Hoffman hosts December show

By Sara Moen

Manzanita’s Hoffman Gallery will close out the year with an exciting show featuring weavings by Kyla Sjogren, charcoal drawings by Sara Moen and a group vase show of coastal ceramic artists.

An artists’ reception will be held from 3 to 5 pm this Saturday, Dec. 7, during which the artists will speak about their work and answer questions.

Sjogren lives in Wheeler, where she moved a decade ago after earning an MFA at the former Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland. She divides her time between a career in corporate textile design and development and a slower-paced life on the North Coast. Sjogren uses natural fibers and pigments to make textile compositions. This work is devoted to the continuous cleansing and renewal of the surrounding coastline: fresh marine air that suspends the smell of life and death, frigid foamy water that rushes around bare feet, and treasures along the wrack line sometimes unseen.

Moen lives in Astoria and works in charcoal on wood panels. She is also a garment cutter/pattern maker. Moen’s drawings in her show “The Legends and Spirits of Short Sand Beach” are all from Short Sand Beach, and the trails leading to it, in Oswald West State Park. She spent a year going back again and again to visit, during which she started to develop her own mythology of the place.

The annual ceramic group show in the gallery this year features vases of all shapes, sizes, and uses. Artists from all along the Oregon Coast will present their work for sale.

The show will run through Dec. 28 at the Hoffman Gallery is located at 594 Laneda Avenue and open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 5 pm. For more information go to hoffmanarts.org or call 503-368-3846.