A gallimaufry of eclectic art flourishes under August skies!Florence is on fire with creativity, and it's a friendly fire ablaze with eagerness to share the fruits of imagination. Nowhere is this more apparent than during the GALA Art Walk on the Second Saturday of each month. The events are always free, and a comfortable shuttle bus is provided to transport kindred spirits to artful realms where painters, photographers, potters, and other perpetrators can't wait to proclaim their passions.
The Aug. 13 Art Walk was preceded by a reception at The Lighthouse Inn, the lobby of which has become a cozy venue for displaying artwork. This month features charming watercolors by Pamela Vosseller and oils by Merce Duchesne, including Cats With keys and four adorable calves, called The Boys.
The Art Walk officially began at the FEC's two galleries. Gallery One regales viewers with Fiber Fusion, multimedia from both Oregon and California artists, including myriad masks especially the golden butterfly and two exotic maidens that seem about to leap off the wall and dance.
Gallery Five presents a variety of work by PhotoZone photogs, several of whom were present to explain their intriguing processes. Bob Sanov's immaculate black and white silver images of the Twisted Tree and the crashing waves at Shore Acres capture the grandeur of nature. Another photog shows six different photos of a single image, demonstrating a fascinating layered fusion of photography and watercolor pigment. Another offers color photos of Death Valley's profusion of wild flowers, and still another examines up close the aesthetics of peeling paint on the sides of buildings.
The FEC's new caterer laid out a delicious spread of tea sandwiches, veggies, sweets, coffee and iced tea.
The Art Walk then rode off to The River Gallery. The tour was led this month by loquacious, enthusiastic David Capen, who was not saving his tonsils for that evening's gargantuan barbershop concert. David generously elucidated the wealth of the Florence art scene for local and visiting art tourists.
The River Gallery features colorful paintings by Roberta Richards, who divides her artful pursuits between Florence and Phoenix. Local award-winning potter Ceci Lindo, now part of the gallery's ongoing eclectic display, is onto something new with glazes of her own concoction - wondrous large bowls like Georgia O'Keefe flower petals. A glass float was nestled in one of them, looking for the world as if it had grown there.
After noshing on champagne and sweets, the bus motored on to the library for an absolutely Jolley show of paintings and collages by Win and Carol Jolley, who take their happy moniker in stride. Win's obnoxious crows are exactly where you want them to be - on canvas, in silence! One of the art tourists was en route to New Zealand and was delighted with the Jolley's renditions of scenes of Down Under. Carol has found the most exquisite papers for her elegant collages, but she seeks the identity of the recumbent gentleman on the beach which inspired her painting of the kite festival.
The art excursion moved on to the Backstreet Gallery, fast becoming main street in the hearts of art lovers. The bright, spacious rooms display all manner of eclectic diversions including paintings, ceramics, collages, altered books, jewelry, and junque sculptures, which are all selling so well Leo Ellingson's gallery mates are collecting junk items so she can create further creatures. After all, Igor and Berserker and Junque Yard Dog have already been snatched up.
Not only are these artists adept at fine art, they are skilled at culinary art as well. The refreshment table was festive with a scrumptious artichoke spread, fried clams for dipping, a salmon spread, cookies, and wine, all delightfully reminiscent of the building's previous tenants who served caviar and escargot at art receptions.
The Backstreet plans all sorts of activities, including a musical event the last Wednesday of every month. July featured the Florence Brass, and August will enjoy piano and song from Rebecca O'Grady.
The final stop on the Art Walk was Art Like A Wheel, that charming gallery on Maple Street in Old Town. Alternate Routes is the theme of the artwork of photog Don Metz, who travels the back roads to find extraordinary compositions just waiting to be frozen forever in the camera's eye. Keeping to the theme, the gallery also features altered art - collages and books by local artists. The books are three-dimensional collages that tell stories, all wonderfully inventive and witty. The revolutionary reception was complimented by champagne and the best salmon mousse in the universe.
Aside from the Art Walk, eclectic art covered Florence that weekend with A Wave of Quilts, a stunning show presented by the Rhododendron Quilt Guild at the middle school. Kaleidoscopic colors, patterns, designs in many different shapes and sizes filled a gymnasium in a merry maze, like Alice going through the looking glass - tigers, whales, roosters, fish, bears, cats galore including one based on a Laurel Birch design, mobius strips or twisted ribbons, lighthouses, portraits of all the presidents, and exquisite wearable art. Crafts, supplies, and related handcrafted items were sold in the adjacent gymnasium. Truly a tsunami of quintessential quilts.
Considering the proliferation of the arts in this town, Florence is a pretty prosaic name. Isn't it time to alter the facts and call it Firenze? After all, that Italian restaurant is back in business. Let the Neo-Renaissance begin!
- Burney Garelick
© 2005 All Rights Reserved. Burney Garelick, The Siuslaw News, Florence, Oregon.
This article may not be reprinted or linked to without permission from the writer, Burney Garelick, and The Siuslaw News.