Walkin’ ‘bout my generation
For four special days, the lawn of the Lincoln City Cultural Center will become an outdoor art gallery and the epicenter of a coastal conservation project, when a nearly half-mile long pano-mural brightens the grounds from Wednesday, July 21, through Saturday, July 24.
“For the Seventh Generation: A Community of Coastal Watchers” is a long-term project first envisioned two decades ago. It aims to create a system of ocean observers, “so that any untoward action on the ocean or its accompanying landscape will not go unnoticed.”
Each year, painters in California, Oregon and Washington are invited to choose a mile to revisit and paint.
“This gives the artist the opportunity to intellectually and emotionally connect with the land” said project leader John Teply, “and to take the role of both sentinel and chronicler of a specific ocean location.
The resulting freestanding pano-mural, made up of landscape paintings that are two feet tall and four feet wide, is getting longer every year. This summer, while on display outdoors at the Cultural Center, it will be displayed on fencing installed throughout the cultural center lawn. A collection of other large landscapes will be exhibited in the center’s Hallway Gallery.
When you visit the “For the Seventh Generation” pano-mural, you can start your walk in Tijuana, passing by the Huntington Beach Pier, San Francisco Bay, Cascade Head, Haystack Rock, Astoria Bridge and Puget Sound before ending your trek with a view of the Peace Arch on the Canada border.
Teply calls his project “A Visual State of the Ocean Address.”
“Perhaps each of us has a favorite spot along the coast,” he said. “Looking out over it, we may find ourselves asking, ‘will it survive?’ The ocean is continually under threat. Pollution, coastal development and over-fishing all tax the health of its finite system. Without our strong environmental conscience and a voice to express it, threats to the ocean will be left unchallenged and its health subject to the whims and manipulations of politics and industry. This project provides such a voice.”
This free coastal community event is co-sponsored by the Elisabeth Jones Art Center and the Surfrider Foundation with generous contributions from Chinook Winds Casino Resort and The Bijou Theatre.
"For the Seventh Generation” pano-mural will be open to the public from 11 am to 7 pm on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and from 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday, at the cultural center, 540 NE Hwy. 101. For more information, go to lincolncityculturalcenter.org or call 541-994-9994.
Art and ocean lovers are also invited to these free, associated programs:
For the Seventh Generation Spoken Word: Hear poetry, prose and other spoken word submissions on the coast, the ocean and conservation. 6 pm on Thursday, July 22, in the cultural center auditorium.
Film Festival: A 90-minute juried collection of videos about connecting to place, inspired by specific beach locations along the Pacific Coast. 11 am on Friday, July 23, at the Bijou Theatre, 1624 NE Hwy. 101.
Oceans Festival Art Picnic: Live music, food trucks and artmaking on the last day of the outdoor art exhibit. Noon to 5 pm on Saturday, July 24, at the cultural center.