News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Ken Scott’s Imagination hosted a launch party for Sisters Arts Association.
Artists know how to throw a party: A beautiful location, some good food, some quality music and convivial company and you're good to go.
Sisters Arts Association (SAA) celebrated its launch last Friday with just such a party, at Ken Scott's Imagination Gallery. The event also served as the start of a Fourth Friday art stroll and a 20th anniversary celebration for Cascade A&E newspaper.
Ken Scott welcomed the large crowd. The sculptor noted that, like all pursuits, the most significant creative act is always simply showing up for the work. And, he said, "what we've done tonight is a simple thing: We showed up."
The SAA is all about the arts community coming together - artists of all stripes, gallery owners, patrons - to show up for each other, to support each other in further developing a vibrant arts community.
The kind of partnership the association cultivates was on display at the launch party. The music was supplied by Sisters Folk Festival (SFF) and featured Brad Tisdel, Patrick Pearsall, and Jim Goodwin.
SFF Managing Director Ann Richardson spoke to the broader significance of the arts community to the community at large.
"We all are here because we know and believe that a vibrant arts economy is super important for Sisters," she said.
She noted that major arts-related events - the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, the Sisters Folk Festival - bring many people to Sisters. However, she said, "Sisters Arts Association is going to bring people here every single day of the year. I see nothing but success for the Sisters Arts Association."
Dennis Schmidling, co-founder and vice president of SAA, unveiled the association's first project - a map of Sisters galleries.
"We have 19 galleries here," he announced, to cheers from the crowd.
The launch of SAA marks a milestone moment in Sisters' evolution, Schmidling believes.
"The fabric of this town is really changing," he said. "We're turning a new chapter in Sisters."
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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