Absence makes the art grow fonder

Art on the Edge Studio Tour returns after COVID hiatus

By Sabine Wilson

For the TODAY

In such a fiercely creative hub for artists, it would almost be a crime not to showcase the many talented artists on the Central Oregon Coast.

And with a unique event like Art on the Edge, the Lincoln City Cultural Center created a way for visitors and art-lovers alike to experience artists in an exclusive and intimate way.

Running from Friday, May 21, through Sunday, May 23, this self-guided tour includes 18 studio sites with 35 participating artists whose talents reach across 25 different mediums.

“This event started because we have such a rich artist community here,” said Krista Eddy, visual arts director of the cultural center. “We wanted to harness that and showcase this area as a place known for its art.”

After missing a year due to COVID, the artists as well as the cultural center are ecstatic to welcome back this beloved event.

“We are so happy to have this event back,” Eddy said. “It means a lot to the cultural center because it’s fulfilling our mission to enrich the community as well as keeping people inspired and creative.”

Event-goers will be able to go to the artists’ personal studios, watch their creative and distinct processes and buy the art they fall in love with.

One of these featured artists is Mae Towers, a self-taught oil painter who uses a heightened realism-esque style, weaving in dynamic detail to a colorful and bright canvas.

“When I first started painting it was like an escape for me,” Towers said. “It was a way for me to process emotion. But as I got older it turned into painting what made me happy; I started to use bright, vibrant colors with fun details.”

Towers takes her time to be thorough and exact with every creation.

“There's a six-layer minimum underneath all of the paintings,” she said.

The Art on the Edge tour marks the grand opening of Towers’ gallery, The Gullery, a venue she hopes will be not just a place to see art, but also to socialize and feel welcome.

Other tour participants include Pam Young, a talented ceramicist from Portland whose art is everywhere from farmers markets to galleries to your local bar.

Pumping out an impressive estimated 500 distinctive mugs every year, Young is constantly working on her craft.

“Every mug I make is just practice for the next item,” she said.

Young makes her own stamps that she uses to either press or roll different textures onto subsections of her ceramics, a method that distinguishes her style.

“I do like to use a lot of different textures,” she said. “But I didn’t choose my style, it chose me.”

As far as content goes Young is very much influenced by her surroundings in the Pacific Northwest, implementing fish, birds and nature. though she never feels she has to manipulate the clay too much.

“To me they’re organic, just like clay; it all comes out of the earth,” Young said. “You let the clay tell you what it is supposed to be.”

The next artists, Janet Runger and Veta Bakhtina, hail from the Crow’s Nest, a group studio and gallery in Toledo that features 14 local artists. Runger and Bakhtina have even intertwined each other’s art into their own, drawing influence from one another.

Runger is an assemblage artist and repurposes rare finds into a fine-tuned work of art.

“Something that seems completely useless that could be thrown in the trash turns into something beautiful that could be hung on your wall,” she said. “I am a collector and love to go to garage and estate sales where I can collect things I find intriguing.”

Runger’s workroom has a meticulously organized system for all her treasures, just as she has with her art. With labels like “eyes,” and “brass” on the many drawers that wrap around the room, there is undoubtedly a method to the madness.

Aside from hunting for the perfect pieces, Runger employs an array of artistic approaches when creating her art.

“One of the reasons I love assemblage art is because it lets you do all sorts of art mediums,” Runger said. “I can build, I can paint, I can construct. I have to figure out different ways to make all the connections.”

While she often hears that her art brings feelings of nostalgia to its viewers, Runger also acknowledges the healing aspect of art.

“I think art is one of the best outlets to take yourselves into another place,” she said. “Art is a great way to help us heal and emerge back out.”

Bakhtina is a powerful fine art painter whose works are easy to get lost in. Painting with her heart on her sleeve, Bakhtina revisits her childhood in Russia to draw inspiration from and also to pay homage to.

“My childhood inspires my work. I came here in the 90s after the Soviet Union was dismantled,” she said. “A lot of my work ties back to my heritage and my culture and that is very grounding for me.”

Weaving in themes of home, nostalgia and infinity Bakhtina merges a feeling of home with her experience living in America.

“As an immigrant, I had to connect myself with something that isn’t in my immediate surroundings,” Bakhtina said. “So, I find myself painting landscapes in various forms whether inside my characters or reflected onto something. The deep forest is where I’m most connected because of course, all of the Russian forests.”

All of these artists and more will be featured in the Art on the Edge tour from Friday, May 21, through Sunday, May 23. The studios range from Neskowin to Newport along Highway 101 and roughly six miles east from the coast in Toledo and will be open from 11 am to 5 pm. The tour is free and artists’ works will be for sale.

For more information, go to artstudiotourLCCC.com.