First Thursday Artist Reception / Show Runs Dec 1  - 18th

Artist's Statement:

"Arborous Ouroboros: Within Trees", a new body of work from Nikolos Ayres, is a collection of paintings, monoprints, and rubbings made from tree stumps and wood slabs. Ayres sometimes makes his pieces in the forest at the site of a clear-cut. He also collaborates with local Portland arborists at Urban Timber Tree Service to glean slabs from trees they have removed for homeowners. Ayres carves, sands, burns, and brushes the slabs in his workshop before making his prints and rubbings. His pieces show the lifetime of the trees from the inside. Weather patterns, levels of health, events in history, atmospheric conditions are all apparent in the images made from direct contact with the growth rings in the wood. Blending dendrochronology with visual art, Ayres' pieces serve as a sort of memorial, visual records of a lifetime, symbols of impermanence and the eternal cycle of death and rebirth.