Show draws upbeat Art Beat crowd

In typical Sisters fashion, an exuberant crowd turned out to support Oregon Public Broadcasting Thursday night at Sisters Movie House and Thyme Restaurant.

The after-party at Thyme rolled right on past the witching hour with a high-octane, all-star jam session of local musicians including Brad Tisdel, Brent Allen, Dennis McGregor, Beth Wood and others, providing a tapestry of infectious tunes to entertain new friends and colleagues.

It reinforced the complementary bond between the Central Oregon artistic community and underscored the evolving relationship with OPB in ways that will reverberate into a promising future partnership.

The evening began with two screenings of a special retrospective of clips from Oregon Art Beat programs over the years, showcasing local artists. It sped through 25 engaging minutes of memorable profiles, reminding everyone of the incredible diversity and talent assembled amid our high desert home. Cheers, laughs and applause accompanied each segment as the audience recognized neighbors and fellow artists.

Bend twin sisters Lori and Lisa Lubbesmeyer were some of the artists shown in the compilation film. The fiber-artists who create vivid wall hangings with Central Oregon images were all smiles as they shook hands and enjoyed the film and Beth Wood's music.

"The concept of the film is fantastic," said Lisa. "There's some pretty phenomenal artists in this community and to pull it all together like this is great. The segment originally aired five years ago and it's surprising how many people still visit us at our studio and recognize us from that piece. It's a powerful program."

OPB has produced segments on more than 40 Central Oregon artists, and the film combines many of the staff's personal favorites, from Steve Henderson of Breedlove Guitars to Sisters events poster artist extraordinaire, Dennis McGregor to local Hawaiian crooner Bill Keale.

Oregon Art Beat hosts Jeff Douglas and KC Cowan introduced the film and thanked everyone for their support.

"I love coming to Sisters, it's almost like a homecoming to me," said Douglas. "I was given this show 11 years ago and knew nothing about art and came here to the Sisters Folk Festival the first season and was shown the ropes. I'll always have a special place for Sisters."

Eugene singer Beth Wood charmed the crowd with a set of soaring vocals and inspired songs that left no doubt as to why she was the 2006 winner of Sisters Folk Festival's Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Contest. The Art Beat crew's cameras captured the rousing performance for an upcoming segment.

"This is my first time playing in a movie theater, so I wanted to start out with a loud song to compete with Ironman 2," Wood joked.

During a spiritual singalong, Wood laughed with the crowd's reluctance to join in.

"Remember, there are no wrong notes, just better choices. We're all friends here."

After the music, Brad Tisdel and Dennis McGregor unveiled the 2010 Sisters Folk Festival poster designed by McGregor depicting local musician Peter Heithoff in suit and tie playing standup base before the snowcapped Sisters peaks.

Cheryl Ikemiya, in charge of Donor Circles at OPB, explained the synchronicity she is trying to form between OPB and the various communities it serves.

"We want to be more inclusive and deliver quality programming to the entire region that remains relevant," said Ikemiya. "Having David Nogueras, our producer/reporter based right in Bend makes that happen."

Lisa Clausen was pleased with the event and how smoothly it all came together.

"The OPB people have tremendous experience in these things and gave us all the technical parameters in advance so it made our job easy," she said. "It was a blast."

Artist Steve Frandsen reflected on the evening's affairs.

"It's the location that brought us to Central Oregon. The mountains and clean air and water and the community we created. The artists showed up and bonded with the land and the local community. In the beginning it was like Paris in its heyday. It was like magic. We were all drawn to the place."