Saturday, December 12, 2015

Just in Time for the Holidays: December Artist and Gallery Sales.



Annie Salness


If you’re tired of the traffic and the crowds, here’s a solution: shop artist and gallery sales this year!  It’s quiet, peaceful and filled with wonderful, original art for you to give, and maybe, get for the holiday season.

Here’s are some of  art sale events and galleries featuring Washington County Open Studio tour artists.

Evelyn Fritz

Art On Broadway Annual Holiday Boutique

Featuring artists: Annie Salness, Ana Quinn, Evelyn Fritz, Grethen Linwood, Pam Nichols, Patti Issacs, and Peg Silloway.

For your convenience, there are extending gallery holiday hours to include Sundays from noon to 5 including December 6, 13, and 20.

Art On Broadway Gallery
12570 SW Broadway, Beaverton, 97005  
 
Susan Gallacher-Turner

Valley Art Gallery - Holiday Featured Artists

Susan Currington, Susan Gallacher-Turner, Helvi Smith and JoAnn Wellner.

Now through Christmas Eve, December 24, you can find great art gifts from over 70 Oregon artists including our tour artists showing paintings, ceramics, glass, woven baskets and many other wonderful works of art. 

For your holiday shopping the gallery hours are Monday-Saturday 11am-5:30pm.

Valley Art Gallery 
2022 Main Street, Forest Grove, OR 97116
503-357-3703
www.valleyart.org


Green Cab Collective Pop Up Sale

Featuring Helvi Smith and other tour artist members of the Green Cab art group.

Saturday, December 12 
Helvi Smith's Studio in Forest Grove  







Friday, November 13, 2015

November Shows and Holiday Sales



Susan Currington, Valley Art Gallery Show

It’s that time of year for gift giving and holiday treats.  So why not treat yourself and your favorite people to artful gifts made by Washington County Open Studios Tour artists.

Tour Artist exhibits, shows and sales this month:
 
Susan Gallacher-Turner, Valley Art Gallery Show
Susan Currington, Susan Gallacher-Turner, Helvi Smith and JoAnn Wellner

Valley Art Gallery – Forest Grove - November 7-December 24
 
Helvi Smith, Valley Art Gallery Show
Over 70 Oregon artists including our tour artists showing paintings, ceramics, glass, woven baskets and many other wonderful works of art.  For your holiday shopping the gallery has extended hours November 7-22, Monday-Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 12-4pm.  Regular gallery hours are Monday-Saturday 11am-5:30pm.
 
Jo Ann Wellner, Valley Art Gallery show
Valley Art Gallery  -  www.valleyart.org
2022 Main Street, Forest Grove, OR 97116
503-357-3703
 
Linda Gerrard, Oregon Glass Guild Show
Linda Gerrard

Oregon Glass Guild Open Studio Tour – November 14-15 - 10am-4pm

A tour of over 20 Glass Artist's studios across a 5 county area.  Glass artists who do fused, stained, blown, mosiac, cast glass and more.  To see the map and find other glass artists on the tour go to: http://oregonglassguild.org/FallTour/FallTour.html

 
Peg Silloway, Art on Broadway Holiday Boutique
Peg Silloway

Holiday Boutique - Art on Broadway -  Beaverton - November 27- December 24

Peg Silloway, Silloway Weaving Studio, will have handwoven scarves and cowls for sale in the Boutique. Many are created using locally sourced hand-dyed yarns featuring merino, alpaca, silk, and other fine fibers. Each is one of a kind and sure to be a welcome gift. 

Art on Broadway  www.artonbroadway.net
12570 SW Broadway, Beaverton, OR 97005 
503-601-3300 Gallery open Tuesday - Saturday 11 to 5
Saturday December 5, Artists Reception, 6 to 9 pm











Thursday, November 5, 2015

Art meets TV: Good Day Oregon




Can one local TV host learn to fuse glass, weave on a loom and do sgraffito in less than three hours?  Yes, absolutely!

That’s what happened, Friday, October 16th, just before the Washington County Open Studios Tour.  Good Day Oregon TV host, Jo V(Vithayathil)  met three artists, Linda Gerrard, Peg Silloway and Susan Gallacher-Turner took on the challenge.

Linda, Peg and Susan were set up and ready to go by 4:30 am.  The TV van arrived at 5 am at Linda Gerrard’s studio and Joe set up for the first live segment scheduled at 5:45! 


Peg Silloway showed Joe how a loom works.  What kind of fibers she uses and the how to move the loom to weave the fabric that becomes her beautiful scarves and wraps.  Joe gave it a try, too, learning that while it might look easy, it was a challenge to do.


Joe learned all about sgraffito, the Italian word for ‘scratch’.  Susan described the process of hand building the porcelain plates, under glazing them with three layers of color.  After the layers were dry, it was time to sgraffito.  Joe watched and then gave it a try, scratching out the under glaze and revealing the white clay underneath. 
  

In Linda Gerrard’s glass studio, Joe learned about frit, glass cutting and how glass is layered and fused to make a landscape.  Linda showed how the different types of frit made different textures like clouds, grass and rocks.  Joe learned to cut glass into strips, place different colors together and paint with frit.

It was a very early start to the day, but Peg, Linda and Susan all agreed it was a very good day.  And a great opportunity to give people a peek into what they’d be able to see during the Washington County Open Studios tour the very next day in over 40 artists’ studios across Washington County.


About her experience on TV Peg says, “One of my students, in an introductory rigid heddle weaving class at Northwest Wools in Multnomah Village, told me that she and her husband got up early on Friday, November 16, just so that they could watch our TV spot with Joe V. Her verdict was that we did great!”

“I’m not a morning person,” said Susan, “but the energy of the artists and TV crew made it a fun morning with a beautiful sunrise!” 


Peg, Linda and Susan had more visitors this year and many other artists said visitors mentioned seeing the TV segments on Good Day Oregon.

All thanks to Joe V and cameraman, Mike and Good Day Oregon!




Thursday, October 29, 2015

Open Studios Inspires Artists and Visitors.






Creating art is a one on one experience.  It’s an experience between the artist and the paints, fibers, clay, wax or metal.  It’s a solitary studio process with a rhythm of its own. 

Once a year, during the Washington County Open Studios tour, artists embrace a totally different studio day.  They open up their studios to visitors.  For two days, they show their art, tools, inspirations and creative process to anyone who stops by.

Our goal as a group is to let anyone see art in the making.  Where.  How.  And what it looks like before it becomes a finished piece of art.  We hope to inspire creativity in everyone who visits.

But the visitors aren’t the only ones who get inspired.  Our artists get a weekend of inspiration, too.


For weaver, Peg Silloway, the weekend was a kaleidoscope of delightful experiences.

“A neighbor brought her parents, one a weaver, the other a spinner and crocheter, and before they left offered me a supply of hand-spun and luxury yarns they are not using, an enormous gift for a weaver,”  says Peg.  “Another woman came early Saturday and announced that she’d seen me on television and came to my studio first.”

For Peg, some of the most inspiring moments came about teaching her craft to others.   

“A boy, who had learned to weave in a class several years ago, came with his father on Sunday.  At my studio, he wove on the rigid heddle loom and clearly has a talent for the craft.  He left with a bag of yarns from my stash. His mother is also an artist on our tour this year and I met her at the preview opening at Art on Broadway.”

Peg adds another teachable moment from the tour, “Neighbors whom I’d never met came on Sunday and wanted to understand every step of the process, and even tried the loom, too. I think that was the best part for me...seeing that light bulb go on when someone understands how weaving works and how the craft is literally woven in to many things we touch and wear every day!”


For fiber artist, Terry Grant, opening her studio brought her back travels to Ecuador.

A young couple came in the door and said they live just up the street from me and had wondered what the "little house" was!  They looked all around at my work and after a look-around upstairs in my studio the woman said, "You’ve been to Ecuador! When?"  I explained my daughter lived in Ecuador for a number of years and we visited often. I have made a lot of art based on those trips. Her husband then told me he was from Ecuador and recognized many of the locations in my work. He went to University in the same city where my daughter worked and met her Ecuadoran husband.  We shared favorite places and experiences and even compared the jewelry we were wearing—"my earrings are from Chordaleg" (near where the husband was from)—"mine are from Otavalo, but my bracelet is from Chordaleg.”

Terry not only connected with new people but found a new connection for her daughter as well. “I got their contact info and hope to get them together with my daughter and son-in-law, who now live here—just a few blocks away!” 

Says Terry, “You never know who you will meet at Open Studios!


Collage artist, Jo Reimer, found herself with a studio of admirers and lots of questions.

Once they got past exclaiming over the physical studio space and studying the collage paintings that covered my walls they were full of questions and so happy with the answers,” says Jo.  People were amazed at processes that are second nature to me but a mystery to them. They wanted to know about gelatin printing, dissolving inks with solvent, using powdered graphite with glue, how to mix my recipe for a glue that doesn't cause paper to buckle, and so much more. And I want to share ideas with folks, to tell them that inspiration doesn't come like a bolt of lightning; it comes as a result of working in the studio with the tools of the trade.”

Like Peg, Jo found herself with not only teachable moments but a studio class.

“What fun to welcome so many interested, inquisitive people to my studio.
Many asked whether I teach. Though I was a teacher most of my life I haven't taught in recent years, but the enthusiasm of my visitors has convinced me that I need to start teaching again. I am energized by teaching and as a result of the tour I realize how much I miss helping people be creative. In fact, I taught my first studio class today and can hardly wait for the next session.”

This is Jo’s first year on the Washington County Open Studios Tour.

Jo says, “I'm glad I participated in the Washington County Studio Tour and hope to do so again next year. It's such a well-run organization and I'm happy to be a participant, making art accessible to others.”