Heartwood an exhibition
featuring Steve Arment and Anna Vogel
May 27- July 25th
“step through a portal into Heartwood House”
Opening May 27th 2022
doors open at 6:30- fancy dress encouraged
Heartwood
Category: Oil
Three Creative Journeys
The Josephy Center for Arts and Culture is honored to present an upcoming virtual exhibit and catalog -“Three Creative Journeys: Mike Koloski, Leslie LeViner and Mary Edwards”. The exhibit will begin on Friday, June 12 and end July 28 via a virtual online exhibit and a small catalog, with a virtual zoom celebration Friday, June 19th at 5 p.m.
Artist Preface
Last January when I received the invitation to participate in an art show with renowned local painters Mike Koloski and Leslie LeViner, I knew it would be a rare and special opportunity. Covid 19 wasn’t a part of our daily lexicon then, and the prospects for a creative collaboration with these two artists was just the spark of light I needed in the dark of winter. However once the pandemic turned life upsidedown for our entire planet I began to seriously question the point of having an art show when so many were suffering and dying. It seemed a fruitless endeavor, fraught with ethical and spiritual considerations. How could we go forward safely? What might that look like? After our first conference call and upon hearing the many creative ideas for the show from Leslie and Mike, the motivation to move forward became clear, even though the details of how to manifest it were still a bit sketchy. Even in our darkest moments, to engage in the creative process is a salve to the soul and it lays the foundation from which hope may find root. So take a virtual tour, bathe yourself in LeViner light and listen for the song of the river in the quiet calm of a Koloski painting. Can you hear it? I can.
-Mary Edwards
While putting this exhibit together, with COVID-19 shelter-in-place and the effect it has had on businesses, Mary thought we could offer prints in an online silent auction to support the Wallowa County Business Fund. Each artist has selected a specific piece for the online auction and is featured below. Click on the image to be taken to the bidding page.
Bidding begins on May 18 and ends on June 19 at the Zoom Exhibit Reception. Final bid will be at 6 p.m. Leslie Leviner is offering “Spring Below Mount Joseph”, Mike Koloski is featuring “Rock Art” and Mary has selected a panorama print “The Hurricane.” The auction is live now! Starting bid is $25 and can be raised in $5 increments. Happy bidding!
Mike Koloski
Leslie LeViner
Mary Edwards
In addition to the above silent auction, Mike Koloski is offering archival reproductions of his painting “Lostine River – The View from Pole Bridge” to donors who contribute their stimulus checks of $1200 to the business fund. The deadline for this offer is June 12. This painting is a local treasure and was featured in the Lostine River Exhibition last summer where it generated considerable interest and inquiries for purchase. Mike the “artist” and Mary the “owner” both wanted to raise the incentive to donate by offering this unique piece. The archival print reproduction size will be 14.75” x 19”. Print doesn’t include matte and framing.
Function of Medium: New Works
Function of Medium:
New Works by Auburn Isaak and Kevin Boylan
Exhibit opening Friday, October 4 at 7 p.m. and will run until November 16.
About the Exhibit
Working in different mediums, using techniques specific to their own style; Kevin and Auburn have created a unique collection that displays their most recent expirations of materials while referencing the environments that surround them.
function [fuhngk-shuh n] noun
the purpose for which something is designed or exists; role
medium [mee-dee-uhm] noun
instrument by which something is conveyed or accomplished
About Artist Kevin Boylan: “Through the years, my work has evolved from my beginnings as a potter to my current stage as a mixed media sculptor and glassblower. Exploring new mediums, learning new techniques, and examining my most immediate surrounds; my process almost always results with a non-objective, abstract form.
The common thread is that my work is a personal journal. While my hands are creating an object that I’ve overthrough without sketching; my mind is contemplating ideas, relationships, past experiences, or daily occurrences in my life.
Because I use internal reflection of sorts to create my work, I consider it to be self-portrait work, and my latest body of work has become more figurative.”
About Artist Auburn Isaak: “I draw my color palette from nature in its most elusive form; notes defined realism in its physical form, but as I interpret an depict it in my mind. This allows me to use abstract as a function to create the landscape that surrounds me. I choose to incorporate my movement, discoveries, and intuition during my painting process. The paint becomes the medium that inter-operates the human experience and a record of that occurrence.”
Dream Oregon
Artist and Curator Anna Vogel
May 4 – June 18
“Take a tour through fantastic Oregon, as dreamed by local artists. See creatures and landscapes both strange and familiar.”
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.
Descent: Figurative Sculpture, Painting and Drawing
The Josephy Center is honored to present Gianluca’s solo exhibit, “Gianluca Giarrizzo: Descent – Figurative Sculpture, Painting and Drawing“. Exhibit opens Friday, July 7 at 7 PM with an opening reception and will run through until August 2.
Gianluca Exhibit Interview
I grew up in Powell, Wyoming, and without realizing at the time, was inspired by the example of my father, a professor and painter. Drawing was a part of my childhood, and it always seemed that Santa just had a surplus of sketchbooks.
Even though art was a part of life, the realization of my passion for creating began when I was attending Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I went to Lewis and Clark for a number of reasons: baseball, art, philosophy, and I was excited to experience a new city and culture.
Sculpture became something that captivated me right away, and my professor Mike Rathbun was an incredible mentor, among all the wonderful professors I had. Towards the end of college, I studied drawing in Rome for a summer semester. Drawing from the masters every day was simply incredible, and took my appreciation and interest in the figurative tradition of sculpture to a different place of conviction.
After graduating, I spent the summer working at Coleco Foundry in Cody, Wyoming, where I learned to take sculpture through the full bronze process. This was a powerful experience that gave me a window into the collaborative efforts and behind-the-scenes of bronze, as well as a new appreciation for the medium. I apprenticed for sculptor Gerald Shippen during this time as well. He is a remarkable figurative sculptor, and was/is a constant inspiration through his work and teaching. In addition to bronze, stone carving became a process I wanted to develop further. The excitement through struggle I find during the search for form and gesture in this medium is undefinable.
After the summer following my undergraduate degree, I went to New York City to start a visual art program at The East Harlem School, an independent private school for grades 4-8. Teaching art in East Harlem has made me question race, motivations, gender, interests, and society’s preconceived notions in ways I’ve never had to. To observe a child learn to draw, learn to see, constantly reminds me of the power of art – to see things for what they are, expose beauty, offer perspectives on life, and give power to the human experience.
Given the teaching schedule, I have spent the past few summers pursuing my own work at a studio space in Lostine, Oregon, generously offered by Peter Ferre.
In order to put full attention into my own learning, this coming year I will be attending the New York Academy of Art for sculpture. Dedicating myself to my own work and teaching are two things I plan to continue following this program. These two processes have been linked through history, and I consider education through art to be an incredibly valuable component of the human condition, regardless of a student’s interest in pursuing art as a career.
My day to day life in art exists in my sketchbook. Sculpture is drawing, drawing is sculpture. The sketchbook is where knowledge of form and gesture become part of an instinctive thought process. Every chance I get, I find myself at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, doing everything I can to appreciate the work set before us.
Website: http://www.gianlucagiarrizzo.com/sketchbook-from-life
My Years in Wallowa County
Exhibit Opening Friday July 1 at 7 PM
Sam’s Years in Wallowa County Showcase runs through August 2
My Years in Wallowa County: Paintings and Drawings by Realist Painter and Draftsman Sam Collett
Exhibit Opening Friday July 1 at 7 PM
Sam’s Years in Wallowa County Showcase runs through August 2
The Josephy Center for Arts and Culture is honored to present a new art exhibit, “My Years in Wallowa County: Paintings and Drawings by Realist Painter and Draftsman Sam Collett” opening Friday, July 1 at 7 PM with a reception including food, drink and music. Sam is a long time resident of the county. His subject matter is diverse: portraits, figurative, floral animals and landscape. Sam’s work combines his love for the land and the people that live here. All are rendered with the traditional ‘Realism’ technique. His portraits are of his friends at work, at play. He captures their essence in a split-second moment sharing their passion, whether it’s sculpting (Rodd Ambroson), playing the guitar (Tom Hutchinson) or ready to shoot with a video camera (Gwen Trice).
He received his formal education at Westminster College studying with Don Doxey followed by study at graduate program at the University of Utah Art Department with Albert Handell, Earl Jones and Alvin Gittins; and again studied with Albert Handell in Woodstock, New York.
Sam has more than twenty years of teaching experience in objective (realism) painting and drawing; those venues include Salt Lake Art Center UT, University of Utah, The Kimball Art Center Park City Utah, Kings Cottage Art School, the Peterson’s Art center, and workshops at The Crossroads Arts Center Oregon, Pendleton Center for the Arts, Wallowa Lake Art Workshops, College of Southern Idaho, Moses Lake Art Center, and Dahmen Barn Union WA.
Sam Collett’s work has been exhibited at the Salmagundi Club New York, American Pastel Society New York, Degas Pastel Society New Orleans, Louisiana, Oil Painters Of America four times, Salon International Juried Competition at the Green house Gallery Texas, one person show Kimball Art Center Park City, Utah, University Of Utah , Boise State University Idaho, Salt Lake Art Center Utah, one person show Springville Museum Utah, one person show Bountiful Arts Center Utah and numerous galleries.
Many of the works are for sale. The exhibit runs until August 2 at 6 p.m. Please stop by and help celebrate one of our counties most talented artists. Our new summer hours are Monday – Friday 10-6 and Saturdays 12-4PM. Closed Sundays.
Expressive Figures
Come welcome a life retrospective of longtime Wallowa County resident Bob Fergison, landscape and figure painter who has lived here since 1989. He specializes in art renderings of boxers, horses, and nude figures. His inspiration comes from Cy Twombly, Mark Rothko, and Max Beckmann.
Bob is suffering from two types of cancer and is residing at a health care facility in Seattle, so will be unable to attend. If you have work of Bob’s that you’d like to offer for the exhibit, please let Cheryl Coughlan know at director@josephy.org
Opening Reception Sunday, January 10th at 2 PM. This event will flow naturally into our open mic at 4 PM, and we encourage friends of Bob to offer music or poetry in his honor at this time. The show will run through Feb 17.
This exhibit has been made possible by the generous support of these organizations:
Barns in the Rural Landscape
Barns are at the very essence of rural living and it’s rolling landscape. Wallowa has a number of barns throughout the county that are historical, beautiful and add to some of the most breathtaking views in the country. The Josephy Center is honored to present “Barns in the Rural Landscape” exhibit opening Friday, October 9 at 7 p.m. The exhibit commemorates and celebrates the barn in the rural landscape. In the exhibit, viewers will have the ability to see the barns in different seasons, compare the different styles and invite people to go out and photograph or paint them on their own.
Executive Director Cheryl Coughlan commented on the exhibit. “The ‘Barn’ exhibit is part of our annual ‘Art and Agriculture’ series, we strive to bring the highest quality of artwork to the community with local interest in mind.” Many local artists and art collectors will be presenting their works: Mike Koloski, Marilyn Goebel, Sam Collett, Dennis Reinke, Jan Holt, Larry Nicholson, Kendrick Moholt, Rob Kemp, Janie Tippett, and more.
The opening reception will feature libations, refreshments and local music. The exhibit will run from October 9 to November 11. The Josephy Center’s hours are Monday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Many of the pieces on exhibit are for sale.
Photography photo by Cheryl Coughlan
Miniatures to Murals – a Retrospective
Miniatures to Murals – April 5-25, 2014
“What a privilege to present the work of these very special Wallowa County artists”, said Mike Koloski, of the new exhibit to open at the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture in Joseph, Oregon. Koloski is guest curator for the exhibit “Miniatures to Murals – a retrospective exhibition honoring the work of four beloved artists of Wallowa County”. The exhibition featuring the art of Bob Fergison, Barbara Fredrick, Gene Hayes, and Eva Slinker will open at the Center on Saturday, April 5th with a reception from 7-9pm. The show will continue through 29 April. On Saturday, April 12th, Koloski and the honored artists will host a “Walk Around” of the exhibit at which they will discuss the artworks and field question from the audience.
Bob Fergison
Bob Fergison brings to his art a very diverse background in terms of education and work experience. Born in Seattle, he spent his formative years and much of his adult life in Portland, Oregon. Educated at Lewis and Clark and Reid Colleges, Bob served as photo interpreter with an Army intelligence unit near Heidelberg, Germany. He has worked in blue collar jobs for the Forest Service and the Army Corps of Engineers. He also worked as a cook/chef, and spent six years working in the slurry room of Parks Bronze. Bob at other times put on a suit and worked in the corporate world in sales, marketing, and as publisher/editor of nationwide corporate newsletters. For years he was a competitive runner and as a senior ran marathons in 3+ hours. Bob not only makes art but he has actively supported and promoted the arts in Wallowa County and the region. He generously opened his home to visiting artists and has hosted innumerable dinners and after glows around art events.For many years a lively party and discussion could always be found at Bob’s apartment after an art opening or concert. He was also active in arts organizations and served as chairman of the Eastern Oregon Arts Council. Bob was recognized by the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce, as the Leader in the Arts for the year 2006. In 2005 Bob left Wallowa County to live in Seattle closer to his children and the Fred Hutchison Cancer Institute where he was being treated for two different cancers. Then given only eight months to live, five years later, his oncologists pronounced one of his cancers to be in deep remission, and the other, while incurable, could be treated and “managed”. Before the ink dried on that prognosis in 2010, Bob returned to the County to live again in Enterprise.
Throughout his medical regime, Bob has remained positive and has co
ntinued to practice his art despite the fatigue brought on by medical treatment and failing vision. Artistically Bob Fergison’s art expresses the flamboyance of his talent and personality. His bold, direct pen and ink drawings of figures and architecture demonstrate his skills as a draughtsman as well as his keen sense of composition. Bob’s scenic oil pastels are favorites among his patrons. These strikingly colorful pieces are in many private collections around the region. His oil paintings may be alternately full of lavish color or as spare as Japanese brush paintings. Or, a single artwork may incorporate all of the above! Regardless, Bob’s work always shows the directness and immediacy of his hand and keen mind. The Josephy Center is pleased to honor Bob Fergison not only for his wonderful art but also for his selfless service to the Wallowa County art community .
ntinued to practice his art despite the fatigue brought on by medical treatment and failing vision. Artistically Bob Fergison’s art expresses the flamboyance of his talent and personality. His bold, direct pen and ink drawings of figures and architecture demonstrate his skills as a draughtsman as well as his keen sense of composition. Bob’s scenic oil pastels are favorites among his patrons. These strikingly colorful pieces are in many private collections around the region. His oil paintings may be alternately full of lavish color or as spare as Japanese brush paintings. Or, a single artwork may incorporate all of the above! Regardless, Bob’s work always shows the directness and immediacy of his hand and keen mind. The Josephy Center is pleased to honor Bob Fergison not only for his wonderful art but also for his selfless service to the Wallowa County art community .Barbara Fredrick
Barbara (Tippett) Fredrick was raised on a large cattle ranch located on lower Joseph Creek. From childhood she was inclined toward the arts, creatively drawing on the world around her for inspiration for her paintings. Barbara worked primarily in watercolor, although she did experiment with oils. She loved to paint miniatures, but also produced some larger works, many of which grace the walls of her relatives’ homes. These depict branding scenes and ranch life often featuring her brother Don (Biden) and other family members. Barbara loved to paint chickens, cows, the hills where her family ran cattle, and scenes of daily country life. She toured the family ranches with her camera, taking photos to use for inspiration and models.In 1972, Barbara opened a small gallery along Hurricane Creek Road to showcase her art. The Tippi Gallery (after her maiden name Tippett) was the first of its kind in Wallowa County. Here she sold her paintings as well as pressed flowers arrangements framed in gold frames. Later, after the Wallowa Valley Arts council was formed she exhibited her work at the newly inaugurated Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts. Barbara also showed her art in Hawaii, where she and her second husband, Arnold Fredrick, spent their winters. The Fredrick’s owned the Arrowhead ranch on Alder Slope. There, Barbara had a sunny studio in which to paint. Barbara graciously hosted many events at her home fostering fine art and cultural events in Wallowa County. Barbara’s art hangs in many homes in Wallowa County and is in private collections throughout the country/world. Unfortunately many of her artworks were lost in a fire in the Fredrick’s Valley Heights home.
This February, Barbara passed away in Punaluu, Hawaii. The entire Wallowa County arts community mourns Barbara’s passing. We regret that Barbara did not live to experience the warm regard generated through this retrospective exhibit. Nonetheless, we feel privileged to show Barbara Fredrick’s lovely, beautifully, intimate art — Art that clearly depicts her love for the rural life of her childhood and the flowers and animals that epitomize the country life of Wallowa County
Gene Hayes
At 92, Gene Hayes is the most senior of our honored artists. Gene was born and grew up in Wallowa, Oregon. Graduating with the Wallowa High School class of 1943, like many of his generation, he was soon in uniform serving his country. As an army scout and Browning automatic rifleman he made his way unscathed through Australia, New Guinea, and the Philippines, only to soon after lose an arm to a feed mill at home in Wallowa County. Gene had drawn since he was a youngster, and determined to continue, he trained his left hand to take over the task. Gene attended the Turner Art Center in San Francisco and later Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls, studying commercial art and sign painting. After a short stint at logging and working for the Forest Service, Gene took up his brush and never looked back. Gene’s work is vast and varied.His studio/gallery in Wallowa is filled with his art. Every wall and horizontal surface sings with brilliant oils and watercolors. Beneath the hanging art are completed canvases stacked three deep against the wall. Binders are full of his drawings in pencil or ink. As if to emphasize that his art cannot be contained by mere walls, Gene Hayes’ murals decorate buildings from Wallowa to Joseph and outside the County in Umatilla, Oregon. This prolific legacy is due in a large measure to Gene’s unpretentious, workmanlike approach to making art. Even as a nonagenarian, Gene’s easel and work space is completely set up and ready to go. One is likely to find him at work, pulling mountains, fields, and animals from his long experience and setting them onto paper with his brush. Beyond their colorful beauty, Gene’s paintings reflect the tradition and history of the region. Indian encampments, farm work, ranching, long gone buildings populate his work, recording much that is no longer with us.
Throughout the years Gene has been an enthusiastic participant in art festivals, quick draws, plein air events, and other artist gatherings. The Josephy Center is honored to exhibit his work and recognize his artistic contribution to the County’s heritage.
Eva Slinker
Eva Havas Slinker was born to Hungarian parents, in Cuba, in 1929. Emigrating to the U.S. she grew up in Oakland, California and attended college in Michigan to study music. She met her second husband, Al Slinker, in the Bay area. They moved to Wallowa County in 1968 and purchased a ranch on the Alder Slope. She threw herself into the role of consummate ranch wife and partner in a sheep and cattle operation that at one time ran 500 sheep and 100 head of cattle. She was an active member of the Cowbelles, rode horses, branded calves and took part in roundups with many of the local ranchers. But Eva’s passion for the arts was also strong. Her love of all things Art placed her in the foreground of the emerging visual, literary and performing art scene of the County. Eva was instrumental in organizing Fishtrap and the Wallowa Valley Arts Council.
She was a founding member of the Eastern Oregon Arts Council (ArtsEast) as well as the Eagle Cap Fine Arts Camp. Statewide Eva served on the Oregon State Arts Commission from 1981 to 1985. After her youngest daughter, Sam, graduated from Enterprise High School, she actively began her own personal visual art career. Eva returned to college at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande, receiving her BA in 1987. She followed that with a MFA from Portland State, in Portland, Oregon. Artistically, Eva was experimental – willing to explore new medium and styles. She seems at ease with everything she tries. While her early paintings inspired by her life on the ranch, are very representational watercolors of rural buildings, landscapes, and canyons, her later work became more abstract and Expressionistic often incorporating mixed media and assemblage.
Eva is also a fine draughtsman and comfortable with portraiture and figurative work, including animals. Her travels and classes took her all over the Southwest and Mexico. She brought back from her travels paintings of vibrant flowers and tropical beaches to spice up her oeuvre. Serious illness befell Eva in the late 1990’s. She was inspired by this to form groups centering on art as a healing force. Eva moved to the Salem area in 2004 to be close to her son and family and her sister. She is now 83 and resides in an assisted living facility in Salem. While the Josephy Center is privileged to exhibit a collection of Eva’s work that stands on its own artistic merits, we wish that Eva could travel to enjoy it with us. Unfortunately this is not the case. Nonetheless, we can, remember her as an inspiring example of an artist who truly understands the benefits of endlessly seeking, learning, experimenting, and expressing. We honor her as not only an excellent painter but also as one of the energetic forces that created the vital artistic community that the Josephy Center serves today.
“Miniatures to Murals” can be viewed at the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture, 403 N. Main St. in Joseph from April 5 to April 29, 2014. For more information about the Center, see www.josephy.org or call 541-432-0505.
Sweethearts
The Josephy Center presents a unique exhibit featuring the work of local artists this February that also happen to be couples. The exhibit is titled Sweethearts: A Couples Art Show. Featured artists include ceramists Jim and Anne Shelly, collage artist Cheri McGee and sculptor Roger McGee, painters Susan and Sam Collett, photographer Marky Pitts and sculptor Ed Pitts, and painters/artists and owners of Aspen Grove Gallery Mark Kortnik and Carol McLaughlin Kortnik.
The show kicks off on Friday, February 7 at 7 p.m. at the Josephy Center with light food, drink and music and will run until February 25. Suggested donation is $7.
Socrates Cafe – Mondays – 2nd & 4th Mondays from 7-9
Yoga with Alysse Shetler – Tuesdays & Thursdays at 5:30
Yoga with Kristin Albee – Saturdays 8:30
Chess Club – Thursdays 4-8