News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
JoEllyn Loehr will see her work featured in a U.S. Embassy exhibit in Nigeria.photo provided
Sisters artist JoEllyn Loehr has a new audience for her bold, colorful abstract paintings.
Curators with the Art in Embassies program at the U.S. Department of State have selected Loehr's work to exhibit in the capital city of Abuja, Nigeria. Six of her large abstract oil paintings will go on display at the residence of the U.S. ambassador in a show spanning two years.
Loehr told The Nugget that she discovered the program online and "I thought, well, I'll investigate it a little bit."
Artists were requested to upload images of their work, and Loehr uploaded just a few before "I was interrupted and never went back to it... I kind of forgot about it."
The works she submitted made an impression though, and she was selected.
The current ambassador to Nigeria, Terence P. McCulley, is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and a native Oregonian. Born in Medford, he grew up in Eugene, graduated from the University of Oregon, and studied political science at the Université de Haute Bretagne in Rennes, France. It was McCulley's idea to feature Oregon artists in this exhibit.
JoEllyn Loehr holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from the Pacific Northwest School of Art in Portland, and has lived and worked in Sisters since 2002.
The artist moved into fine art after a career as a graphic artist.
"I kind of went into it (graphic arts) knowing I wanted to be an artist," she told The Nugget. "But I thought I needed to do something to make a living."
As for many artists, the call persisted.
"I decided time's a-wasting," she said. She went to school and graduated at 52.
"It was a late-in-life decision and it was the right decision to make," she said.
Loehr's work is abstract, and she loves the freedom of that mode of creation.
"I can invent the game as I go along," she said.
Abstract art, however, is not necessarily an easy sell in Central Oregon, where more representational art holds sway. Still, Loehr has had success through showing at Black Butte Ranch and the annual art show held in August at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration.
She noted that one of her image/inspiration sources has been the quilts from Gee's Bend.
"One of my paintings is named Gee's Bend, and is based on the very abstract designs and colors of those quilts blended - loosely - with a topographical view of the landscape at Gee's Bend that has led to their isolation."
Loehr's work is in collections worldwide, and she recently completed a commission for the executive offices of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas in Houston. She is a member of Blackfish Gallery in Portland (www.blackfish.com).
The artist is excited to be part of the Art in Embassies program.
"Art changes how we see and how we connect. I'm thrilled to participate in this international program," she says. "It's vicarious travel for me. To be part of a global conversation involving art has always been a dream of mine."
The Art in Embassies (AiE) program was established in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy and currently provides art to over 200 U.S. consulates, official residences, and embassies. AiE curators work with artists, museums, collectors, universities, galleries, and foundations worldwide. They choose art that is relevant for the intended audience and that highlights the cultural exchange mission of the U.S. Department of State.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says, "this program play(s) an ambassadorial role as important as that served by traditional diplomacy. Connecting people to people through the visual arts advances freedom of expression and invites an exchange of ideas . . . Every exhibition reminds us of the diversity of mankind and the values that bind us together."
For more information on JoEllyn Loehr's work visit http://www.loehrdesign.com.
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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