Gorge Artists Open Studio Tour |
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A Weekend of Art and Wildflowers in the Gorge The Columbia Gorge Scenic Area and its’ wildflowers will be part of the attraction when 34 artists throughout the region open their studios the weekend of April 14-15. Artists in Hood River, White Salmon, Mosier, The Dalles and Goldendale will be sharing their working spaces and methods so visitors can see artists in their natural habitat. Painters, blacksmiths, weavers, photographers, graphite artists, sculptors, potters, furniture makers, a computer artist and a guitar builder are among those demonstrating how they make their art. Many of the participants have shown and are collected nationally. |
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Where to Purchase Guidebooks People wishing to tour studios can buy a guidebook for $15. It admits two adults to any participating studio and is good both Saturday and Sunday. The guide identifies artists, shows artwork, and provides directions to each studio as well as information about various gorge locales. Guides are on sale now through the event web site:
Some of the Participating Artists – A one-time art student and a nurse for more than 20 years, she returned to her creative impulse at midlife. Her broken ribs have healed, but she has found no cure for the inspiration she gets from the Gorge. “I am constantly ( www.cathleenrehfeld.com ) — With a degree in fine arts, Rehfeld cut her chops in design work for publications in the U.S. and South America before turning her focus to fine art. She loves oils, for the flexibility they afford her. A 15-year-resident of the Gorge, Rehfeld loves the natural influences on her work. “The clouds are often a focal point in my paintings. I like clouds a lot,” she says. She knows now why people buy art, but at age 7, she simply wondered why the man who wanted to buy her prize-winning painting didn’t just make his own. ( www.datnoff.com ) — A Gorge resident since 1978, photographer Datnoff misses the simpler time before the area was discovered. Still, through the medium of film, he tries to express the world as he discovers it, and leaves interpretation to the viewer. People often find their way into his images, through their active engagement with the natural features of the Gorge. – She would love to work in glass or painting, but for the moment finds herself totally immersed in clay. Originally from Leavenworth, Wash., she descends from a man who was run out of Ireland in the 19th century and kept running until he hit the Northwest and settled down. “I named my studio ‘Shaky Ground’ because I am surrounded by volcanoes,” See says. “Potters are often intrigued by volcanoes; they resemble incredible kiln meltdowns where landscapes are reshaped with heat and molten rock.” — She came through the modeling world, he from painting (he still paints) to the craft of constructing gorgeous picture frames, then the resourceful art of salvaging good old wood and turning it into graceful new furniture. They escaped from San Francisco to the Gorge so they could raise a family. Life is good. The wood is better. — After running the Heavy Water Light Show for the leading psychedelic bands of the ‘60s and ‘70s, Chase moved into video work and earned accolades at the Portland Film and Video Festival in 1979 and the Ohio Film ( www.asherarts.com ) — Wallace shares credit with her models for the intrigue in the finished lifecastings that she has composed for more than 20 years. A teacher in The Dalles, she says “lifecasting stops an expression, it invites the viewer to really look and to understand something about the human character. It captures a moment, the soul’s spirit, and holds it suspended in a casting of time.” ( www.eawatercolor.com ) — Blown to the Gorge by windsurfing and a job airbrushing art onto windsurf boards, Anderson-Schock calls herself an impressionistic watercolorist. “I spend lots of time with my digital camera in the outdoors, composing my paintings,” she says. “I find the wind blowing the flowers to be my biggest inspiration.” ( www.johnmayodesign.com ) – After a Peace Corps stint in Uzbekistan, Mayo studied fine arts and industrial design. These days, he applies CAD software to help him shape templates for cut-steel plates that he then assembles in intersecting planes. The resulting sculptures, he says, are “manifestations of conceptual art.” ( www.joykloman.com ) — A former art professor at the University of Mississippi, Kloman moved to the Gorge when her husband took a new job here. She paints in acrylics, oils and watercolors, makes prints and draws, and loves to teach. Her art is in several major public collections, including The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla. ( www.sticksandstones.us ) — He and his wife, Katie, own Sticks & Stones Co. in White Salmon, which features Wayne’s handmade pine and maple furniture, along with the work of other regional artists. “It’s really the people here that influence me, through their love of casual living and appreciation for color,” he says. Cordrey loves to play the guitar, and says his dogs sometimes join him in song. An All Volunteer Effort The project is the result of an all volunteer committee which has been planning the event for over a year. “The goals of the Gorge Artists Open Studios is to help build markets for the work of Gorge artists, to demystify the art-making process for the public, to build relationships between art lovers and artists, and to build community among the artists themselves” says Pat Bozanich, one of the committee members. This self-guided tour is one of many new arts-based initiatives in the Gorge, which will help brand the area as an arts and culture destination.
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