News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Construction workers are remodeling the interior of the Sisters Art Works center.
Saws are buzzing and hammers are pounding at the site of Sisters Art Works, the new arts center located at the former Multnomah Publishers building on Adams Avenue in Sisters.
Frank and Kathy Deggendorfer bought the property from the City of Sisters and are in the midst of a remodeling project that will turn it into studios for artists and office space for healing practitioners and event production organizations.
The Deggendorfers’ vision is to develop the arts as an economic engine for Sisters. According to Kathy Deggendorfer, her research showed that including the “healing arts” is an essential aspect of that mission.
Jeanne Normand White, a licensed acupuncturist, has reserved five rooms in the center to provide space for practitioners of the healing arts.
“It was really critical to the whole scheme of the project that that be included,” Deggendorfer said.
White is centering the rooms’ themes around the elements of Earth, Air, Water, Wood and Fire and they will feature art appropriate to those themes.
She is recruiting tenants to share the space called 5 Elements Acupuncture & Healing Arts.
“I am starting the clinic with (a) lease format to create a space where practitioners can become established in Sisters, or if they are already established in Bend, Redmond, etc., then they can have a presence here in Sisters one or two days a week.
“As Sisters grows and there is more of a demand for practitioners’ space, 5 Elements will grow with that demand and more office space will be created across the street from the building.”
In addition to White’s acupuncture practice, several other practitioners have committed to being available at the center: Azure Karli, a naturopathic doctor; Bill Moss, a counselor; Jill McLane, a reflexologist; Michele Morseth, a Feldenkrais practitioner; Kathy Nagel, a hypotherapist; and Shara Kelly, an aesthetician.
“I would like to have more massage therapists with varied modalities, a midwife and would like to speak with anyone who has a Healing Art that would be a good addition to the clinic,” White said.
Several local artists, including John Simpkins, Paul Alan Bennett and Glen Corbett have taken space in the building and the Sisters Folk Festival and the Sisters Jazz Festival will move their offices to the site.
The Sisters Community Historical Society will also have an office in the arts center.
There will be studio space and practice rooms for music lessons and Deggendorfer hopes to accommodate a small recording studio.
Deggendorfer said she is hoping to open the center in late October and she plans to organize an event to celebrate the kickoff of the project.
For more information about 5 Elements, contact Jeanne Normand White, L.Ac., 549-6910.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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