EDMONDS — There’s cute Clementine.
Cool dude Blake with the dark shades.
Margie the “Chicken Lady” and her feathered friend Chloe. Pig-tailed Lila.
Mayor Dave Earling. Travel guru Rick Steves.
These are among the 46 faces of Edmonds painted by artist Pam Ingalls. The new exhibit, “Facing Edmonds,” runs through March 12 at Cole Gallery.
“It’s a combination of people recognized easily and also people who are random,” Ingalls said.
Most faces were chosen from about 80 people who came into the gallery in December and sat for 2-minute video sessions with Ingalls, who lives on Vashon Island and is represented by Cole Gallery.
“I like doing it from video,” Ingalls said. “I can pick the expression and stop the frame. You have that same smile you had from when you were 5.”
Gallery owner Denise Cole had her doubts when Ingalls suggested soliciting subjects for a show.
“I was a little dubious,” Cole said. “Do you think people want to be painted? Will they show up?”
Ingalls did three sessions to video possible subjects, who were recruited into the gallery by Facebook posts and her cousin in Edmonds. “She went out on the street and told people, ‘You have to try this.’ ”
There was no guarantee or pay. Those selected get a free print. The oil paintings are for sale. “Clementine,” 10 by 8, is $1,450. “Blake,” 12 by 9, is $1,700. “Rick,” 14 by 11, is $2,300. “Lila,” 5 by 3, is $600.
“I like to paint portraits,” Ingalls said. “Painting connects people a different way than a photograph. It’s something more than what you see in a photograph. It has been gratifying to get to know people in other communities.”
Ingalls started doing the community paintings 10 years ago on Vashon Island.
“I painted 50 portraits,” she said. “The lady who has the pet store, the dry cleaners. The people you see all the time.”
She has since painted the faces of people in places as far flung as India, Africa and New Zealand.
“I painted people in one apartment building in New York City,” she said. That meant chatting up residents in the elevator.
“I had to explain what I was doing. Sometimes they said yes and sometimes they didn’t want to talk to me.”
She sees similarities between Edmonds and Vashon Island.
“Both have strong arts community, artists and musicians,” she said. “They are so supportive of the arts.”
A current project is a show with the faces of Vashon teenagers.
Ingalls, a Spokane native, was inspired by her artistic parents, Richard and Marjorie Ingalls. She earned an art degree from the art department that her father began at Gonzaga University. She studied art at the Accademia Di Belle Arti in Florence, Italy.
She moved to Vashon 30 years ago.
“I live in my studio, a funky place where I teach workshops once in a while,” she said.
Cole met her when she took a class of hers.
“I am a fan and fell in love with her painting style,” Cole said. “When I opened my gallery, I wanted to represent her. She is the pinnacle.”
Ingalls has had exhibits worldwide.
“At most galleries I’m known for interior scenes and Italian simple things, everyday stuff,” she said.
A table with chairs, a diner counter top, rubber boots standing by a kitchen door, a clawfoot tub.
How long does it take her to do a portrait?
“You get faster as you get going. I work better under a deadline,” she said. “I’m tired, but I’m happy.”
She is open to painting another community of faces, but encourages others to pick up the brush.
“It would be a neat thing if lots of artists painted portraits of people in their community,” she said. “I don’t have to do them all.”
Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.
If you go
“Facing Edmonds” runs through March 12 at Cole Gallery, 107 Fifth Ave. S., Edmonds.
Hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
More at www.pamingalls.com and www.colegallery.net.
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