints in the Scholar’s Study, through July 31, 2019.

This piece is of a lotus blossom that came from the Lan Su greenhouse. How lucky am I to get to visit such places!

You can see this at 40” x 50” laminated under a 1/4 inch plexiglass sheet in the front window of Pushdot Studio, in Portland. At night, it is lit so that it glows!

I went for the fritillaries, and came back with all these, from Laura and David's garden in Portland. Printed with image at 45”x55.5” on 57”x60” cotton rag paper.

Late August in Oak Grove with berries, grapes, squash and some wildlife. It’s not really a Killer Bee…but she does look rather fierce!

I was working with these spectacular purples in the form of iris, tulips, and a lilac variety called “Sensation” when Fred popped in and asked if I knew that Prince had died. So this image, 12”x12” like his record covers, is dedicated to him and his extraordinary music.

From David and Bob's garden in Oak Grove. 2015. I love the spectacular scale imposed by the tiny artichoke.

A busy still life with a bee attacking a beetle, a wasp pollinating, and a colorful beetle not really from around here. Now on view at Alchemy Jewelry in Portland, Oregon.

Imagine this piece at 50"x70". From Dave and Bob's garden in Oak Grove.

Caterpillars from the cinnabar moth, busy consuming their beloved tansy ragwort. With other invaders, blackberries, nightshade...This one, at 30”x40”, is printed on aluminum, and recently on display at 510 Museum and ARTspace in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

With dandelions, columbine, forget-me-nots, and a cabbage moth. Now on view at Alchemy Jewelry in Portland.

April in Oak Grove is mating season

With snakegrass and poppies, hellebore and dogwood, arugula and euphorbia. In the permanent collection of University of Oregon, on display at Straub Hall, at 40” x 56” as a face mounted plexiglass print.

At 16”x22”, archival pigment print on Hahnemuhle photo rag. Represented by Imogen Gallery in Astoria.

A lovely, quiet spring moment. At Imogen Gallery in Astoria, through September, 2018.

Two collectors have chosen this for their homes. One is in a bedroom, so it is the first thing she sees upon waking, and the other is in her entryway, so it is the first thing she sees upon coming home. 34” x 46”. Fabulous.

High summer in Portland, from my friend Judy's garden. With that beloved bee...

Archival pigment print in plexiglass face mount, 40"x55". Collection of PCC SE Campus permanent art collection, on display at the Student Commons. Additional editioned sizes available.

This was the first piece that I printed in large scale, 34"x46", in 2013, and it blew me away. The details! I could see things in the print I could never see in real life. Fantastic. All from our backyard in Oak Grove.

archival pigment print, 34"x44", 2013, edition of 3. 1/3 in private collection.

Recipient of Juror's Award, "All Around Oregon" at the Arts Center, Corvallis, Oregon.