Greetings!
Each month I think - wow - things can't get better! And then they do. In March we had over 1200 visits. More than half were from events. When I began as director here, my goal was to bring more people to the museum. Hence - events. That includes field trips, films, talks, workshops, concerts and more. It's working!
Do us a favor - bring a friend the next time you visit. I'm picking up our brand new brochures tomorrow - they illustrate many of the things that are happening in 2023. We are anxious to share them with you (and your friends).
We look forward to seeing you soon.
Enjoy!
Hyla
Executive Director
|
|
Anne Brooke has a degree in art and is a member of the Watercolor Society of Oregon. Her award-winning paintings have been displayed in Oregon, California, and Nevada. She is noted for her drawing skills and vibrant use of color. She enjoys painting landscapes, still lifes, and figures. She has also done numerous commissions, which often include her calligraphy. Anne has taught drawing and watercolor for 15 years, helping to develop many prize-winning artists. She conducts beginning and advanced study classes at her home Studio/Gallery. She also offers private lessons, has conducted numerous workshops at other locations, and blogs about the fundamentals of art. Using a limited palette and value study of subject, she begins her pieces with an underpainting, developing a unique style. |
|
Titled, "15 Emotions" Kim Sterling's exhibit is amazing and hard hitting as he explores the emotions we get to experience as we wander through our lives nd relationships.
Each image has prose to go with it.
May is National Mental Health Awareness month.
The theme for this year is "More than enough"
One can see that concept in Kim's images.
The image on the left represents "Fear."
|
|
This year we have eight gardens to visit. Two of the gardens will have food trucks. We are also including authors from the AIM group (Authors' Innovative Marketing). It's going to be the best ever. Don't miss it. Tickets are $25 each.
For the first time you can purchase tickets on our website. However, you need to pick up your booklet at the museum OR we can do a will call at one of the gardens. CLICK HERE!
|
|
Summer Workshops For Kids |
|
We are lining up classes for the summer for kiddos age 7 and up. They will start on June 27 and run through August 23. They will be Tuesday through Thursday from 1pm - 3pm. Classes are $15 per student and you will be able to sign up soon. We have a great variety of topics and wonderful teachers lined up. The link for the website is HERE. You can also call us at 541-479-3290 for more information. |
|
Who Knew?
Gallery One Artists Have Interesting Lives
|
|
These fun facts have been gathered by a friend of the museum. She prefers to remain anonymous. We are including pictures of the artists' work. You can see more by checking out the artist directory HERE!
|
|
Nancy Sterling
Nancy works with nature…finding usual and unusual stuff that a ‘normal’ person would throw aside. Instead, she creates unique wall hangings and sculptures and sees all around her with a different eye! And lets you see ‘her side’ of it.
Aside from her creations, she took ice skating lessons when in Junior High. Every year when the Ice Capades Show would come to Seattle, they would do a couple of their numbers in the show with local skaters. She was thrilled to be chosen as a “Moonbeam”. One of about 20 others as back-up to their star!
That was then, now she can barely make it around the rink without lurching for the side rail.
Ah, fame is a slippery slope.
|
|
Enoch Crumpton Jr
Over his career Enoch was (and is) a musician, playing at First Fridays, and varied events. He also designed homes, was an interior designer and hands-on building contractor. However, he took those talented hands and began creating smaller, functional pieces that also fit into your hands!
Aside from his proficiency in most things art, his unexpected motorcycle trip led to the highlight of his life. On his way to the Olympic Peninsula, weather reared its ugly head and he had to stay in Grants Pass (sigh). He hardly knew the woman who was friends of his friends and offered to let him stay. However, a couple of months of a long-distance relationship led to many more months and they have been happily married for four years.
Enoch has had a varied career steeped in art. He wanted to be a park ranger when he was 13 and we’re so glad, the path veered to the arts.
|
|
Nomeca Hartwell
Nomeca is a photographer par excellence. She captures the essence of light from the coast, around town, in the woods or overseas! She also has her Whaleshead Night Sky on the current Oregon Blue Book.
Bet you didn’t know that she was a certified Met Tech and lived and ran the Sexton weather station on top of Mt Sexton from 1986 to 2005. Sexton is up at 3400 feet so the views were wonderful and beneath her feet were 6 ft rattlesnakes, ravens, deer, and 5 feet of snow one year…when she walked on tops of bushes with snowshoes. She even called in her first fire in 1989. Part of the State Forestry paid to watch over views that stretch as far as thousands of feet below.
Nomeca has had plenty of time to observe light and nature; see the results in her stunning photographs.
|
|
We were extremely busy in April The exhibit was Best of the Best. Thirteen high schools from Josephine and Jackson County participated. We had 132 pieces of art to enjoy. It was a thrill to see so many talented young people. We had some record attendance figures too. We had 345 people in the museum for First Friday and the busiest day during the event was a Saturday - we had 72 visitors on April 22. Overall, we had 918 visits in April. |
|
The installation crew enjoying the task at hand. It took many hands to place 132 pieces of art. |
|
The new cabinet came in handy. We were able to put all of the three dimensional pieces on it. |
|
SOU coordinates this exhibit each year. This was the reception table. Each student artist got a button to wear indicating they were in the exhibit. |
|
Lots of visitors enjoying the art. Friends, family, and other students cheering on their friends' art. Having 345 people in 3 hours is a treat! |
|
Event Coming Up May 18!!! |
|
We have one concert almost every month. You can purchase tickets for any of them on the website by clicking the image below. We are happy to announce that Weekend Beer Company will be providing wine and beer to purchase at each of our concerts. |
|
Heather Pierson Duo is our concert in May. In 2021, Heather reunited with dear friend Leah Boyd (Garajh Mahal/Lightsisters/Shambhala) to form a new duo, Peaceful Means, creating and sharing original and choice cover songs nurturing nonviolent consciousness. Peaceful Means began performing throughout northern New England in 2022 and are currently working on their first studio recordings.
Throughout her colorful career, her eclectic skill set continues to propel her onto concert hall stages and into barrooms, coffeehouses, resort hotels, living rooms, and churches. Her nearly non-stop performance schedule speaks of her tireless work ethic and endless devotion to her crafts. Defying genre and classification and yet fully embracing all musical styles, Heather is an artist who speaks the language of music in as many dialects as her abilities will allow. Her life’s work, she says, is to share her love of music and her gratitude for life with others – one song, one heart, and one mind at a time.
|
|
|
Second Friday Poetry Sharing
May 12 at 7pm.
The optional topic is Souvenirs. Admission is free!
|
|
|
Our annual garden tour will be
June 10 and 11.
You don't want to miss it.
We are very pleased to have wonderful gardens to delight you this year. Tickets will be on sale in May.
|
|
|
AND...a new fundraiser for the museum and a great event for you to attend. We are going to host a talent show called "Let Us Entertain You."
We are waiting for a firm date from the Performing Arts Center for this fall.
|
|
Could you volunteer some of your time? |
|
|
|
There are lots of different things a volunteer can do at the museum. One of the biggest needs we have right now is for greeters. These are people who act as a host when people visit the museum. The "shift" is four hours from 1pm - 5pm or noon - 4 Tuesday through Saturday. Click the pix on the left to sign up! It's really fun. |
|
|
|
A great place to shop for gifts of all kinds - all original art creations by Southern Oregon artists. The best place for one of a kind ornaments and cards too.
Open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am - 5pm.
A perfect place to find gifts for MOM!
|
|
DOUG IVERSON
My working career was with the Oregon Department of Transportation where I was primarily a senior inspector on highway projects. Needless to say, artistic creativity was something that was lacking for most of my career. I attended RCC continuously from 2010 up to the Covid pandemic in 2020. I don’t have a studio at this time so most of my painting occurs at the dining room table. Production suffers since I can only work on one painting at a time.
After retiring in 2009, I began taking art classes at RCC in Grants Pass. Of all the courses I have taken, I enjoyed my watercolor classes the most. Sometime in 2011 my instructor, Pat Enos, introduced the class to working with watercolor on Yupo paper. I was hooked. The paintings I saw created were like nothing I had seen before. Yupo is a polypropylene plastic sheet. Being a smooth plastic, this ‘paper’ does not absorb watercolors as do traditional cotton papers. The resulting colors tend to be more vibrant and alive, where regular papers have flatter, duller colors. The downside to my approach is that I spend an inordinate amount of time waiting for water to evaporate. Hence, when painting, I try to have at least three or four pieces ‘in process’ so I can actually keep on painting. Invariably, I must break out the hair dryer to facilitate the drying process, though.
I just started experimenting with alcohol inks a few months ago and I really enjoy the saturated colors that can result. I am having to learn a whole new skill set, but, at least I am having a good time. Most of my newest works are alcohol inks.
What do I like to paint? I really enjoy painting abstracts. I seldom have any idea what I will create when I start painting. As the painting progresses, I typically find shapes that are recognizable to me. I then have a reference to inspire the rest of the painting. This might mean that I repaint 70% of the painting. But the journey/process of painting is more important to me than the finished piece. However, I always strive to produce aesthetically pleasing work. So, hopefully, a viewer who normally shies away from abstract work will be drawn into the colors and movement of my work. When someone looks at my watercolors, I want them to take a visual journey through the painting. The colors, textures and movement in the work should provide the viewer a respite from the energy sapping stresses of everyday life. I invite the viewer to take a break from life and just enjoy the act of looking at something that is pleasant to look at. It is a good way to decompress after(or during) a long day in the real world.
My toolbox is not just filled with paint brushes. I use just about anything that will provide interesting textures. Tissues, plastic craft mesh, foam paint rollers, open mesh fabrics, Halloween ‘spider webbing’. And water. There is always lots of water in my work area.
Besides painting in watercolors and alcohol inks, I facilitate a life drawing session every Monday afternoon at the Grants Pass Museum of Art. I have become fascinated by the human figure and enjoy depicting it in an abstract fashion. I want to present recognizable images which retain the spontaneity of my abstracts. So, I draw every week. Practice, practice, practice.
First Friday will find me at Gallery One demonstrating some of the techniques I use when painting. Visitors are invited to ask questions about my work as well as participate in the demonstration by trying out some of my methods.
|
|
Help keep the museum free for all! |
|
HELP US TO PROVIDE YOU WITH
ART EXPERIENCES
Over the last 44 years, the Museum has showcased art that connects us across time, geography, and cultural differences. We couldn’t fulfill our important mission without the generous support of our members and donors. Today, will you go above and beyond and make a gift to empower our vital work of connecting our community with the power of art?
|
|
We take so many things for granted these days. Here's an interesting short TED talk about pencils and why they are perfect. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
