Arts association celebrates launch

The secret is out - Sisters is an arts town. The arts - from fine arts to music to the kind of art produced in a kitchen - not only form the backbone of local culture, they drive the local economy.

The newly minted Sisters Arts Association is dedicated to bringing artists from all media and all levels of commercial engagement together "to provide its members with a unified voice for promotion of the arts, and to create a spirit of cooperation and fellowship among artists and the community," as its mission statement avers.

"The vision for the Sisters Arts Association began with recognition of the Hood Avenue Arts District by OTE, Oregon Travel Experience," founders Dennis Schmidling and Bob Burgess explained in a written statement. "The Arts District began to draw support from the City of Sisters and the Chamber of Commerce. Additional support came through a resurgence of vitality among businesses situated on Hood Avenue. But interest quickly spread beyond Hood Avenue into the community at large."

The fledgling organization will take wing on Friday, May 22, 5 p.m., with a kickoff celebration at Ken Scott's Imagination Gallery at 222 W. Hood Ave.

The event is a kind of "soft opening" for the Hood Avenue Arts District and is being held in conjunction with Cascade A&E's 20th anniversary celebration.

"Even though it's a Fourth Friday, all the gallery owners will show up there," said Schmidling, who operates Sisters Gallery & Frame Shop with his wife, Helen. "It'll hopefully alert the community to something new going on."

While the Sisters Arts Association obviously includes Sisters' many galleries, it's not a gallery association.

"It's about artists," Schmidling said. "It'll include artists in a broad range."

That includes artists who have a low profile in Sisters Country but market their work nationally and internationally. And it includes emerging artists.

"That would include students," Schmidling said. "We're hoping to spotlight students with talent here."

Burgess emphasized the broad consideration of art. For example, he noted "we've got some incredible chefs here." Some of them have expressed interest in teaching their art through workshops.

The new association will work on issues in the community that effect and are acted upon by the arts, all for the betterment of the Sisters community at large.

"It's a whole system," Burgess said. "You bring in more people (for arts events), guess what - you need more lodging."

Schmidling and Burgess noted that the association is not designed to duplicate efforts or to create competition with events and activities that are already

established.

"Our mission is to add legs to what's already been accomplished," he said.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

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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