Artist and Board Member of Portland Open Studios
Q: How did you start your art career?
"I was born with a crochet hook in one hand and a purple crayon in the other." She laughs. "I went to art school and was an art teacher for three years. I graduated from University of Washington in Seattle. When I was a child I would have a dollar and I would go to NYC from NJ on the bus by myself. When I was 12 I'd go to the museum of Art all by myself, walking the forty blocks to go look at the art. One of the things that propelled me into art was my art teachers. My town wasn't rich, it was lower middle class town. But one thing we had was art three times a week in 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade. Kids don't have that opportunity anymore and I wonder how many artists we are losing. I always had teachers that were mentoring me. In a fundamental way that relates to Portland Open Studios for me because it relates to giving people opportunities to love art. Open studios is a safe place for people to come and bring their kids. I even crochet with wire while people ask me questions. You wouldn't think that people would be interested in that, but they are. It's a good thing to be an artist.
Q: How did you get into the Portland Open Studios?
"In 2000 something came in the mail. I said to myself: This Sounds Interesting, I'll go meet with the person at the bottom of the letter. I wanted to join the board, applied and was accepted, and then I joined the board. During that time I saw that there was a need for a website so I donated the website. At that time they didn't know the value of a website, but now they couldn't do without it. One of the reasons I applied was that I had been doing shows at my house. I always did an annual show and I noticed that the same people came all the time. You can't get publicity as a one person show in North Portland. I loved the idea of a community of artists coming together with this organization. I love the idea of a community of artists coming together with common goals. Now in Portland Open Studios 80% of people coming to these events are people I don't know or have recently met. Some are old friends that I haven't seen for 20 years, but most of them are a new audiences. We've published a beautiful tour guide. For lots of artists it's the first time they've been published. I'm in the center fold this year. Had I known, I would have put a more racy piece in!" She laughs again. "Did I answer your question?"
Q: What does Portland Open Studios offer to the public and it's artists?
"We give out scholarships every year to help emerging artists. We're a multi-cultural organization and we represent all of the kinds of artists in Portland. We have a variety of artists in all media and age ranges this year. The word "Community" is really what it's all about. We take each other's workshops, we act as mentors for each other, building friendships. I did my first outdoor sculpture last year and I knew I could call an artist from Portland Open Studios and ask how I could do that. We bring all that chatting and sharing to the public. "We don't have the people who sit in the back of the room and not talk to you. They want to engage you. That's the point with "What is art? Why is it important?" It's important for the general public as a thing to do and as a thing to look at. Go to an empty building, with no art on the walls. It's kind of creepy without art. I've been curating shows at the Albina Bank in North Portland and people have commented that it seems to be a new bank since there is art on the walls. Art can make you happy, be thought provoking, it can make you think about certain avenues, time periods, costumes, other times. We have eyes, we are visual, we want to be surrounded by interesting colors and shapes. That's why people set the table, clean and paint their houses, do gardening. It's all part of that visual continuum.
Q: What drives you to make your art? What do you think about your art?
"That question could last a year." She laughs again happily. "I don't know how put a value on it, but it's something I have to do. I do a lot of things with found object, a sort of elegant high-tech. I did a piece about the 2000 election, and a piece about the ransacking of the Baghdad art museum. One of the things that I like to do is to translate ideas visually. The piece in the tour guide is an elegant piece about global warming, it's really quite beautiful, but then people realize "Oh my god, that's about global warming!"
Everyone works at their own pace. Chris Haberman is a fast painter. He's done 20 pieces, in the time that I'm still doing research for the object I'm doing. I love to do the research. I did a piece about mixed marriages on a wedding cake. It was fun doing the research that gave me a verbal bank of information to draw upon. I liked it because it was all encompassing.
"People ask me: How come your house is painted like your artwork.? Well it's because I choose the colors for both. Art for me is a way of life. I go to my outbuilding, work out there, make a mess and get my ideas out. Some things work and some things don't. Sometimes I re-visit pieces. I've been a professional artist most of my adult life. I've had to figure out how to make a living but luckily those jobs were all art related. I've had a mac on my desk since feb 1985. I also became very interested in digital images immediately and now I'm on my 7th digital camera. I use images in my work and got into teaching people how to use Photoshop since version 1.5. That's a long time ago. I travelled all over the country teaching people how to use it. I built my own website in 1996 and do websites for other artists. If you're going to be an artist you need a "three legged stool" your artwork and two other skills that help make ends meet. You're lucky if it's related to art. It's hard to make a living, it's hard to make a living selling something with a philosophical or intangible use. It's hard enough selling things we need, like toilet paper let alone art. Even toilet paper has to go on sale. You have to have a marketing plan. I've been very fortunate. I live very simply. I wouldn't say I'm a fantastic seller, I make two and three thousand dollar pieces and also balance that with jewelry that I sell for about forty dollars. You're building a career and building a life. You have to figure out how you can achieve it. Figure out how to accomplish what you need to do. There was one woman I knew that couldn't do it. She loved the fine clothes and abandoned her art career for accounting, even though she was a fabulous artist. That's a hard one for me to think about because I've always made things and moved things to fit my needs as opposed to making me fit the little box. I grow 50% of my food, for instance.
One of the reasons I wanted to do Portland Open Studios was to be an art missionary. I was in my studio, and it sometimes gets lonesome and I wanted more contact with other people. Now I have it in spades.
In college I was dying to use some of the lathes and tools in the Industrial Arts Building, but they wouldn't allow us to use it because we were girls. In Elementary school the girls took cooking and sewing and the boys took industrial arts. There was a while in the 80's where the boys did the cooking and the girls got to take industrial arts, so it was a switch there for a while. Now we just don't have any of these classes in our schools. One of the reasons I wanted to do Portland Open Studios was to be an art missionary.
Q: How does your participation in Portland Open Studios help?
Portland Open Studios helps people see new ways to do things. Not just make art, but apply skills they already have in unusual ways. They get to see the studio, the garden, the tools, and all the little weird things I have. like 50 canning jars full of nuts bolts and little shapes of metal. I have maybe 100 drawers of thingamabobs, and bottles of beads. They're all organized by what they are like the screws have blue tops and the bolts have white. I have 20 keyboards. They get to see my palette and my canvas, which is more or less whatever I'm working on. Last year I was working on altered books.
Being involved in Portland Open Studios, as one of the organizers as well as one of the participating artists gives an enormous amount of richness to my life. I found new skills which I didn't know I had; new friends and a community.
Q: What would you tell someone that was interested in making art and didn't know where to begin?
"The first thing I would say: Go look at stuff, come to Portland Open Studios! See what artists are doing. Go to the museum, go to galleries, First Thursdays, First Fridays, Last Thursday. Portland is a gold mine of things to look at. Find what things draw you. Go into yourself and find what things you want to express by comparing what's inside you to what you're interested in visually.
Then start taking classes. Community College, Oregon College of Arts and Crafts, PSU, PNCA all have great classes and workshops that are only a one or two day commitment. I would take as many of those as I can. Many Portland Open Studios artists give workshops and do seminars that help people find their voice. I found out that I wasn't good at clay. I'm horrible at clay and calligraphy, so I could eliminate that, I do like to do painting, and sculpting. I bring each new thing I learn into my toolbox. Who knew I would be using computers in my work! You don't know where this life is going to take you. Go see art.
Thank you Bonnie! Let's all go see Portland Open Studios OCTOBER 11th, 12th, 25th and 26th! It sure to be a treat!
PORTLAND OPEN STUDIOS
Watch Artists at Work
WHEN: October 11, 12, 18, 19
Most studios open both weekends
CONTACT:
www.portlandopenstudios.com
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503-285-3131
High resolution images of artworks and artists working are available
WHAT & WHERE: annual self-directed tour of 98 artists' studios.
Be a tourist in your own town. This fall stay close to home and let art transport you away from your everyday world. See artists at work in their studios at 98 locations throughout metro Portland during Portland Open Studios, October 11, 12 & 18, 19. Go behind the scenes to see where, how, and why art is made in an up close and personal view. The diversity of Portland Open Studios includes artists working in all media -- paint, wood, metal, fiber, glass -- plus emerging artists in their 20’s and 30’s; mid-career and well established artists; and artists from all over the United States and the world who have chosen to live and work in metro Portland.
Enter the dream worlds of Anna Todaro and Todd Griffith or the naturalistic ones of Julie Fulkerson and Cirocco Moody. See the Oregon landscape interpreted in as many ways as there are artists who make them. Feel as though you are looking through a brightly colored prism while looking at Theresa Andreas-O'leary's landscapes on one hand and see the smooth clear shapes in Julie Blackman's on the other. Find China in Beaverton at the studio of Ming Wei,who paints landscapes in the tradional Chinese tradition or travel to Eastern Oregon through Larry Olson's photographs. Can't make it to the Ukraine, Robin Bown uses eggs as her canvas, as they do in Eastern Europe. Go to East Aftica through Martin Owino's batiks. David Kerr's glass vessels let you get lost in the reflections and transparency of the lace-like shapes. Tupper Malone's paintings of Earth from a universe point of view take you out of this world. Meet the locals while traveling, not only the artists but the portraits whose eyes meet yours -- Elliot Walls enigmatic women, Allen Schmertzler's politicians, Amelia Opie's children playing with unusual toys and Chris Haberman's cartoons. Get a flavor of historical time and place with Robert Abbott's elegantly costumed portraits and Sabina Haque's icon filled paintings. Discover the worlds of abstraction with Bruce Ulrich’s large, bold energetic paintings or Samuel Soto’s undulating wood sculptures. No matter what you see if you don't speak the language the participating artists can be your guides.
TICKETS
The $15 Tour Guide comes with two tickets, maps, pictures of all artists' artwork, and contact information (in 2009 calendar format). Children under 18 are free. Available at Art Media, New Seasons, and other stores listed on www.portlandopenstudios.com.
WHAT'S NEW
Many artists are open both weekends.
This year you can cross the river on either weekend to visit studios. Check the Tour Guide and map to see which artists are only open one weekend and which are open both. All westside studios are open on October 11 & 12; all eastside studios are open October 18 & 19
Need a Ride to Portland Open Studios? Let EcoShuttle Drive you.
This year we have partnered with the EcoShuttle to provide group tours of many of our artist workspaces!
EcoShuttle's carbon-neutral tour vans are powered with biodiesel so sit back, relax and enjoy the ride along with other art lovers.
Different pre-scheduled stops are planned for each day of the event. Sign up for one day or all four.
Visit www.ecoshuttle.net for schedules, prices and to arrange a ride to the studios.
Whether you go by bicycle, car, bus or walk your own neighborhood you will be transported to the land of imagination, craftsmanship and beauty.
TWO SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS OF THE KIMBERLY GALES EMERGING ARTISTS SCHOLARSHIP
Since 2005 Portland Open Studios has been awarding scholarships for participation in the tour to artists under 30. This years winners are Natalie Ball and Maggie Casey. Natalie Ball’s large, dynamic, symbol filled abstract portraits intertwine her personal story and the history of the Mendoc and KIamath tribes of Southern Oregon. Whether Maggie Casey is working on a giant installation or her more intimate wood and fiber boxes, she considers herself a sculptor who uses line to build volume. In either case, hundreds of threads which appear to defy gravity create three dimensional drawings.
For a complete list of artists visit www.portlandopenstudios.com
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