2023
2022
“Joel’s Skagit – A restoration of the Brock vision”
2022 Smith & Vallee Gallery Series
If you experienced a Joel Brock studio visit, you may recall photographs of sloughs, skies,
and farmland strewn across surfaces and stacked in his map chest drawers. Since his passing, these stacks have become precious, preserving images of Skagit Valley as he saw it.
As his daughter, I was inspired to breathe life back into the Brock vision. Once I began
pursuing painting in school, my dad and I dreamed about someday having a show together.
Eight years after his passing, it was time to create that collaboration in whatever way I could.
The process has been delicate not only because they are his images, but they are also his memories. An inspiring light floods the valley, dad hops in his Toyota pick-up and cruises the backroads to take reference photos for future paintings. These photographs are stories. Stories of how the land communicates with the sky and the water, blanketed by the color of the day. Stories that dad wanted to tell through paint.
We all hold this Northwest pocket dear and creating this series was a special way for Joel and me to celebrate it together. These paintings are a love letter to Skagit Valley and a thank you letter to dad.
