Artists work in the open air at vineyard

Faith Hope & Charity Vineyards hosted Art in The Vineyard last Saturday, achieving their goal of providing access to art and allowing visitors to sample wines while enjoying the delicious food available for purchase from their full menu.

Sisters Arts Association (SAA) artists showcased the fruit of their talents, offering artwork for sale. The artists’ booths were placed in different locations in the open area between vineyards and the tasting room, spaced apart with the vendors wearing facemasks for COVID-19 safety. Visitors wore masks and maintained physical distance.

Located in the scenic ranchlands of the Lower Bridge area east of Sisters, Faith Hope & Charity Vineyards and Events Center is a working vineyard with a tasting room and a venue for music events and weddings. Owned by Roger and Cindy Grossmann, the vineyards sit on 312 acres between two ridges and a canyon in Terrebonne.

“Faith Hope & Charity Vineyards is a beautiful location that just calls to an artist’s heart,” said Cindy Grossmann. “With the rolling fields, canyon and ridges rising up to the Three Sisters of the Cascade mountain range, we are a perfect location for showcasing the arts. Whether it is culinary, music, or artists using all the mediums to capture the beauty of the valley, or just inspired by the area to create art, it has been part of our identity since day one.”

She added, “We have showcased artists in painting classes and in our marketplaces held many times a year. We welcome the artist’s heart and share the large space we have with the beauty surrounding it.”

About a month before the Artist Studio Tour that was held in September, SAA member Mel Archer talked with Grossmann about doing a fall and potential spring/summer art event in the vineyard with SAA.

Archer noted, “Since the SAA has an events committee, I emailed them and asked who would like to meet with Cindy. Terri Dill-Simpson and Susie Zeitner both volunteered.”

They all met at Faith, Hope & Charity Vineyards and hammered out some rough ideas.

Dill-Simpson noted, “Cindy mentioned that we needed to boost the community spirits, give people something to do, and give artists a financial lift since most all shows and events have been canceled the last six months because of COVID-19.”

During Saturday’s art show, Faith Hope & Charity Vineyards’ marketing person, Michelle Jimenez, said, “This is our introductory art event with SAA. It works well and next time we’re going to invite other artists in and make it a larger event.”

Local artist Jim Horsley displayed some of his oil paintings that showed off his distinct representational style of the American West.

“32 Mule Hitch Combine” was painted from a 1909 black and white photo.

Horsley demonstrated his talent by painting in oils from a photograph of a buck heavy with antlers.

When asked if he sells any of his artwork online during COVID-19 he mentioned that SAA member, and Bedouin owner, Harmony Thomas has been helpful with social media.

Horsley said, “I have my artwork on Facebook, but she really got me involved as more as a business, as opposed to just social. She’s really grown her business with it.”

For Redmond resident Kathy Huntington, an exceptional watercolor artist who also creates beautiful table art, being stuck amid the pandemic is disappointing.

She said, “It’s been very stressful for me. I don’t have a website. But I’m not saying no to social media. We’ll see. Right now, I’m getting my fix from just being creative.”

Her husband Russel does woodworking and is an engineer.

“I worked for his company for a while,” Huntington said. “I was a machinery designer. It’s drafting and I started out doing electrical drawings. Then I wanted to do watercolors, so I took some lessons 12 years ago and I’ve just stayed with it.”

Cheryl Chapman of La Pine hand paints glass; she showcased her business, Silly Dog Art Glass. Her paintings reflect her passion for animals and nature, with a twist of whimsy.

“I am a glass enamel artist and have been working with glass for 30 years,” she said. “I have been painting on glass for the last 12 years using high-fire glass enamels.”

Her work is done in a reverse process and takes multiple stages of painting and firing.

“This is the only show I’ve been able to do this year, but I sell online, too, with an Etsy shop,” she said. “However, glass is one of those mediums where people like to touch it and feel it, it’s three dimensional so selling online is really hard.”

Landscape artist Patricia Kirk from Crooked River Ranch said she’s been an artist her whole life.

She said, “I only work out of my home right now painting with my oils. I have done a lot of shows in the past and they were all indoors. They’ve all been canceled. This is the first show I’ve done since early spring. I do have a website and sold a piece online. I did a commission. But I find it so hard without the shows and getting exposure.”

Local artist from Sisters, Jill Neal, known for her “Wild (Tasteful) Women,” shared a booth with her sister-in-law, Kathy Neal.

Kathy displayed her book, “Hot Dish, The Basics of Cooking: A Pin-Up Guide.” She wrote the book to help college guys who seem to have no knowledge of how to cook. Anything.

“My kids made me do it,” Kathy told The Nugget. “When they were in college, they said, ‘Mom, these kids that are rooming with us don’t know how to do anything. Cooking wise. They’re setting the house on fire.’”