News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
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Summer is winding down, but the evenings are still warm and perfect for strolling through the galleries of Sisters. This month’s Fourth Friday Artwalk is August 23, from 4 to 7 p.m. Gather your family and friends to visit the galleries for new and unique art, discussions with artists, and light refreshments. Hood Avenue Art will feature work by plein air oil artist Mike Wise, and potter Annie Dyer. Wise, born in Brooklyn, studied biological illustration at Iowa State University and earned a doctor of chiropractic medicine d... Full story
Turning a stone into a work of art is hard work. It’s dirty. It’s noisy. It can be toxic. And it’s addicting. Ask any one of the artists participating in the International Stone Carving Symposium this week at Suttle Lake Camp. The camp wrapped up with a big outdoor show of stone sculptures on Saturday. Dozens of people roamed the site, running their hands over finished work, and barely resisting the temptation to touch sculptures-in-progress, in spite of the “Do Not Touch... Full story
Landscape photographs by former Sisters resident Kirk Arton Hoover are on display in the Computer Room of Sisters Library until Aug. 21. Hoover picked up his first film camera around 1975, but he’s been taking photography a little more seriously for the past 15 years. “I think it was when digital cameras started to get better. This was what was in my heart – I captured exactly what I saw, and as cameras got better, the images got better,” he said. He currently shoot... Full story
Turning a stone into a work of art is hard work. It’s dirty. It’s noisy. It can be toxic. And it’s addicting. Ask any one of the artists participating in the International Stone Carving Symposium this week at Suttle Lake Camp. Symposium Director Doug Wiltshire said that there are between 50 and 60 sculptors at work during the annual event, sponsored by the Northwest Stone Sculptors Association (NWSSA). They hail from Washington and Oregon, from British Columbia, Italy, Germa... Full story
Summer is in full swing in Sisters, with music, art, food, and recreation around every corner. Stay in the swing by joining the Fourth Friday Artwalk through the galleries of Sisters this week, sponsored by the Sisters Arts Association. Sarah Kaufman is the featured artist at the Stitchin’ Post Fiber Arts Gallery. Her favorite technique is the age-old Folded Log Cabin, designed in new ways. Her quilts are weighty wall pieces – not so suitable for beds. Her book, “Folded Log Cabin Quilts,” is now in its third print... Full story
Clementine Hunter was a self-taught Louisiana folk artist. Born in 1886 or ’87, she lived and worked for most of her life on Melrose Plantation near Natchitoches. She made thousands of paintings that depicted flowers, religion, and plantation life in the early 1900s. Today she is considered a folk art legend, and her work is on display in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Textile artist Catherine Childress of Sisters discovered Clementi... Full story
Sunshine, blue skies and ideal temperatures made for a perfect weekend as art-loving visitors followed the blue and white signs to the Artist Studio Tour. Fields with crops growing and cows and sheep grazing made for peaceful drives to the studios outside of Sisters, while in town, art lovers walked or biked to see their favorite artists at work. This was the third annual Artist Studio Tour sponsored by the Sisters Arts Association, and the first to span two days. The weekend... Full story
Five and a half years ago, upon hearing that six horses out of the Ochoco herd near Big Summit Prairie had been shot, Carol Statton grabbed her camera and took a ride that would change her life. She and her husband, Randy, headed out toward Walton Lake, not knowing where or what she’d find. After several hours, they “came upon what I thought was a mare and a foal,” she said. “I spent so much time just watching them; at one point, I started walking backwards toward my car, st... Full story
Beth Eckert’s photo collages, hanging in the Sisters Library Computer Room this month, are happy combinations remade of photographs she took years ago. They portray her favorite things, and trace her life’s journey from New York and Vermont to Oregon. Going back to the 1970s, Beth made her living by restoring hundreds of antique quilts all over the country. There was, and still is, great value in the work only a skilled hand can do. But the hand sewing took its carpal-tunnel t... Full story
The friends and donors of Circle of Friends in Sisters stepped up to the tune of $115,000, last Thursday night at the organization’s annual fund raising dinner. Like many nonprofit organizations, Circle of Friends relies on a combination of grants and donations to fulfill its mission of making a difference in the lives of children right here in Sisters. Money raised at the fundraiser goes toward programs and operational expenses. The community donations included both the facility and the dinner for nearly 200 guests, from F... Full story
Circle of Friends in Sisters pairs adult mentors with young people. Begun eight years ago, the original intent was a long-term relationship between adult mentors and children (mentees) from kindergarten through grade 12. Circle of Friends adapts, as mentees’ siblings enter the Circle, as kids and adults move, as family situations change, and as technology broadens the scope of what needs to be known. Through growth, Circle of Friends has become an inclusive solution for any y... Full story
When Gary Hirsch was a little boy, he suffered from horrible, monster-infested nightmares – dreams so vivid they sent him knocking on his parents’ bedroom door for comfort. The monsters, he said, threatened to take him away. His father, a gentle man, took young Gary to the kitchen, made him some cinnamon toast, handed Gary some paper and pencils and asked him to draw his monsters. Then, together, they named the monsters. Gary’s dad then explained that he could just as... Full story
When Gary Hirsch was a little boy, he suffered from horrible, monster-infested nightmares – dreams so vivid they sent him knocking on his parents’ bedroom door for comfort. The monsters, he said, threatened to take him away. His father, a gentle man, took young Gary to the kitchen, made him some cinnamon toast, handed Gary some paper and pencils and asked him to draw his monsters. Then, together, they named the monsters. Gary’s dad then explained that he could just as... Full story
Last Thursday was Expo Night at Sisters Middle School. The commons and surrounding classrooms were awash in color, music, invention, and creation. The audience was students, parents, volunteers, and interested friends. The collaboration was off the charts. Involving many disciplines, the event attracted more than 100 visitors, at least doubling last year’s attendance. A bright sign welcomed all. “Don’t just walk through … stop and wonder about what you’re seeing.... Full story
Husband-and-wife painters Gordon and Kay Baker are the featured artists at Sisters Library this month. Both artists paint primarily landscapes, but their approach to art is wildly different. Kay and Gordon moved to Bend in 1995 after Gordon's retirement from a major oil company. For many years, they were active in the local arts scene, as members of Plein Air Painters of Oregon and Oil Painters of America. They showed their work at Sisters Gallery and Frame Shop from 2014 unti... Full story
The Good Day Café adjacent to Bedouin, at 143 E. Hood Ave. in Sisters, is open for business. Last May, when Harmony Thomas bought the adjacent women's boutique called Bedouin from Janet Brockway, it presented an opportunity for her husband Brian to return to his roots as a chef. The café is now open for light breakfasts and lunch five days a week, Tuesdays through Saturdays. "The name 'Good Day Café,' was Harmony's idea," Brian said. "When it comes to the front... Full story
During the past three weeks at Sisters Library, the people voted - and how they voted! This year, a record number of People's Choice ballots were turned in, each ballot listing the three favorite pieces of art in the Sisters Library Annual Art Exhibit. Friday night, the ballots were counted and the winners were announced. Two of the three winners repeated from last year, and the third was also a previous winner. Make it two in a row for artists and friends Austin James... Full story
Voting is now open for the People's Choice Awards, presented as part of the 12th annual Sisters Library Art Exhibit, sponsored by Friends of Sisters Library (FOSL). There is no financial stipend, but the friendly competition for the community favorites always spurs artists to submit some of their best work. This year's exhibit features nearly 148 pieces from 51 artists who reside in and around Sisters. The entries include photographs, paintings in oil, watercolor, and acrylic, sculpture, scratchboard, quilts, pencil... Full story
Artist Kimry Jelen has a life-long love affair with horses. At the tender age of three, while attending a local fair, she slipped away from her parents, who found her at the pony rides. By the age of five, she was visiting Galaxy, a stallion that lived on an Arabian farm, next to her grandfather's home. She recalls the following: "Galaxy was my friend. He was a national show champion, and he and I would have conversations as I fed him grasses along his horse fence. One time,... Full story
On the morning of his 69th birthday last week, Paul Alan Bennett woke up and opened a Kickstarter campaign to finance publication of "Night Skies," a book that is his legacy. Night Skies includes 48 of Bennett's night sky paintings, accompanied by poetic text. "During a childhood camping trip, I held a flashlight up to the night sky. A fellow camper told me the light from my flashlight goes on forever, as long as it doesn't hit anything. It will just go on in space. So that li... Full story
This month, prints made by three artists, each using different processes, are hanging in the Sisters Library. Katie Newton's "Lumen Landscapes" depict microcosms within the Pacific Northwest's natural beauty. Lumen printing relies on three things: physical objects, photographic paper, and the sun. The prints capture the afterimage of organic materials - pinecones, pine needles, Sitka spruce bark, ferns, branches, or blossoms - as they fall onto the photographic paper, on the... Full story
The 2019 "Oregon Wings and Feathers" calendar is coming soon to a shop near you. Wildlife Photographer Douglas Beall of Camp Sherman has assembled this year's calendar from his favorite photographs of birds taken in the past year. Beall photographs and writes the "Sisters Country Birds" feature for The Nugget. Beall donates the proceeds of sales to Turtle Ridge Wildlife Center, a nonprofit organization that provides injured and orphaned animals a second chance at life, and... Full story
Danae Bennett-Miller, bronze artist, ran her fingers through the shallow water in her worktable. Then she dipped a cup into an old turkey-roasting pan filled with melted wax and skillfully poured a curved shape into the water on the table. The cool water smoothed the side of the hot wax it touched, but sent artful bubbles and swirls to the surface. The wax took form quickly, as she lifted it from the water and shaped it into graceful curves as it cooled and hardened. This... Full story
If you've ever been to Portland's Japanese Garden, this year's MIX (Materials in the Extreme) Quilt Exhibit will evoke fond memories of tea gardens, luscious greenery, sparkling water features, and peaceful fishponds. As in past years, the MIX Quilts are on display in the Community Room of the Sisters Library throughout July. MIX members, all from the Portland area, are Lynn Anderson, Kathy Blondell, Betty Daggett, Diane Losli-Britt, Valori Chiapetta, Annette McFarlane,... Full story
One morning last week, every computer in the Sisters Library was in use. Patrons busily but quietly went about their tasks - job-hunting, researching history, or simply checking their email or Facebook. They may not have really noticed the beautiful watercolor paintings hanging right above each workstation, but the rich colors and soft textures lent an atmosphere of calm productivity to their tasks. The Friends of Sisters Library Art Committee covers the library walls with... Full story
