Holy Toledo!
Byzantine iconography takes center stage at Toledo’s First Weekend
Toledo’s First Weekend provides opportunities to connect and talk to the local artists who make up this small town’s vibrant arts community.
The premier exhibit this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 6 and 7, is “Promise,” an annual holiday show at the Yaquina River Museum of Art.
The museum will also be the site for the launch of “Painting in Nature,” a fine art book of work by the late artist Michael Gibbons.
“Promise” is an exhibition of authentic original icons by modern icon writers as well as antiquated Greek and Russian Orthodox icon writers from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Iconography is an ancient form of art that involves the conscious duplication of Medieval types and imagery from early Christianity.
Modern icons written by Bobby Love, an iconographer based in South Beach, will be on display. Working primarily as a tattoo artist from 1991 to 2007, Love became well-versed in a variety of mediums and techniques.
In 2008, he was granted the opportunity to live and study art as a monk in a Benedictine monastery. During the years that followed, he focused his attention on the theology and sacred geometry of Byzantine iconography, and he was also strongly influenced by the Beuronese school of art.
After his departure from the cloister in 2018, he relocated to the Oregon Coast and has been primarily focusing on statue restoration and Orthodox Christian iconography. See his work and other icons in the museum’s School House Exhibit Space.
Hand-bound versions of “Painting in Nature,” the fine art book of the late Michael Gibbons’ work, featuring silver leaf lettering, will be available for sale at the museum for $50.
The Yaquina River Museum of Art is located at 151 NE Alder Street and is open from noon to 4 pm. “Promise” will be on display at the museum through January 23.
For more information, go to yaquinarivermuseumofart.org.
Across the street, the Michael Gibbons Signature Gallery will be featuring “Dawn Near Eddyville,” a painting depicting a colossal spruce tree towering over a barn on a dewy morning hillside near Eddyville.
In 2019, Gibbons connected with Patricia Plunkett Holler, one of the descendants of the homesteaders of the property, who saw his painting featured in an online article and instantly recognized the tree.
“My dad told me about how, when he was quite a small boy, he stood beside his grandfather and watched him plant a little spruce tree near the road that went by their land in Eddyville,” Plunkett Holler said. “That had to have happened right around year 1900.”
Patricia and her family have always felt a strong connection to the tree, now more than 120 years old, that captured Gibbons’ attention on one of his many painting excursions along the Oregon Coast.
Collectors limited edition versions of “Painting in Nature,” featuring gold leaf lettering, are available for purchase at the gallery for $125.
The Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery is located at 140 NE Alder Street and is open from noon to 4 pm Saturday and Sunday. For more information, go to michaelgibbons.net.
On Main Street, Crow’s Nest Gallery and Studio will be displaying the works of 15 artists. Janet Runger, the founder of Crow’s Nest, will be featuring her whimsical found object assemblage art. Also featured at Crow’s Nest are the works of Alice Haga, Val Bolen, Paula Teplitz, Jeff Gibford, Veta Bahktina and Tish Epperson.
Crow’s Nest Gallery and Studio is located at 305 N. Main Street and is open from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday.