At last! It’s First Weekend
Scenes from the Big Apple will be among the art on display in the small mill town of Toledo this Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 4 and 5, as the arts community celebrates another First Weekend.
The monthly event sees the town’s galleries and studios throw open their doors, offering the public a chance to meet local artists and chat about their latest works.
The Yaquina River Museum of Art will be displaying “The New York Experience: A Multi-media Event,” an interactive exhibition by local photographer David Jordan. This series of photographs from around New York City demonstrates Jordan’s ability to capture the feeling and vibrancy of a cityscape. Beyond the visual, Jordan felt it necessary to fully immerse the viewer in the exhibition through sound.
“When looking at scenes from New York City, I realized there was something missing that I had personally experienced,” he said, “so I present the images with a soundscape of the city.”
The soundscape sets the big-city scene, with subways passing, people talking, buskers, sirens, vehicles and more.
“The New York Experience” is available to view from noon to 4 pm Saturday and Sunday at 151 NE Alder Street. Jordan will deliver a talk about his work during Saturday’s champagne reception, starting at 1:30 pm. For more information, go to yaquinarivermuseumofart.org.
Across the street at Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery, visitors can view “The New and the Old.” The late artist painted the piece on site at Schreiner’s Iris Farm in Keizer during one of his annual trips to capture the beauty of the flowers in May and June. Gibbons believed barns are an important part of Oregon’s history and wanted to capture as many as he could on canvas. His use of subtle colors on the flowers and barn leave the impression of aging beauty surrounded by the drama of the Oregon landscape.
Located at 140 NE Alder Street, Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery is open from noon to 4 pm both days of First Weekend.
On Main Street, Crow’s Nest Gallery & Studio will feature the works of more than 20 artists. The gallery-space run by assemblage artist Janet Runger always features new and exciting works for viewers to see. Award-winning photographer Sylvia Hosie captures viewers with her detailed images of bison and horses, as well as dreamy northwest landscapes, which make the viewer feel as though they could step through the frame and enter a different world. Veta Bakhtina, features her folkloric oil paintings; Alice Haga, fused glass; Val Bolen, tile and ceramic pieces; Paula Teplitz, sculptural jellyfish mobiles; Jeff Gibford, digitally manipulated photographs; Tish Epperson, watercolors; and Susan Jones, woven fiber jellyfish.
Crow’s Nest Gallery & Studio is located at 305 N. Main Street and open from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Meanwhile, on Graham Street, Ivan Kelly Studio and Gallery will display “Boom,” an oil vignette of Oregon Coast ocean waves crashing against the rocks.
Kelly, a Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists, is currently exhibiting his work “Yaquina Head Looking North” at the American Society of Marine Artists Public Art Museum Tour in Albany, New York.
Ivan Kelly Studio and Gallery is located at 207 E Graham Street an open from noon to 4 pm both days.
For more information, go to ivankelly.com.