Salem Art Association Opens Downtown Project Space

SAA Project Space, an experimental venue for artists to exhibit work and engage in creative dialogue, will open this Tuesday, July 1 at 233 Commercial Street NE in downtown Salem. The space is being loaned to the Salem Art Association rent-free by Angela Jones-Sherrard until the building is leased.

The first exhibition, Here and Now, will feature work by local artists including Jonathan Bucci, Kristin Kuhns, Cynthia Herron and Bonnie Hull, among others. The show will be on view through July 13. A reception for the artists will take place during the First Wednesday on July 2; that night Project Space will be open until 8pm.

In describing the genesis of Project Space, Kathleen Dinges Rice, SAA’s Community Arts Education Director, says “Recently our galleries were closed for seismic upgrades, so we began thinking about temporary downtown exhibit space. At the same time, participants in our Artist Services Program expressed a desire for a downtown gathering place and exhibit venue to serve the needs of professional artists. We started looking for vacant buildings and SAA Project Space grew from there.”

 

Cara Baldwin, SAA’s Galleries Curator, adds “The purpose of SAA Project Space is to foster the growth of the local artist community. It’s a temporary, yet evolving space for conversation and experimentation.” 

In addition to exhibits, SAA Project Space will be used for multiple arts purposes, such as installation, performance, work space, conversation, and cross media experimentation as long as the space is available to SAA.

 

 

Programs scheduled thus far include:
Tuesday Night Drawing  – 7-9pm — informal, self-directed drawing in the company of others
Music – Tuesday, July 8, 7-9pm — Mike Nord (guitar and electronics) and Mark Powers (percussion) will be performing improvised duets.

SAA Project Space is located at 233 Commercial Street NE; hours are 12 to 6 pm Monday – Friday. For more information, visit www.salemart.org.

Keizer Art Association Launches New Web Site

The Keizer Art Association and Enid Mount Joy Gallery recently debuted a new Web site with expanded information on exhibits, classes and its sales venue, Gallery K. If you are an artist, there are a number of calls for entry on the site. Check it out here.

Two Exhibits, Two Takes on Landscape

Salem’s Hallie Ford Museum of Art is showing Michael Dailey: Color, Light, Time, and Place, an exhibition of paintings and works on paper that span a 45-year period in the life of Michael Dailey, a highly regarded Seattle painter and University of Washington professor emeritus. Dailey’s canvases, which might be described as atmospheric interpretations of the artist’s landscape, are positively luminous. His deft use of color makes them appear to glow from within. Over his career, Dailey has influenced countless numbers of young artists. Come and see why. The exhibit is on view through August 31.

While you are there, check out another landscape enthusiast who takes an entirely different approach. Adam Adam Bacher: Earth, Water, and Sky is an exhibition of color photographs by Portland’s Adam Bacher, who captures the remote alpine regions and backcountry wilderness of the western U.S. His straightforward style captures the grandeur and powerful presence of the western landscape.

Admission to Hallie Ford Museum of Art is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and students, free for children under 12. The museum is free for all on Tuesdays. Hours are Tuesday -Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday 1-5 p.m.

Weaving Wright Artist Reception June 14

An artist reception for Weaving Wright from the Garden, an exhibition of original contemporary and traditional basket designs, will take place on Saturday, June 14, 6-9pm at Gordon House.  The evening event honors the artists and their work and provides an opportunity for discussions about these unique interpretations of geometry, texture, and color using basketry methods and materials. FREE. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Gordon House is located at 879 W Main Street, Silverton. 

Art of the Garden

How often can you walk through a work of art? While some may lament this early summer weather, the cool, temperate conditions are ideal for enjoying some of the area’s most beautiful and inspiring cultivated gardens.

One of the best to start with is at Historic Deepwood Estate — a veritable garden museum, designed with “rooms,” ranging from a boxwood garden to an English tea house garden, covered arches and gazebos, ornamental gates and fences to The Rita Steiner Nature Trail weaving its way through the western border of the property toward Bush Park.

The formal gardens at Deepwood showcase the genius of landscape design team Elizabeth Lord & Edith Schryver, the Northwest’s first female landscape architecture firm. Deepwood is the only residential example of their work currently open to the public.  In the 1970s the gardens became part of the Salem parks system; today they are maintained by Deepwood’s dedicated volunteers and the Lord and Schryver Conservancy, which began preservation work in the gardens at Deepwood in 2003.

Gardens have inspired countless artists. If you would like to join them, you may want to explore one of Deepwood’s “Sketching in the Garden” sessions. According to the Deepwood Web site: “Participants will learn the basic principles of design, visual perception and organization while sketching garden plants and the landscape of Deepwood.  Using a sketchbook, we will begin with pencil and progress through a range of drawing media.  Limited to 12 per class. Cost is $40.00 plus material (approx. $20). Monday and Wednesday evening sessions are available. Click here for more info.

Early Music, Gold Diggers & Baskets

There are several art events of note in the coming week. Also a look ahead at a basket exhibit in the exquisite Gordon House.

MUSIC
On May 28 at 7:30 pm the WOU Early Music Consort will present a free concert of music of mid to late 17th century England. Composers include Locke and Purcell. The concert will be held at the Smith Music Hall on the WOU campus (345 N Monmouth Avenue). Click here for more info.

FILM
Also on May 28, at 7:00 pm the Elsinore Theatre will screen the classic film Gold Diggers of 1933, a spectacular, hallucinatory Busby Berkeley production featuring Ginger Rogers, Ruby Keeler & Dick Powell. Admission is $5. The Elsinore Theatre is located at 170 High St. SE.

LOOKING AHEAD
Don’t miss what’s sure to be an interesting survey of local basket-weaving talent. The exhibition “Weaving Wright from the Garden” at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Gordon House will feature original contemporary and traditional basket designs by the Willamette Valley Basket Weavers. Evelyn Gordon’s personal collection will also be displayed.  $2 admission. Hours are 11 am-4 pm daily. Located at 879 W Main Street in Silverton. For information call (503) 874-6006.

Sasquatch in Salem

As a child of the 70s, I was way into Bigfoot. Remember those blurry photographs of the hairy beast high-tailing it through the woods? I was transfixed. Checked out all the library books on Bigfoot and spent many an afternoon mesmerized by the idea that Bigfoot might actually be out there. In the wilds of Southern Oregon, no less.

So I was excited to hear about Pentacle Theatre’s upcoming production of Betty the Yeti, a timely Jon Klein satire wrapped in an eco-fable set in the Pacific Northwest, which according to Pentacle, “blends the very real and the not so real, with hilarious and surprising results….”

Here’s a synopsis from Doollee: “…a disgruntled logger heads for the woods after losing his job and his wife. Hounded by environmentalists, treed by his family, and baited by the lumber industry, it takes a lonely yeti to finally touch this logger’s heart. But what’s a mister to do with his myth when everyone wants her–alive or dead? With an acid wit that could strip the bark from a yew tree, Jon Klein weaves a woolly new fable about the ferocious tug of war taking place in Northwest forests.”

Betty the Yeti will run May 30 – June 21. For tickets and more information, click here.

Meet Your Maker [In Eugene] May 17

Ok, this isn’t a Salem event, but I’m posting this because my friend Keri Aronson is one of the artisans featured at this Meet Your Maker craft show. She makes cool felted items and kids t-shirts using re-purposed fabric, sweaters and towels that she finds at local thrift stores. The picture at right shows some of her fun designs.

Meet Your Maker is a group of crafters in who are holding their first event this Saturday, May 17th at Midtown Marketplace (1591 Willamette Street) in Eugene. It will be held from 6-9 pm in the dining area adjacent to the Midtown Winebar. There will be wine tasting in the wine bar and a live band in Bel Ami around 10pm after the craft show.

Sheep to Shawl Festival at Mission Mill on May 17

Be sure to check out this fantastic and FREE festival of fiber at Mission Mill Museum, this Saturday, May 17 from 10am to 4pm.  There will be music (including the New Riders of the Western Range), sheep shearing, goats, rabbits and other fiber-bearing animals, children’s crafts, a plant sale, a heritage expo and more. Local artisans will be showing off their talents with spinning, quilting, weaving and lacemaking demonstrations. Meanwhile, living history presenters will transport visitors into the past with fascinating tales of yesteryear.

Textiles are such an integral part of our lives, and for many of us, they exist as simple, functional objects. In the right hands, however, textiles can be imbued with astounding artistry and ingenuity. Kids love the tactile nature of textiles and get a kick out of learning where fibers come from. Baa baa. See you there!  

Corinne West and the Posse at Grand Theatre on June 20

Acoustic artist Corinne West and sideman Henry Nagle will perform Friday, June 20 at Salem’s historic Grand Theatre.  The music is a wonderful blend of styles that incorporates “…  a heady mix with the intensity of rock, the sincerity of country, the storytelling of bluegrass, and the wide-openness of Americana.”  Corinne’s voice carries lightning quick bluegrass lyrics with amazing clarity, beautiful folk and country ballads dripping with emotion, and instrumental breaks of excellent musicianship and chemistry with her lead guitar player, Henry Nagle. 

Support this new, downtown music venue and help establish the Grand Theater as a magnet to draw ever more fascinating  acts from all genres.

  

When: Friday, June 20 2008 7:30pm.

Where: The Grand Theatre, 191 High St  NE, Salem, OR

Cost: Advance tickets are $10.00 per person $12.00 day of the show.   To purchase in advance, contact presenter, Marc Nassar by email (blueman@teleport.com) or by calling 503-378-7704.