Sisters honors local artists

A horse and rider on a frigid winter night, a Cuban tobacco farmer, some whimsical fish with faces and feathers in their fins, and a magnificent view of Steelhead Falls - all took People's Choice Awards at the 2016 Sisters Library Annual Art Exhibit.

"Ghost Rider," by Jennifer Hartwig; "Louis, the Tobacco Farmer," by Linda Hanson; "Don't Be Koi," by Steve Mathews; and "Steelhead Falls," by Randall Tillery took the four awards of equal merit this year.

All four artists are from Sisters.

More than 300 people attended Friday night's exhibit reception, sponsored by the Art Committee of Friends of the Sisters Library (FOSL). Because of a tie, this year there were four - not three - People's Choice Awards, said Zeta Seiple, chair of the art committee. There are 168 pieces by 68 local artists in the show.

Scratchboard artist Jennifer Hartwig specializes in wildlife and pet portraits. Totally self-trained, she described her winning piece as a study in shadow, adapted from a black-and-white photograph.

"There's just a suggestion of scratch, and it's the horse's breath that captivated me most," she said. "There are no faces, no cute eyes to draw you in."

Hartwig created this piece for the 2015 Country Fair at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, but in all honesty, she said, she was never truly happy with it.

For a time, it was displayed with her other work at Sisters Gallery and Frame Shop, but it did not sell, so she reclaimed it, reworked it a bit, darkened the rustic barn-board frame, and submitted it for the library show, along with a scratchboard portrait of "Logan," the Sisters Gallery mascot. Both pieces received many votes, but "Ghost Rider" won - and sold that night.

Hartwig will be the featured artist in February at The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, where she will unveil new work. She does custom scratchboard portraits, and you can see her work at scratchlife.com or on her Facebook page. Not one to rest on her laurels, she rushed home to continue work on a brand-new piece for the upcoming My Own Two Hands art auction, put on by Sisters Folk Festival.

Linda Hanson, a Leica photographer and watercolor painter, first mentioned Cuba last summer while painting in one of the cabanas outside of Clearwater Gallery. "Should I go?" she asked ... "Of course!" her friends replied. In November, she flew to Miami and then on to Havana as what proved to be the only member of a week-long Leica photography expedition.

Her tour guide was a fellow Leica photographer who arranged for comfortable hotel lodging, took Linda around Havana, and arranged side trips in a 1954 Chevrolet, restored with a diesel engine. One of those trips was to Vinales, and along the way, they spotted an interesting man by the road, and pulled off to photograph him. Louis, a tobacco farmer, was happy to show off the big barn where he hangs the tobacco leaves to cure, but his leaves had recently been shipped off to make those famous Cuban cigars.

After she returned home, Linda submitted some of her favorite shots to Leica's online LFI Magazine, which picked Louis and one other for their Mastershots Gallery. Choosing from so many photographs is difficult, but Linda saw something in the tobacco farmer, the angle of his hat, and the lighting and composition of the photo that compelled her to pick this one image for submittal to the library show.

"It was particularly touching when after the awards were announced, a woman came up to me and said this photograph reminded her of the work of Dorothea Lange," Linda said.

Lange's images of Americans during the Depression and the Dust Bowl changed the face of photography, and Linda long admired and studied Lange's work and the way she treated her subjects with respect and dignity. Hanson's work can be seen online at www.lindahansonpaintings.com.

Steve Mathews was leaving the library when he was summoned back by a friend.

"Not so fast - they are announcing the winners," someone said. Steve, a retired art educator and illustrator, who volunteers in classes at Sisters High School, had been all but certain his four-foot tall juniper slab, with its whimsical fish called "Don't Be Koi" would be overlooked in its corner perch outside Librarian Zoe Schumacher's office. Quite the opposite.

"Lots of people have stopped to look at it," Zoe said.

Mathews' award-winner is a slab of native juniper that has been finely planed to show the natural grain of the tree, complete with knotholes and whorls. He first drew the koi in felt-tip pen and filled them in with colored pencil, allowing the grain of the wood to show through. There are faces doodled into the fish heads to make them more interesting, and the fins turn into feathers and splashes of water.

Although the piece is 4 feet by 19 inches and two inches thick, it's not excessively heavy, and is completely wired for safe hanging on a wall.

Award-winning artist Randall Tillery created his painting of Steelhead Falls last summer, and submitted it to the American Impressionist Society competition. One hundred and sixty top-notch works were chosen from 1,235 submitted, and "Steelhead Falls" was among those shown at the Trailside Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Randall often paints "en plein-air" (on site, outdoors) but he painted "Steelhead Falls" from photographs he took while hiking along the Deschutes River. He loves the beauty of this area, and spends a great deal of time hiking, with the Deschutes being one of his favorite spots.

This is the second year in a row that Randall has taken one of the People's Choice awards at the library show. His paintings are shown at Clearwater Gallery, and his website is www.artbytillery.com.

Many local artists also contributed work to a silent auction, held during Friday's reception. Proceeds from that event raised almost $1,000 for FOSL. Much of the work on display in the library is still available for sale. All money raised by FOSL goes to support library programs.

The work will remain on display until February 25.