Walking the walk
Canvas the area at the Toledo Art Walk
For 28 years, Labor Day Weekend in Toledo has been synonymous with the town’s multi-faceted arts community. The event returns this Saturday, Sept. 3, through Monday, Sept. 5, with more than 25 artists at eight locations.
Enjoy displays, refreshments, demonstrations, lectures and live music performances on this self-guided tour. Maps will be at participating locations and will include details on how to enter to win works by the participating artists, an event tradition.
The Yaquina River Museum of Art
The museum will be exhibiting the works of Colleen Caubin in her solo show, “Heaven in a Wildflower” in the School House Exhibit Space. Caubin is a highly admired painter whose still life and plein air works attract viewers everywhere. She finds immense inspiration from her surroundings.The collection of oils exhibited were painted on location within the Yaquina watershed. Different from the still life paintings her audience may be more familiar with, these works take on a freer transcendental movement. Playing with light and the very moment of a constantly shifting landscape, Caubin’s depictions look as though it’s possible to run the wildflowers through your fingers.Caubin will be giving an art talk each day at 1 pm on the museum’s lower covered patio at 151 NE Alder Street. Complimentary refreshments will be provided. There will be 50-percent-off sale on a large variety of prints at the museum.
Michael Gibbons Signature Gallery
This year, the gallery will be featuring the oil painting “Soap Creek School.” This work, painted in 1996, was found in Gibbons’ studio after his passing in 2020. According to a book on area history, the original school was built in 1877. Fascinated by the solitary setting, Gibbons returned many times to paint different views and the only available work is now offered to the discriminating collector at the gallery.During the art walk, a discount of 50 percent will be offered for all prints, mugs and art cards at the gallery, located at 140 NE Alder Street.
St. John’s Historical Church
The church will show ceramics by Martha Wallace and photographs by Dennis White. Wallace has been creating ceramics for 30 years. For the past five, she has been working towards mastering the art of porcelain dishware and in the past year has experimented with combining thrown and hand-built forms.White's work is built upon the classic fundamentals of photography before digital came into the picture. He invested the time to learn and practice Ansel Adams’ Zone System, a framework for varying exposure and development of black and white film.The Newport Youth Symphony, with members from the Newport Symphony Orchestra, will be performing at times throughout the weekend at the church, located at 110 NE Alder Street.
Ivan Kelly Studio & Gallery
Kelly will be featuring his original oil paintings in the exhibit “Coastal Landscapes,” which will include new works displayed for the first time. A native of Ireland, Kelly moved to the US where he was influenced by several outdoor painters who inspired him to paint mountain and coastal landscapes. A collector once said about his work “I can taste the colors and breathe the atmosphere in these moments in time.”A nationally recognized artist, Kelly has been a signature member of the American Society of Marine Artists since 2000. His art has been juried into several national public art museum tour exhibits.The studio is located at 207 E Graham Street.
Crow’s Nest Gallery & Studio
Work from 15 artists will be on display, including founder Janet Runger’s storybook found object assemblage art. Crow’s Nest also has found object art supplies for sale.Other art showing will be Veta Bakhtina’s striking folkloric paintings, Alice Haga’s fused glass works, Val Bolen’s tile and ceramics, Paula Teplitz’ ceramics, mixed media and sculptural jellyfish mobiles, Jeff Gibford’s digitally manipulated photography and Tish Epperson’s vivid watercolors.Crow’s Nest is located at 305 N Main Street.
Toledo Public Library
The Art Walk Founders Show, featuring works by Gibbons, Kelly and Doug Haga, will be on Saturday only at the library, located at 1736 NW 7th Street.Main Street
Main Street
The Arts Revitalization of Toledo’s Phantom Galleries will show works by mixed-media artist Melanie Price, sculptural artist Tom Ettel, and photographer Jeremy Burke in shop windows along Main Street. Karen Fitzgibbon of FIKAA Designs will be showcasing her mixed media works at 195 N Main Street. Her ability to move between forms of art with creative ease makes her work striking in their compositions.“At this point in time, I am working on hand-building clay pieces, learning the process, experimenting with new ideas and tweaking others," she said. “I am also adding various fibers to some of the pieces: paper made from mushrooms or hand-spun yarns."
Unless otherwise noted, participating locations will be open daily from 10 am to 5 pm.
