An artist signs off
Cloverdale’s Thomas Goodwin Gallery beckons to collectors
Story and photo by Eliot Sekuler
For the TODAY
But for the stacks of canvases leaning against the walls, the shop seems more like a living room or a cozy den than a formal gallery. The setting suggests that it’s okay to slip off your boots, sink your toes into the plush oriental carpets and sprawl upon one of the stuffed chairs or sofas. It’s a place designed for sipping a hot drink and enjoying some easy conversation while admiring the art that lines the wood-paneled walls.
The paintings, varying in size from 10”x12” to large, 48”x84” pieces, are the work of the gallery’s owner, Tom Goodwin, a prolific artist who currently has about 90 canvases on hand. The paintings, created with Golden acrylics on pure cotton canvas, are mostly abstract works, some with subtle figurative elements, with a very broad range of palette. Goodwin’s admiration for such modern masters as Kandinsky, DeKooning and Hans Hoffman is reflected in the expressiveness of his brushstrokes and the sensual play of line and color that brings each piece to life.
Asked how he hopes that viewers see his paintings, Goodwin said “I’d like them to be intrigued, to find both humor and beauty in the work and not so much trying to figure it out.
When people look at my paintings, I’d like them to just let their hearts and brain go where they choose.”
Goodwin can be considered a life-long artist.
“I’ve been a painter since I was very young,” he said, “and I was always looking for a way to support myself with painting. To pay my bills, I built a career in Portland real estate, but I kept painting all the time.”
Almost 25 years ago, Goodwin bought a home high above the coastline in the Neskowin area with a sweeping ocean view and built a studio on his grounds. He was still looking for a way to sell his work.
“And then I was driving through Cloverdale on my way to Tillamook and I saw this community that was becoming like a ghost town,” he said. “I saw buildings that had a lot of character, but weren’t being maintained. Some of them were vacant. I was attracted to the opportunity of rehabbing the town.”
Goodwin purchased a property known as the Closet Door Boutique in 2012 and performed extensive renovations before selling it to another artist, Marilyn Burkhardt, who still operates her Burkhardt Gallery in that space. He bought another property across the street, performed another renovation, and eventually settled into his third and final gallery space, which he now plans to close at the end of this year.
As he prepares to close his gallery, the artist has priced his work very affordably, with pieces offered in a range from $50 all the way up to $1,500 for the very largest canvases. Some of the work dates back to his most prolific period, during the COVID lockdown, when there wasn’t much to do aside from furiously turning out new paintings.
“The gallery had become very busy,” he said. “Then COVID came and for two years, nobody was coming in. It gave me a lot of time to paint.”
Although the collection of paintings are the principal offering at the Thomas Goodwin Gallery, other items are distributed throughout the space, many of them treasures from Goodwin’s extensive travels.
“There’s a Balinese barong mask, some excellent Maasai beadwork from Kenya, baskets from various countries and slippers from indigenous Alaskans,” he said. “There are a lot of very cool things in this collection.”
In the decade since he opened his first space there, Goodwin has been highly immersed in the Cloverdale community, helping to organize annual grass-roots Cruise-In car events and contributing to the town’s annual “Clover’s Day” civic celebrations.
The Thomas Goodwin Gallery has also acted as a cultural hub for the area, hosting musical gatherings, poetry readings, exhibits from other artists and one-off events such as a presentation and lecture on the Four Noble Truths by traveling Tibetan monks.
A piano, along with guitars and other instruments, are strategically placed throughout the gallery.
“People from all over the world come through the door and some play musical instruments,” Goodwin said. “They all have stories to tell. The social aspect of this gallery has been very important. And very time-consuming.”
When the gallery finally closes, Goodwin intends to spend more time painting at the studio on his home property. An avid car enthusiast, he’ll work on his vintage 1936 Studebaker, his prized 1955 MG, a 1965 Chevy2 station wagon and other vehicles in his collection. And he expects to maintain some involvement in the Cloverdale community that he has helped to revitalize.
“I’ll support Cloverdale in any way I can,” he said. “I’ll miss it, but I won’t be far away.”
The Thomas Goodwin Gallery is located at 34380 Hwy. 101 in Cloverdale. Hours are Friday through Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm. For more information and special appointments, call 503-329-8345.