News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sorted by date Results 1 - 14 of 14
A rock wallaby atop the boulder pile we were halfway up ignored us. Humans move clumsily on furniture-sized stones by comparison, so it kept ambling along despite being 40 feet away. The encounter had little effect on us as well. Commanding our attention were incredibly ancient images right before our eyes, meticulously chiseled into rock, and local authority Graham offered insights: “Could this be some sort of abstract portrayal known only to its creator or might it r... Full story
The moon landings were staged; the earth is flat; Hitler escaped to Argentina. Learning “the news” each day while growing up in a city within the heartland of America during the ’60s and ’70s occurred in one of two ways: At 6 p.m. the local news came on followed by the national news of CBS, NBC, or ABC. The other possibility for news came with the city’s morning newspaper or its afternoon edition. The news industry of the day investigated events on the ground with field reporters, who attempted to find out or uncover f... Full story
The camera’s fall, towards the lioness’s head instantly created empty space between her eyes and mine, causing the raw magnitude of the moment to somehow leap up yet another level. Her head snapped an inch to the side in response to the camera bouncing at the end of its strap, which encircled my neck. Absentmindedly, maybe out of habit, I had slung it over my head before standing up and that might very well have saved my life. The little twists and turns of the swaying cam... Full story
A few rules for riding in an open-air vehicle during a safari in Africa are: 1. Stay in the vehicle until the guide says it’s okay to get out for a break. 2. When parked for photographs, never stand up in the presence of lions. 3. Never ever extend a hand beyond the side of the vehicle in the presence of any predator. Simple. But new rules can be forgotten in the excitement of the moment. For a few of us I guess, the more exciting the moment, the easier it becomes to f... Full story
The young British woman sitting next to me in the dark was on her honeymoon and wouldn’t leave me alone. Clutching my arm and groaning, she was absolutely ruining the moment. I felt anger rising within and turned to confront her, breaking my absolute focus on the three lionesses beginning to probe and test the young adult hippopotamus they’d happened upon in the open. Impala and puku also watched those proceedings 40 yards away. I snapped my head around, looked straight int... Full story
(This is the second of a two-part reflection on Sisters art gallery proprietor Chris Morin’s visit to the cradle of Western civilization). Greece embraces mythology as perhaps no other nation does. When 25 percent of your people are employed in the tourist industry and 20 percent of the GDP comes from tourist dollars, presenting Zeus and his family along with monolithic marble columns front and center becomes a necessity. People no longer travel here or anywhere on vacation t... Full story
This is the first of a two-part reflection on Sisters art gallery proprietor Chris Morin’s visit to the cradle of Western Civilization. “How will our most positive efforts be regarded in just a few generations? Will anyone remember me 50 years from now?” Unanticipated questions burst into my consciousness. After 45 minutes of hiking through avenues, neighborhoods, and back streets of Athens, Greece, I’ve arrived at a one-acre, long-abandoned attempt of a tree-ringed park. N... Full story
The occasional sound of car tires ambling across the one-lane cobbled street during the night reverberates up densely packed three- and four-story walls of old stone buildings, but this noise fails to rouse us. We’re deep within a substantial jet-lag slumber. High-pitched citywide bullhorns suddenly trumpeting an old man’s pleading sing-song voice, imploring the faithful to come pray at the nearby mosque at 6 a.m. absolutely rousts us. Two floors above our room, upon the gla... Full story
The “modern” appearance of many Native American artists’ paintings can cause viewers to construe incorrect perceptions about its “Native-ness.” Paintings that are oil on canvas, for instance, give the impression of a European genre. Yet, paintings have a distinct artistic lineage for North American tribes. The First Peoples of North America painted on rock walls for millenniums, leaving behind tens of thousands of still-existing pictographs. At some point, early Native Americans also began painting on animal skin, sometimes... Full story
Small towns in America typically aren't associated with art. Their identity is usually based on one of the following: remote location; nearby job-related industry such as agriculture, mining, ranching, logging, commercial fishing, or manufacturing; serving as a bedroom community to a nearby larger town. When the identity shifts, due to loss of the original causation, the town will wallow and gradually stagnate, or it might attempt to gain a new identity, which carries a certain risk. Small towns that are art destinations... Full story
Erin Thompson serves as an art professor at John Jay College, City University of New York. She has written that for most art buyers "... art is a means to create and strengthen social bonds, and a way for collectors to communicate information about themselves and the world within these networks ... art can send a message about who the collector really is - or at least who the person sees themself as being." The oil tycoon and billionaire J. Paul Getty poured millions of dollars into art. He fluently spoke eight languages.... Full story
Society has mostly concluded that the meaning a work of art has is primarily whatever it means to the person owning it. If the work resides within a museum or is public art, then the person viewing it determines the meaning. What the artist felt and thought when creating the work or what an art critic/expert might claim it means is not given precedence for determining the aesthetic qualities. This development in how to consider the meaning of art is rather recent, however, as the long history of art meaning and art... Full story
Jim Cornelius wrote about "political correctness" in an opinion piece last week. And within that, he discussed taking a course in college regarding Native American History while at UC-Santa Cruz. Given that my wife and I own the only brick-and-mortar Native American Art Gallery in Oregon, I feel compelled to offer a follow-up letter to Jim's piece. Jim stated that he did not agree with the ideological thrust, presented within this particular history class, that Native Americans were "victims," and white settlers were... Full story
Discussing an unfamiliar subject without background, Zuni artwork for instance, is like telling a newcomer from the Amazon about powder conditions on Hoodoo and snowboarding. Art or an exotic outdoor event can be a portal for visualizing the beyond - but only if context about what's viewed is provided. There are times, however, when contextual facts are sparse, as is the case with both the history and culture of the Zuni Pueblo. This type of paradigm then offers something... Full story
