Pairing art, wine, and food in Sisters event series

Makin’ it Local will feature three Central and Eastern Oregon artists in art, wine, and food pairing receptions scheduled through the month of November.

Artist parings include Raku pottery from Terri Axness / Muddy Creek Studio (Haines), newly released fine art prints by Susan Luckey Higdon (Bend)  and Kathy Deggendorfer (Sisters). All pairings and receptions feature Oregon wines curated by Mark Clemens of Friends and Vine, (@friends_and_vine Sisters, Oregon) and feature Alexana Vineyard (Pinot Noir), Resonance Vineyard (Chardonnay), Rex Hill Vineyard (Chardonnay), and more.

Hors d’oeuvres, Oregon wine, beer, and Makin’ it Local’s “famous” gingersnap cookies will be served.

Terri Axness is a retired teacher, painter, and potter known for her diverse work. She was raised in Baker City, Oregon. Terri received her BA from the University of Oregon and her MS in Education from Eastern Oregon University and taught art in public schools for over 30 years. She works in acrylic, oil, pencil, watercolor, and clay, capturing a wide variety of subject matter from the serious to the whimsical. 

Axness fires in electric and gas kilns in her ceramic studio, showcasing her thrown and hand-built ceramics.  Her love of design and a lifetime of experience in different media allows Terri to produce unique and collectible works.  Her work is exhibited in galleries in Oregon and Washington and can be found in collections throughout the United States and Europe.

A lifelong Oregonian, Susan Luckey Higdon is well-known for capturing the essence of Oregon’s dramatic landscapes, from mountain peaks to wild rivers, especially the high Cascade lakes and streams. Her paintings depict the complex interactions of color and pattern in what she describes as natural abstractions. 

“Color, light, texture, shapes...I want to communicate what I see in a way that captures the spirit of the place, showing accurate mood and detail, but working toward simplicity,” she said.

 Over 30 years ago, Luckey Higdon began painting with soft pastels in stolen moments while working full-time as a graphic designer in an advertising agency and raising two young children. Her motivation was to do something completely creative for herself, working intuitively and moving color around for sheer joy. 

In the beginning, because she didn’t have a studio, Luckey Higdon used soft pastels because of the pure, vivid colors, which gave immediate, gratifying results. They also fit her method of laying colors next to each other to play upon each other rather than blending. Later, moving to acrylics allowed her to work larger and removed the need for glass over the artwork. She developed a technique of using acrylic paints on cradled birch board, adding thick color, and then rubbing it off. Scratching and working the medium quickly to achieve an impressionistic effect with rich depth, building up layers, and adding detail, the final image emerges. 

A founding member of Tumalo Art Co., an artist-run gallery in Bend, Oregon’s Old Mill District in its 20th year, Luckey Higdon was the signature artist for the Deschutes River Conservancy’s RiverFeast event for 11 years and has been featured in Italian flyfishing magazine H2O, Bend Magazine, and a segment on OPB’s Oregon Art Beat, among others. She is an invited artist to the High Desert Museum’s prestigious juried, annual exhibit Art in the West. Her underwater fish series was displayed in McCormick & Schmick restaurants across the country, and a long list of images have been installed in corporate settings and medical centers. Her paintings have been juried into prestigious shows like the Pastel 100 and by jurors such as Wolf Kahn and are collected widely. Her greeting card line, which began in 2000 and features panoramic views of iconic Central Oregon scenes, is still available throughout the area.

Kathy Deggendorfer lives on a cattle and hay ranch just outside of Sisters. Inspired by her surroundings’ color and texture, her vibrant and colorful watercolor paintings are whimsical representations of ranch life, her travels, and the environment.

Deggendorfer’s paintings are often referred to as “Painter’s Quilts.” Deggendorfer was chosen to create the 2007, 2011, 2012, 2016, and 2019 Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show Posters. Her work has been translated into quilting fabrics in collections by In The Beginning Fabrics, Maywood Studios, and FreeSpirit Fabrics. Rich with color and pattern, Deggendorfer’s work is collected throughout the Pacific Northwest. In 2008, Deggendorfer was selected to create the Oregon State Ornament for the White House Christmas Tree, and in 2009 was a featured artist on Oregon Art Beat. Her image “Coming Home” was featured on the cover of the 2010 OPB calendar. In 2014, Kathy’s work was honored in a one-person show at the High Desert Museum in Bend. This exhibit continues to travel to museums around Oregon. It includes shows at the Oregon Historical Society Museum in Portland, the Columbia River Discovery Center Museum, and the Baker City Museum. In collaboration with Kibak Tile of Sisters, Deggendorfer creates handprinted tile murals for installation in public and private settings.

Her work is included in the permanent collections at Roberts Field Municipal Airport, Brasada Ranch Resort, Mahonia Hall ( The Oregon Governor’s mansion), OHSU Casey Eye Institute, OSU Cascades Campus, St Charles Hospital Cancer Center, City of Sisters Fir Street Park, Peace Health Hospital in Longview, Washington, and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, as well as many private collections.

Makin’ It Local is located at 281 W. Cascade Ave.