Marie and Randy Powell have operated an art gallery for 30 years. First called the Shoalwater Cove Gallery and located along Willapa Bay, the gallery moved to Ilwaco in 2002 as the Marie Powell Gallery.

Marie Powell loves color: bright and vivid color. Her vibrant canvases, displayed on the Ilwaco waterfront, are bound to brighten even the gloomiest days.

This summer, Powell will celebrate 30 years of gallery ownership. In 1993, she and her husband, Randy Powell, opened the 120-square-foot Shoalwater Cove Gallery next to their home on Willapa Bay. They also opened a frame shop next to the gallery — which Randy learned he was supposed to operate.

“We were married and as soon as the wedding was over, Marie looks at me and says, ‘Well, you’re the new framer,’ Randy recalled. “It took me two years to get into it.”

The gallery features Marie’s works, which combine collage, printmaking and various mediums, including oil, acrylic, watercolor and soft pastels.

Several changes have occurred over the past 30 years — the Powells combined the original gallery with a second and moved them to the Port of Ilwaco in 2002. They also changed the business name to the Marie Powell Gallery.

But some things remained: Marie’s works still brighten the walls, and many of the gallery’s original customers, who used to drive through the Willapa Bay woods to see Marie and Randy, now travel to Ilwaco.

“That’s what we really enjoyed about having the gallery for 30 years — meeting all the people. We’ve made some good friends, acquaintances and customers who come back year after year to support the gallery,” Marie said. “It has been a good time.”

The art market 30 years ago was so good, she said, that they couldn’t keep up in such a small, remote space. Sales continued to be good after the move to the larger gallery in Ilwaco.

“My goal has always been to be regionally known, and that has happened pretty much,” she said. Many customers come from Portland and Seattle.

But when the 2008 recession hit, the market changed. Shops surrounding the gallery closed. Marie and Randy downsized the gallery, moving from their larger space to their current cozier space.

They once represented 25 artists; now, in addition to Marie’s work, they carry only the pottery of David Campiche and beach baskets by Susan Spence, both local artists.

“We downsized, and we own the building,” Marie said. She and Randy live above the gallery and rent spaces in the building to a yoga instructor, jewelry maker and massage therapist. “We have no debt, and we stopped having employees. Randy and I do all the work,” she said.

Marie creates art about six hours a day, while Randy manages the gallery and continues to frame her canvases.

Business has slowly expanded on the Ilwaco waterfront. During the coronavirus pandemic, the gallery experienced a surge in activity.

“It was amazing,” Marie said. “People were decorating their homes and remodeling, and they bought a lot of art from us.”

The inspiration for Marie’s florals, landscapes and seascapes comes from the local environment and from New Zealand, where they live four months a year.

After teaching high school for 19 years, Marie started in the early 1990s as a soft pastel artist, then transferred into printmaking, studying under the late printmaker Royal Nebeker.

Now, she does mixed media on canvas by combining painting with printing. She makes her prints on thin rice paper and collages those onto canvas, then paints over and around them.

“I’m always trying new things,” she said. “Right now, I’m doing more abstract works with my monotypes. I started working on larger canvases, and I’d like to work on even larger canvases.”

Visitors to the gallery usually comment about the colors in her work, Marie said. “They’re pretty impressed with the intense color that I use, and the color contrast.”

They also comment about the comfortable feel of the gallery, with a couch, two chairs and a view overlooking the Ilwaco marina.

“It’s our living room,” Randy said. “If someone wants to sit and look at a painting for a while, they’re welcome to do it.”

Marie Powell Gallery

177 Howerton Ave., No. 9088, Ilwaco

Open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays

www.marie-powell.com