Crash the arts party in Toledo
While pumpkin orange is undeniably the key color for fall, the full artistic palette will be on display this Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 2 and 3, at First Weekend in Toledo.
The town’s galleries and studios will open their doors, inviting the public to connect with local artisans and see what’s new.
Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery will feature “A Pumpkin Patch,” a well-loved autumnal scene capturing the harvest spirit of this time of year. Gibbons was in the middle of a month-long exhibition in Connecticut during the fall of 1997 when he came across this New England cottage and plentiful pumpkin patch. The orange pumpkins nestled amongst the leaves in front of the cottage gives the piece a storybook quality that ignites the viewer’s imagination. Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery is located at 140 NE Alder Street. Open from noon to 4 pm during First Weekend.
For more information, go to michaelgibbons.net or call 541-336-2797.
Visitors to Ivan Kelly Studio-Gallery will be treated to “Surf Watching,” an oil painting recently juried into the first online exhibition of the American Society of Marine Artists Awards.
Kelly was awarded Signature Membership by the association in 2000 and his oil paintings have been juried in several national public art museum art tours and other art exhibits as well as other art organization exhibits.
The artwork will be exhibited on the online gallery through March 15, 2025, and can be viewed art americansocietyofmarineartists.com/asma-awards-show.
Ivan Kelly Studio-Gallery, located at 207 East Graham Street, will be open from 11 am to 4 pm on Saturday and 1 to 4 pm on Sunday. For more information, go to www.IvanKelly.com.
The Yaquina River Museum of Art is presenting the final month of Ed Cameron’s solo exhibit “The Moment.” Cameron is a local historian, author, artist, cartoonist and musician who made a name for himself in the underground comic scene in ’70s San Francisco where his works were seen in the San Francisco Phoenix. Later, moving back to Oregon and landing on the Central Coast living in the Gilmore (now the Sylvia Beach Hotel), Cameron became a local news radio reporter and published his comics in his independent newspaper, the Gilmore Gazette. Throughout his life, comic artistry has been a constant. From his first inspirations in elementary school reading “Terry and the Pirates” to his work at the Gilmore Gazette and to this day, Cameron’s visual records capture fleeting moments that others only wish they could recall.
“I just kept drawing all my life” he said.
The museum will also showcase the Celtic woodcarvings of Rusty Brown, including large sculptural pieces of intricately carved designs, and his popular hand-carved Christmas ornaments. Brown, a cousin of museum founder Michael Gibbons, began carving wood in 2002 and now has artwork abroad and around the US in private collections. His designs reflect the heritage of his ancestral roots in Ireland and Scotland.
Brown will give a wood-carving demonstration during his Art Talk at 1:30 pm on Saturday, Nov. 2.
The museum, located at 151 NE Alder Street will be open noon to 4 pm both days of First Weekend. For more information, go to yaquinarivermuseumofart.org.
On Main Street, Crow’s Nest Gallery & Studio features the works of more than 15 artists in a variety of mediums. Crow’s Nest founder Janet Runger’s pieces of found assemblage art are visual puzzles as much as they are scenes that totally capture the viewer’s imagination. Whether you are spying the materials used by the artist to create her detailed sculptures, or seeing her work as the visual wonder of her storybook imagination, there’s always something new to discover with every look. See her work in the gallery alongside pieces by Alice Haga, fused glass; Sylvia Hosie, photography; Paula Teplitz, sculptural jellyfish mobiles; Jeff Gibford, digitally manipulated photographs; Veta Bakhtina, oil painting; Tish Epperson, watercolorist; Val Bolen, ceramics; and Susan Jones, woven fiber jellyfish.
Crow’s Nest Gallery & Studio is located at 305 N. Main Street, open from 10 am to 5 pm both days.