Artists come out of their shells
Art, music and oysters combine for a big weekend in Toledo
Toledo cracks open wide to show its vibrant arts community every month, especially during the summer when Art, Oysters and Brews comes to town. The event, taking place on Main Street this Saturday, Sept. 2, is held in partnership with the Yaquina River Museum of Art’s First Weekend art celebrations.
The free event will have live music, kids activities, a petting zoo, local breweries and wineries, fresh oysters and local artists selling their work.
Wander down Main Street into local shops, or take a stroll to the Waterfront Park, making sure to take in Toledo’s new murals along the way.
Art, Oysters and Brews will run from noon to 5 pm at the corner of North Graham and South Main. For more information, go to ARTToledo.com.
First Weekend
The local arts community of Toledo has a significant presence on the coast, with galleries and studios dotted throughout the town. This month’s First Weekend event, happening on Saturday and Sunday, July 2 and 3, will see select sites open their doors to visitors and art lovers to give a behind-the-scenes view of their works and show what’s new.
Featured this month at the Yaquina River Museum of Art is “Toledo Treasures,” an exhibit of 13 selected works from the museum's permanent collection that depict iconic views of buildings, roads and landscapes found within the town. The artists featured in this exhibition represent a wide variety of styles and techniques used to interpret their subjects, which range from a random growth of native flowers or leaves of grass or from a Main Street corner building to the Georgia-Pacific Mill.
“Toledo Treasures” will be on display at the Museum’s Schoolhouse exhibit space through August 14.
The Yaquina River Museum of Art is located at 151 NE Alder Street and will be open on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 pm. For more information, go to yaquinarivermuseumofart.org.
At Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery, across the street from the museum, original paintings by the late artist will include the featured work “Mary’s Peak on Blodgett Road,” a scene along Old Blodgett Road painted en plein air by Gibbons on a clear December afternoon in 1995.
“My most powerful work comes from here where I live,” Gibbons once said of his paintings in the local region. “It is in the sacred land that I have found my voice. It continues to speak through my paintings.”
The Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery is located at 140 NE Alder Street and is open on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 pm. For more information, go to michaelgibbons.net.
On the next block, Ivan Kelly Studio and Gallery will feature “Blue Heron,” a quintessentially Pacific Northwestern scene of a calm river encroached with the greenery of the temperate rainforest. Stoically along the banks stands a great blue heron on watch. Known for their expansive wingspan, great blue herons are the largest herons native to North America. However this large bird is dwarfed by the looming forest surrounding it in the painting. Kelly is a nationally recognized artist and has been a Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists since 2000.
Ivan Kelly Studio is located at 207 East Graham Street and is open on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 pm. For more information, go to ivankelly.com.
On Main Street, Crow’s Nest Gallery and Studio will be displaying the works of 15 artists. Founder Janet Runger will display storybook found object assemblage art; Alice Haga, fused glass; Val Bolen, tile and ceramic pieces; Paula Teplitz, sculptural jellyfish mobiles; Jeff Gibford, digitally manipulated photographs; Tish Epperson, watercolors; Veta Bakhtina, oil paintings; Sylvia Hosie, wildlife photography and Susan Jones, woven fiber jellyfish.
Crow’s Nest Gallery and Studio is located at 305 N. Main Street. and is open on Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm.