News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Jim Horsley was one of several artists at work during the event.
Fall was in the air at Black Butte Ranch (BBR) last Saturday, as artists and patrons enjoyed the annual Art at the Ranch event on the promenade beside the Lakeside Bistro.
The crisp day offered up blue skies and beauty clouds - a perfect setting for the event's plein air painting program, which featured a number of noted local artists.
The conditions were beautiful, but a touch challenging.
"It was cold this morning," said Jo Ann Burgess as she worked in pastels on the grass near Lake Phalarope. "We started at eight o'clock."
Burgess donned gloves to keep her fingers warm and nimble. By late morning, she was working on her second piece of the day.
Artists were stationed all around the lake, capturing the iconic BBR viewscape in oils, acrylics and pastels.
At the same time, a variety of artists and crafters displayed their work in booths - jewelry-makers, woodcrafters, instrument-makers... all kinds of media were represented.
Bentworx out of Tumalo displayed unique wood art, while Bill MacDonald and David Perkins manned a booth full of ukuleles in various stages of completion, up to and including finished instruments ready to play.
Music was a part of the event, with Marv and Rindy Ross playing under a tent on the grass.
Mary Jo Weiss of Josepha Fine Art Jewelry displayed her work, including what she called a "fertility necklace" crafted around a Chinese coin. The piece has a striking history: Weiss got pregnant while working on it. Then her brother jokingly rubbed it on his chest - "and his girlfriend was pregnant within two weeks. We put it in a safe deposit box for a while."
The piece was back out for Art at the Ranch, with art patrons admiring it - from a safe distance.
BBR Art Guild Treasurer Isolde Hedemark told The Nugget that all of the items in the Art at the Ranch silent auction had sold - and there were some bare spaces on the walls in the lodge where the event's running art show had been underway.
Proceeds from sales fund scholarships for Sisters High School and Sisters Middle School students (Sisters Elementary School receives funding from a separate fundraiser associated with the Ranch's quilt show).
"I would think this year we're going to raise about $8,000," Hedemark told The Nugget. "Our distribution to the high school and the middle school will come out of that and out of our reserves."
Passing the torch to the next generations is part of the ethic of the show. A children's painting workshop Saturday afternoon was taught by Rachel Lovegren.
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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