The 2015 Falconer Education Fund :In Memory of our Artists David Falconer and Karen French.

Last year in memory of David Falconer, photographer, father and Washington County Open Studios supporter, we announced a new educational fund.

Our very first sponsor, David Falconer was a tour artist for two years, enthusiastically sharing his love of photography. Well known as an Oregonian staff photographer for 25 years, David’s passion on and off assignment kept him shooting professional and candid shots of family members, neighbors, cats and landscapes.

This year, we add to the Falconer Education Fund with memorial to one of our tour artists, potter, Karen French.

A Tigard area Washington County Open Studios artist, Karen showed the true spirit of our tour.  She opened her studio and demonstrated her pottery process by showing visitors how to throw, glaze and do horsehair raku.  She volunteered her time helping with signs, catalog distribution and event pr.

To both David Falconer and Karen French, service to others was always part of their lives.  They both taught classes, volunteered in their community, mentored other artists and friends.  They both believed in the value and importance of arts education.

And so, it seems fitting to honor the memories of both David Falconer and Karen French with the Falconer Educational Fund.

Donations of any amount can be made on our website www.washcoart.org.

Funds will be used to promote art education and opportunities via the Washington County Open Studios Tour.

In Memory: Karen French

I met Karen at my first Oregon Potters Association meeting where she was the Hospitality Coordinator.  Her job was to set up tables for treats but she went above and beyond.  With her open, up front and easy going humor, she instantly made me feel welcome and at ease in this new group.

Thanks to Washington County Open Studios, I got to know her even better.  Doing her Artist Profile (here), I learned about Karen’s clay journey from “sanity” classes when her children were small in Corvallis to teaching at the OSU craft art center to selling her work at craft fairs, Ceramic Showcase and becoming one of our valued open studio tour artists.

As part of our tour committee, Karen volunteered to help me with public relations.  I had pages and pages of excel documents that needed updating and consolidating as well as help with online event/calendar listings.  It didn’t faze Karen at all.  True to her nature, she jumped in with both feet editing and reorganizing and getting all the event postings done with ease.  In addition to our group, Karen was a very busy volunteer with her Bethel Congregational UCC, Altrusa International, and the Oregon Potters Association.

But Karen was more than just a committee member to me.  She became my friend.  A clay and play buddy.  An advisor and coworker to talk with about glaze problems, clay tricks and share new ideas.  She lent me her terra sig to paint on my greenware to prepare for doing horsehair raku at her studio.  The day came to fire and raku with hail, lightening and pouring rain.  We thought we’d have to postpone, but in Karen’s go-for-it style, we decided to do it anyway.  I wrote all about it (here).  But suffice it to say, it was a great time.  We got some wonderful new raku pieces.

 

I was so inspired, I used the experience to pitch and get a local TV station to shoot live segments from Karen’s studio about our 2014 tour.  It took a lot of work to set up for the TV shoot, but Karen just rolled up her sleeves and pitched right in even though she’d just recovered from back surgery a few months earlier.  During her open studio weekend, she had a great time with her visitors and also made sure to send her visitors onto the other artists’ open studios nearby.

 

Many people come and go in our lives.  But some come into our lives, help us see life in a different light and leave us far too suddenly and too soon.  Karen was one of those people to me.  I was deeply saddened and shocked to hear of Karen’s death on December 11, 2014 from an unexpected and sudden illness. 

Her memorial service will be held January 3, 2015 at 1:30pm at Bethel Congregational UCC, 5150 SW Watson Avenue in Beaverton, Oregon. 

Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, Karen went to high school in Trafalgar Castle school and attended George Brown College.  As she wished, her ashes will be scattered at her most favorite spot, Windswept, the family island and cottage at the north end of Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada. For Karen, Windswept has always been a place of nature, family and peace. 

Rest in peace, my friend, we will miss you.

See Art in the Making in Tigard Next Weekend. Free.

 

“I’ll be making masks, doing under glazing or stamping into clay with tools you find around the house like a fork, pattern marker and citrus reamer,” says Susan Gallacher-Turner, Ceramic Artist.

“When people come to my studio, “ says Virginia Parks, encaustic artist, ”they'll get to see almost the entire process, from prepping the wood panels before I start painting, to the process of building up layers, incorporating other media, and using tools and techniques to develop the painting. I'll demonstrate various techniques and explain the process I use for making the medium. I'm always happy to talk about the process, so visitors are welcome to ask me anything!”

Stella Kaser, photo collage artist describes,  “I have just completed a new collaged holiday greeting card. Guests will be able to see examples of my process towards making this card as well as the finished product, from its initial layout.

Get a free tour map at www.washcoart.org and spend this Saturday and Sunday, October 18 and 19 from 11 am to 5 pm visiting art studios during Washington County Open Studios.  Forty artists will be demonstrating their techniques for you and some are right in your own Tigard neighborhood. 

Karen French, Potter, says, “I’ll be throwing different clay forms.  They can ask me to make something in particular.  I’ll also be trimming pots and getting them ready for the bisque fire.”

“People can watch me use a torch to move around the encaustic paint (beeswax, resin & pigment), and see it swirl and blend together creating some incredible designs/patterns,” explains encaustic artist, Pam Nichols.

Laurie Svec adds, “Art studio visitors will likely see me working on Japanese paper wrapped egg shells. I hope to have some eggs at different stages of the process available to see. I will try to have an evaporative ink painting in progress too - under a gooseneck lamp to warm the ink and water. The Brownian Movement helps to evaporate the color onto the paper in unusual ways.”

You can see art in the making October 18 and 19 from 11 am to 5 pm in the suburbs and country during Washington County Open Studios. 

Get a tour map and directions FREE at www.washcoart.org 

What weird techniques do artists use in Tigard?

Susan Gallacher-Turner's sgraffito bowl

“Dental tools, citrus reamers, homemade stamps, forks, wire are just some of the things I use to make marks in my clay.  I also sculpt window screening to add to my clay sculptures and masks,” says Susan Gallacher-Turner, ceramic artist.

Virginia Parks with her encaustic work

Virginia Parks, encaustic artist explains, “Sometimes, people will say the entire medium of encaustic painting is weird and different, using melted beeswax mixed with tree resin and pigment and painting. While it's melted, how weird is that! But it's an an ancient art form with a newfound following, so it's not all that unfamiliar a technique anymore. Personally I like to play around with building up texture on the surface of my paintings, creating air pockets and divots that others often try hard to smooth away with the torch. Then I fill those holes with oil pigment sticks to add visual depth to both the subject and background of my painting.”

Laurie Svec's eggshell mosiacs

 “I have been working with egg shells for over 40 years. Painting and decorating egg shells, and cut out shadow box style Christmas ornaments. I have used ostrich, rhea, emu, goose, duck, turkey, chicken, pigeon, dove, quail, cockateel, and finch eggs,” adds Laurie Svec, multi-media artist.

Wonder what other weird techniques you’ll get to see during Washington County Artists Open Studios? October 18 and 19 from 11 am to 5 pm, 40 artists will be demonstrating their techniques for you. 

Karen French with her raku kiln

“I do horsehair raku. This is the process of using horse tail and mane hairs as the reduction medium,”says Karen French, potter.

Stella Kaser's photo collage

Stella Kaser, photo collage artist says, “I use traditional quilting patterns and techniques as well as my own abstract versions to collage pieces of my past photographs together.”

Pam Nichols in her studio

“I use dried coffee grounds, glass frit, shaved metal, spice cloves, dried passion tea leaves, metal objects and my most favorite thing ferric oxide (rust)!,” encaustic painter, Pam Nichols explains, “I transfer rust from metal objects to paper which I incorporate into my painting or I will rust right to my encaustic paint,” Pam Nichols, encaustic artist adds,  

You can see art in the making October 18 and 19 from 11 am to 5 pm in the suburbs and country during Washington County Open Studios.  Get a tour map and directions FREE at www.washcoart.org