The Main (Street) event
Toledo’s First Weekend celebrates a small town with a big art
Toledo’s picturesque landscapes and iconic industrial structures make it a place of visual inspiration and a town that many artists call home. At the start of each month, the artistic community celebrates with First Weekend, when galleries and studios open their doors to connect local artisans to the public.
During this month’s first weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, June 3 and 4, the Yaquina River Museum of Art will continue its exhibit “The Majors,” an exclusive selection of the largest paintings from its Permanent Collection. Longtime local artist Doug Haga give an art talk at 1:30 pm on Saturday, followed by a complimentary wine reception. Haga will be discussing “View of Yaquina Bridge,” a piece currently on display in the Schoolhouse, showing the artist’s signature patterned brushstroke style. Haga will also talk about his past and present works an offer a special viewing of a new piece. The museum is located at 151 NE Alder Street, is open from noon-4 pm on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, go to yaquinarivermuseumofart.org.
Across the street at Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery, guests can view “Grace’s Garden,” an original oil that captures the beauty of a summer garden with full-bloom rhododendrons and an intriguing pathway leading the viewer into a pacific wildflower forest. Gibbons found beauty in every nook and cranny of Toledo. The late regional artist liked to work near his home on NE Alder Street and he found an exquisite garden created by Grace Ross, of pioneer family stock descending from Toledo founder John Graham. Grace owned the land she left for the Lincoln County PUD on Business Highway 20 and Alder Street. She could be found planting and growing 50 azaleas and as many rhododendrons as she could find from scratch simply because she loved to garden. Back then it was common practice for people to share the starts of their plants as plant nurseries did not yet exist in the area.
See this work and many more originals at Michael Gibbons’ Signature Gallery located at 140 NE Alder Street, open from noon to 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, go to michaelgibbons.net.
Just a block over, Ivan Kelly Studio & Gallery will be featuring “Winter Surf” as a way to cool off during a hot summer weekend. Kelly has been a Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists since 2000. See this work as well as his other big game and maritime works in his studio this First Weekend at 207 E Graham Street from noon to 4 pm both days. For more information, go to visit ivankelly.com.
On Main Street, Crow’s Nest Gallery & Studio will feature the works of more than 15 artists. Owner Janet Runger continues to inspire and amaze audiences with her fantastical found art assemblage pieces. Scenes seemingly straight out of one’s childhood memories from fairytales and nursery rhymes come to life in her sculptures. See her work in the gallery as well as the works of Veta Bakhtina, oils; Alice Haga, fused glass; Sylvia Hosie, photography; Paula Teplitz, sculptural jellyfish mobiles; Jeff Gibford, digitally manipulated photographs; Tish Epperson, watercolors; Val Bolen, ceramics; and Susan Jones, woven fiber jellyfish. Crow’s Nest Gallery & Studio is located at 305 N. Main Street in Toledo. Crow’s Nest will be open from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
Also on Main Street is the continued exhibition the selected artists for ART Toledo Phantom Gallery program, which showcases local art in available commercial building spaces.
Currently featured are the works of photographer Taylor Bennett-Wiens and emerging photographer and high school student Tayla Stevenson. Stevenson’s focus on macro photography entices viewers to perceive their world a little differently. Her attention to detail to the quiet moments of dewdrops on branches and insects in habitat encourage us to take a moment and enjoy the beauty that surrounds us.
“Through photography even the slightest movement of the camera can completely change the image produced,” she said. “Photography shows how everyone sees the world through a different lens and in a different light.”
The artwork can be viewed at 355 N Main Street. For more information, go to ARTToledo.com.