WVC MAC Gallery shows off faculty artwork through Oct. 30

WENATCHEE — Wenatchee Valley College's art instructors are stepping out from behind the lectern and onto the gallery walls this fall.

The 2026 WVC Art Faculty Exhibition opens the 2026-27 school year at the college's MAC Gallery and continues through Oct. 30. The gallery will be open for First Friday, Oct. 2, from 5 to 7 p.m.

The group show features work in a wide range of media by art instructors Scott Bailey, Natalie Dotzauer, Arius Elvikis, Ellen Bruex, Linda Lyons, Elena Payne, Edgar Smith and Sarah Sprouse, as well as art department instructional technicians Nik Penny and Denis DuBois.

"It is an important characteristic of WVC Art Department faculty members that, in addition to being excellent, caring teachers of their disciplines, they are also high-level practitioners of their crafts," the college said in announcing the exhibition. "They teach with authority from a perspective of knowledge and experience, having developed and refined their various crafts over many years."

The work on display ranges from painting and ceramics to cyanotype, screen printing and flocked plaster.

Bailey, director of the college's art program and curator of the MAC Gallery, is showing "4,624,776," a 9-by-5-foot acrylic on wood panel. His recent paintings "attempt to render the incomprehensible through accumulations of millions of tiny bits of color," according to the college. Bailey has shown his work for more than 30 years, including more than 20 solo exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad, and was the founding board president of the North Central Washington Arts Alliance.

Dotzauer, who teaches sculpture and printmaking, contributed "Crumbs," flocked plaster castings of architectural features. Lyons, who holds an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design, is exhibiting cyanotype work. Bruex, a muralist whose most recent mural is on Orondo Avenue in downtown Wenatchee, is showing "&&&," an enamel on paper that uses language and text.

Payne, a graphic designer for nearly two decades, is showing "Geo Flowers" under her studio name, Form & Play. Sprouse, who teaches ceramics and is executive director of the Grünewald Guild, contributed "Ritual of Tenderness," a stoneware and mixed-media piece. Elvikis, who has taught design and drafting graphics at WVC for 15 years, is showing "A Manner of Annelid," ink on paper.

Smith, whose artwork has appeared on album covers for Pearl Jam and Deaf Charlie, is exhibiting "The Least Moral Army," an oil on panel.

"First, for the past 15 years, I have explored landscapes of the American West, with a particular focus on scenes of extractive industries like mining and logging," Smith said. "My aim is to portray the complicated relationship these industries have with the land and water."

He added that he has long been interested in naive art. "Using this approach, I explore political and social issues and the iconic figures associated with them," Smith said.

For more than a decade, the MAC Gallery has presented dozens of contemporary art exhibitions for students and the community. The gallery is supported in part by donations.

More information about the gallery, past exhibits and donating is available at wvc.edu/learn/programs/art.