Author: Josephy Center for Arts & Culture

Artist and Curator Anna Vogel

May 4 – June 18

Opening Reception: Saturday, May 4 at 7 PM – Free!

Dream Oregon Viritual Exhibit: Click Here!

Pre-Exhibit Concert: Friday, May 3 at 7 PM – OK Theatre – $10 – Album release for instrumental piano & drums duo Kinzie Steele, featuring live painting by Dream Oregon!

About the Exhibit: Please join the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture for the opening reception of “Dream Oregon,” an exciting new exhibit running from May 4th to June 18th. Doors open at 6:30 pm on Saturday, May 4th, and the event officially starts at 7 pm. Catering will be by the Wallowa Pop People Mark and Denise, the culinary duo behind Joseph’s gourmet ice pop stand. The sounds of local pianist Seth Kinzie and drummer Andy Steele’s new album, “When I was a Tree,” will be heard throughout the evening. Admission is free but donations are welcome. 

“Dream Oregon” started with artist and curator Anna Vogel’s vision of a homegrown Oregon mythology, created through art. She invited several artists to join her with their own take on the theme: Jennifer Klimsza, Talia Jean Gavin, Kelly Riggle, Kolle Riggs, and Carrie Chupp. Through photography, painting, sculpture and illustration, they bring us on a tour of Oregon from the tiniest pebble to the tallest mountain. A “Dream Oregon” book, featuring photos of artwork and artist’s biographies, will be for sale for $15 at the opening and throughout the duration of the exhibit.

We appreciate the support for this exhibit: the Wildhorse Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation and the Ford Family Foundation.

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Exhibit opening August 2 at 7 p.m. and running through September 9

Special Exhibit catalog available for sale online and at Josephy!
Virtual Exhibit: Click Here to View

The Wild and Scenic Lostine River is an iconic Oregon landscape. The river begins amid the rugged peaks, placid lakes, and weather-beaten white bark pines of the Eagle Cap Wilderness. Its clear, cold waters follow a glacially-hewn valley for 31 miles to the confluence with the Wallowa River, where it nurtured an important Nez Perce summer encampment. The ridges along its watershed are places of alpine splendor, home to Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, Rocky Mountain goats, and other iconic wildlife. The river harbors bull trout, steelhead and rainbow trout, Chinook salmon, and recently restored Coho salmon, whose first returns occurred in 2018.

This exhibit will portray the entirety of this extraordinary wild watershed and its wild inhabitants, river, forests, and alpine setting, from sources to mouth, ridge-top-to-ridgetop, in words and images. It is the 30th year of the river’s official designation as a Wild River.

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The January-February exhibit at the Josephy Center explores local history through early photos and photographers. David Weaver of the Wallowa History Center chose the photos from his own collection, the History Center’s, and from family photos brought in to the Center over the last few weeks. The opening will be on Sunday, January 6, from 3:00—5:00 p.m. Exhibits runs through February 25.

This specific exhibit has some special features. Carrie Chupp designed a beautiful exhibition booklet for us, featuring many of the photographs from the exhibit. It is available here for $20.

We also have a virtual exhibit, for those who live far away, available for viewing here. This was designed by Seth Kinzie.

The Wallowa Country has gained a reputation for its art and artists in recent years, but photographers were roaming the Country and sometimes setting up shop in a storefront in Enterprise or Wallowa from the earliest days of white settlement. They were undoubtedly our first professional artists.

The exhibit, which will include about 50 photos with captions, and in some cases brief essays explaining the context and naming the photographer, is a “sampling,” because family portraits were common, and with the invention of cheap cameras and advent of “postcard” photos in the early 1900s, taking photos of homes, camping, fishing, and hunting trips, trains, airplanes and football games was fair game for all. We know that there are thousands of photos still in albums and closets.

And we hope that you will be inspired by this exhibit to do your own family photo history exploration. You might also have comments on the photos in the exhibit—we welcome them. And the Center is exploring the possibility of posting more photos on our web site. This should only be a beginning.

Theme:  “Women on the Edge”

Exhibit will run March 2 – April 18, 2019

Click here to view our virtual exhibit gallery!

The Josephy Center is excited to bring back our annual Women’s Art exhibit opening Saturday, March 2 at 7pm. This year will be our fifth! Everyone is welcome to help us celebrate these amazing women artists and Women’s History Month. Appetizers will be provided by Vanilla Stag and we will have a no-host bar. The exhibit is set to run until April 18 so there will be ample time to stop by before it’s over. Support for the show comes from Wallowa County Soroptimist, Oregon Arts Commission, and the Pacific Power Foundation.

This year’s exhibit has a wide range of talent. Many upcoming artists like Olivia Starks and Kolle Kahle Riggs. There are also some very experienced artists like leslie LeViner and Nancy Clarke. All artists will participate in the exhibit with a total of 36 artists and 57 pieces. Artist Dawn Norman is our curator this year. “This was my first time curating an open call exhibition for the Josephy Center. I was happy to see so many great entries from our Wallowa Valley women!”. Dawn teaches youth art classes on Friday at 10 a.m. for ages 5-7 and a drawing and painting class for teens and adults from 12:30-2 p.m. During the exhibit, she will be teaching a Wine and Painting class – with watercolors on March 9th at 4 p.m. Register for the class on our website or contact Mellica at classes@josephy.org.

This year is a special year to celebrate women – it marks the 100th year that women were legally authorized the right to vote in 1919. On March 12 Wallowa County Commissioner – and former Enterprise Mayor – Susan Roberts will talk about her career in local politics at a noon Brown Bag event at the Josephy Center. On March 26 the Brown Bag will honor outstanding women in County affairs, beginning with Wilma Haller, an early Soroptimist who developed the Thrift Shop. And on April 9 several senior women agriculture and natural resource students from the OSU program at Eastern Oregon University will talk about the future for women in their fields.

Join in classes with local and regional artists Dawn Norman, Whitney Freya, and who will be leading Painting Meditation classes on the 13th of March and the 24th of April.

Feel free to email Megan at coordinator@josephy.org with any questions!

Historic barns inspire the imagination.  One can almost hear the clack of hammers against wood, a dusty farmer, a saw whirring in the distance as the barn is being built.  The industry of generations past who worked without manuals, YouTube videos, or the vast information found though the internet.  Just know-how passed to them from parents and community.

Maybe, instead, you hear the rustle of hay and the whispering voice of someone talking to their favorite milk cow, a wife calling out that breakfast is ready, children gathering eggs and going about their daily chores.

Or you can imagine the coats of paint, fixed windows, and greased hinges over the years, the generations of a family that passed through these barns.  Perhaps the barn you remember or see in your mind’s eye is one that has outlived its purpose and waits, slowly making its way back from where it came.  It now sits quietly, a haven for wild things.

This summer the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture in partnership the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce invited artists to tour area barns and create art for an upcoming exhibit.  The exhibit, a compilation of photographs, paintings, and drawings by many artist, will open at the Joseph Center on October 6 at 7pm and will run through December 4, 2018.

If you’re interested in taking a barn tour yourself, you can pick up a  map from Josephy Center or the Enterprise Chamber of Commerce.  There are several routes to choose from.  Bring some snacks, your imagination, and enjoy some of the historic barns of Wallowa County.  And them come see if the artists’ renditions at the Josephy Center match the pictures in your mind.

PAINTING BY MIKE KOLOSKI

The Josephy Center for Arts and Culture invites the public to the opening of their new Wild Landscapes-series exhibit: The Wild Landscape: Art and Words of the Zumwalt Prairie, on Friday, August 3, 2018 at 7 p.m., doors open at 6:30. The content of the exhibit is also available for purchase as a paperback exhibit catalogue.

The diverse exhibit includes poetry, essays, a sound-track and a short film; as well as paintings and photographs, by 25 writers and artists from around the northwest, including David Jensen, Leslie LeViner, Jenner Hanni, Janie Tippett, and Pamela Royes.  It will continue from August 4 until September 11.

Art and Words of the Zumwalt Prairieoffers a snapshot of The Nature Conservancy’s Zumwalt Prairie Preserve in mid-June—the peak flowering season. To produce this exhibit, the artists and writers gathered on June 16 to begin the week-long creative project to capture the landscapes, flowers, animals, and essence of The Zumwalt.

Their work depicts the wild nature of The Zumwalt Prairie Preserve, and also considers the question of what “wild” means in landscape that has been influenced, harvested, and managed by humans for millennia.

The exhibit catalogue includes all paintings and photographs in the exhibit, as well as the full text of poems, essays, and stories; and introductions by The Nature Conservancy’s Jeff Fields, and exhibit curator Ellen Morris Bishop.  It is available as a paperback book for $15.

Artist Jakob Haßlacher will be donating a painting to help raise funds for our art-education program. The painting will be up for silent auction during the exhibit. Come make a bid.

The Wild Landscape: Art and Words of the Zumwalt Prairieexhibit was funded by the Collins Foundation and Ann Werner. The Kinsman Foundation supported publication of the exhibit catalogue and The Nature Conservancy generously sponsored the artists’ time on their preserve.

During the exhibit’s run, we will offer several classes: Night Photography with Ellen Bishop on August 10 and a watercolor plein airclass on September 9. For more details, see our website. Accompanying events will be announced and will also be available on our website. www.josephy.org.

 

Contacts:

Cheryl Coughlan, Josephy Center Director: director@josephy.org  541-432-0505

Jeff Fields: The Nature Conservancy Manager: jfields@tnc.org    541-620-1250

Ellen Morris Bishop, Curator:  paleobishop@gmail.com541 398-1810

Attachments:

“Zumwalt Prairie to the Seven Devils,”  Watercolor, Leslie LeViner

“Sunbath at Sunrise,” Photograph, Jenner Hanni

 

Join us under the big top for Le Cirque de Arment:  THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH!

The grand opening of this show is Friday, July 6 at 7 p.m.  Meet a fortune teller, a magician, a ringmaster and crazy performers.  This evening will be like none other!  Imagine a world of animals in tutus and throwing rings at a pig’s nose.  Under Arment’s influence you will be transported into another place, and he does it all through ART.

The month of July will include a carving class, a “Live and Up Front- Brown Bag,” a wood carving class, and an exhibition catalog.  Please join us! Exhibit runs through July 31.

The “greatest show on earth” came to town…and follow right behind it is Steve Arment’s pretty cool circus will be in town on Friday, July 6  – show time is 7 p.m.Steve’s circus has been held up in Lostine in a Barn and ready to board the circus train to Joseph.  Train cars full of pigs, dragons and elephants in tutus have reportedly been seen near the train tracks. Plenty of characters will be there to entertain. Word is that Arment’s got a cast of animals and performers that promise to be mesmerizing, thrilling and entertaining.  A ticket for the Big Top is free but spare dollars and change are welcome.

The Josephy Center is bombastic about Arment’s new exhibit “Le Cirque de Arment” which opens Friday, July 6 at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6:30). The exhibit will be up until July 31. At the opening, be prepared for a cast of circus characters: clowns, fortune tellers, jugglers, ring master and more surprises…amazing animals doing tricks and all the games to play…it will be an art exhibit like no other.

A companion book will be produced but and will be available in mid-July. Advanced orders will be taken.

Music, food, and entertainment will be the main event. Bring the whole family. Other events throughout the month include, a fortuneteller at the Joseph Farmer’s Market from 10-2 p.m. A special brown bag with Steve on Thursday, July 12 at noon– learn more about Steve’s wood carving. Then on Friday and Saturday July 13-14,Steve will teach a wood carving class at the Center. Beginners are welcome. Details are available on our website.

On Tuesday, July 10, Charlie Chaplin’s “The Circus” film will be shown at 7 p.m., free.

Steve was raised by a herd of carousel horses. They taught him to whittle and carve. From there he went to the Wood University and then traveled the world exploring the arts. He settled in a barn in Wallowa County and has been creating interiors, outdoor dragons and indoor pigs.

The Josephy Center is located at 403 N. Main Street, in Joseph. Please check out our website for a full schedule and details at www.josephy.org or call 541-432-0505.

“When the circus comes to town, everybody acts like a clown. The world starts spinning upside down when the circus comes to town.”  – a children’s song lyric

 

 

A new exhibit, Modes: Making Art, Jazz and History, opens with a reception at the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture April 7th from 7:00-9:00.  Lostine print artist Nancy Clarke will conduct at walk-through of the exhibit for docents and interested people at 6:30, before the reception.  The exhibit explores connections between fine art prints, jazz and Oregon’s cultural history. The Center has selected works that complement the premiere performance of “From Maxville to Vanport” which takes place the following Friday at the OK Theater in Enterprise. 

“Jazz musicians improvise independently but within a particular mode and structure to create a unified and unique performance. Print artists also experiment with a variety of modes to express their ideas visually,” said curator Jane Pagliarulo.

The Center is launching a print arts program. To inspire established and emerging artists Pagliarulo has chosen broad selection of prints that demonstrate the many different ways that ink can be applied to paper. Educational material about how prints are made will be displayed. Lostine print artist Nancy Clarke will conduct a walk-through of the exhibit for docents and interested people at 6:30 before the reception.

“This show includes works by some of Oregon’s top artists,” said Cheryl Coughlan, Executive Director. “We have two winners of the Governor’s Arts Award represented:  Avie Smith and George Johanson. Also winners of Oregon’s highest award for print artists, the Ray Trayle Prize, will be shown.”

The exhibit will run through May 28th. The exhibit is sponsored in part by the Oregon Cultural Trust and the Collins Foundation.

Print by George Johanson

Honoring Women’s Art Month please join us for our exhibit featuring women and the art they have created.  Opening evening will be March 3, from 7-9pm with drinks and goodies catered by Lynne Curry. The exhibit runs through April 3.

We have a great line up of events and classes to participate in during the month of March.  Dabble in the art of abstract painting with Jennifer Klimsza on the 10th.  No experience necessary but expect to have some fun.  Terri Malec is offering a sculpting series class, every Tuesday from 1-4.  You must be able to commit to all Tuesdays.

Participate in the  “Women’s Tea” on March 18th at 4pm.  Come listen to readings by Mary Emerick and Pam Royes.  Delight in music played by Gail Swart on the piano.  To wrap up the month we’ll have a concert on the 31st showcasing women musicians and writers.

Brown bags every Tuesday at noon to be announced.