Labors of love
What’s not to like as the Labor Day Art Walk returns to Toledo?
After a one-year hiatus, the long-standing Toledo Labor Day Art Walk returns to the small mill town this weekend.
Now in 27th year, the event features artist demonstrations, art talks and interactive art experiences from Saturday, Sept. 4 through Monday, Sept. 6.
The event is organized by the Yaquina River Museum of Art, which will be featuring guest artist Marion Moir in the Schoolhouse Exhibit space.
Moir is a designer, art teacher and book illustrator, known locally for her iconic watercolor works of flowers, landscapes, puffins, sea life and maritime scenes that perfectly capture the essence of the Oregon seaside.
Striving for adventure in her paintings, Moir creates many of her works en plein air — outside and on location.
“Plein air painting is my favorite,” Moir said, adding that she paints in cold, heat, with changes in light and tides, subjected to insects and on uneven ground or wobbly docks. “But it is the excitement of what I might find around the corner that intrigues and challenges me.”
Moir studied art at Oregon State University and attended workshops from the noted California School painters and many other inspiring teachers in the US and Japan. She lectured on “Arts and Healing” at Oregon hospitals and has been artist-in-residence in Lincoln County schools.
Moir teaches watercolor, collage, gyotaku and mixed media in Newport and around the country. She has won numerous awards and grants for her work. She is also a book illustrator and her paintings are in corporate collections worldwide.
“I was very pleased to be asked to show in this wonderful gallery space again,” she said. “I have included paintings I did upriver and at Criteser’s Moorage. I loved to hear the stories the owner, Ralph Criteser, who is now in his 90s, would tell his cronies who were there every day to see him. The quietness and beauty of the river captivates me.”
Moir’s original works and prints will be available for purchase at the museum throughout Art Walk. At 1 pm on each day of the three-day event, she will give an art talk on the porch of the
Yaquina River Museum of Art’s schoolhouse building at 151 NE Alder Street. The museum is open from 10 am to 4 pm during the weekend. The show will remain up through Oct. 24.
Outside the museum along the Legacy Arts Terrace, gallery-goers can stop and enjoy a cup of hot or cold brewed coffee by Schoolhouse Coffee. All proceeds will support the continued sponsorship of events like Toledo Art Walk.
Across the street, Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery will be featuring select paintings from the late artist’s original works. Gibbons was a founding member of Art Walk, and his legacy to promote an appreciation of the area’s dedicated artists continues through the colorful arts community in Toledo. His passion for painting the Yaquina Watershed, which he referred to as a sacred landscape, can be seen in his original works painted on location throughout the region.
“You can almost hear the chorus of the different trees,” he once said. “It’s a sense. You don’t hear words, but the language is right there. It’s a living being.”
The gallery will present 75 plein air paintings found in the archives of the artist’s studio, encompassing a wide variety of subjects. Many are unframed and offered at a significant discount. From tiny 6-by-8-inch jewels of Northwest and Southwest landscapes to architectural subjects including much larger streetscapes, many of these treasured works are being shown at Art Walk for the first time.
In keeping with the gallery’s custom for Art Walk, guests will receive an exclusive, 40-percent discount on all prints, mugs and art cards as a “thank you” to all the collectors of Gibbons’ work and to represent 40 years in business. Judy Gibbons invites everyone to visit with her at the gallery as she offers this extraordinary opportunity to see and select pieces from her late husband’s collection.
Next door to Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery, St. John’s Episcopal Church will have family art activities put on by Seashore Family Literacy, a non-profit organization that promotes literacy and provides free meals for children in the area.
On Saturday, take-home art projects will include rock painting and origami peace-signs. On Sunday at noon, Ricky Dyson will read stories, followed by a sing- and play-along ukulele session from Seashore Family Literacy Director Senitila McKinley. Participants are encouraged to bring their own ukuleles along to join the fun.
Free books and literacy pillows will be given out both days along with school supplies.
Just around the corner, the Ivan Kelly Studio and Gallery will be displaying original oil paintings by Kelly, an award-winning artist known for his coastal landscapes, big game works and maritime paintings.
“I love the qualities and effects of light on my chosen subjects,” he said, “be it a meadow, an ocean beach, a Teton peak or on the coat of an elk in the early dawn.”
An awarded Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists, Kelly has been featured in multiple national exhibits and shows.
Crow’s Nest Gallery & Studio will be displaying the works of 15 artists, including founder Janet Runger’s storybook found object assemblage art. Veta Bakhtina will show her striking folkloric paintings; Alice Haga will show her fused glass works; Val Bolen will show her tile and ceramic pieces; Paula Teplitz, primarily a ceramic and a mixed media artist, will display her work including her sculptural jellyfish mobiles; Jeff Gibford will show his digitally manipulated photography and Tish Epperson will display her vivid watercolor works.
Toledo Labor Day Art Walk runs from 10 am to 4 pm daily throughout the Labor Day weekend. For more information, go to yaquinarivermuseumofart.org.