People's Choice winners named at library exhibit

During the past three weeks at Sisters Library, the people voted - and how they voted! This year, a record number of People's Choice ballots were turned in, each ballot listing the three favorite pieces of art in the Sisters Library Annual Art Exhibit. Friday night, the ballots were counted and the winners were announced. Two of the three winners repeated from last year, and the third was also a previous winner.

Make it two in a row for artists and friends Austin James Jackson and Steve Mathews, both of Tollgate in Sisters. Jackson, 20, a self-made landscape photographer, is a senior at Portland State University; and Mathews, 76, a professional artist and retired teacher, also earned ribbons in last year's exhibit. This year's third award winner is Charles H. "Chuck" Chamberlain of Bend, a landscape artist who works in acrylics.

Mathews' winning entry is called "So It Went For the Duck." It is a four-foot tall juniper slab inscribed with wildlife of all sorts. The duck is somewhere - yes - peeking out from behind a gnarly branch. Look closely and you may even spot Waldo, of "Where's Waldo" fame, among the collection of ravens, raccoons, and ...?

Jackson's photograph, "Sunrise Before the Storm," is a shot from the Enchantments, in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness in the Stuart Range, about 15 miles from Leavenworth, Washington. It's an area of lakes and tarns and jagged peaks, the most prominent being Prusik Peak, which Jackson captured in his shot. The range is sometimes regarded as one of the most spectacular in the Washington Cascades. Taken during a four-day wilderness camping trip, Jackson's photograph depicts a lake surrounded by sharp peaks just as the sun is cracking over the horizon. Rocks in the foreground frame the lake, which reflects the color of the rising sun.

"Twenty-four hours later," Jackson said, "there was eight inches of snow at the same spot."

The large photograph, printed on metal, is hung unframed in the center of the largest wall in the Library's Community Room.

Chamberlain's winning painting, "Not A Single Leaf," depicts a small grove of aspens in very late fall, barren of every branch. The painting is positioned off-center in a large rustic metal frame that the artist "found for three dollars at a Bend High School yard sale."

"The painting was three times this size, but I cut it down to fit into this frame," Chamberlain said.

Like Jackson's photograph, Chamberlain's painting depicts a landscape waiting for the season's first snow to cover the tailings of a stormy fall. The frame accentuates the mood.

The Art Committee of the Friends of Sisters Library (FOSL) organizes the annual exhibit. This year, the exhibit includes 148 pieces of two- and three-dimensional art, by 68 artists. More than a hundred people dropped by on Friday night for the reception, to view the art, cast their ballots, and visit with the artists.

This is the seventh year for the People's Choice Award said Zeta Seiple, chair of the Friends of Sisters Library Art Committee. Before announcing the winners, she thanked the many artists who participate in the show each year, and the many who visited the library in the past three weeks to vote and the Renaissance Sisters, a chamber group led by Lola Knox, who provide an elegant musical backdrop.

The exhibit continues through February 22. Some of the two- and three-dimensional artwork is still available for purchase, and FOSL receives 10 percent of the purchase price. To indicate a desire to purchase, fill out one of the forms located on the table near the entry of the Community Room. Library hours are Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.