Tag: Mary Edwards

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!

The Hurricane
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.

Rivers (Grand Opening)

The grand opening of the Josephy Center for Arts and Culture, which coincided with the opening of the Rivers art exhibit, exceeded all expectations Saturday night, Jan. 19. “It was fantastic”, said Lyn Craig, executive director of the non-profit center, which started hosting classes last fall. “We think we had 300 people. It blew us away. People came to see the art, and they stayed and they stayed. There was such good energy.”

The Rivers art exhibit featured the photographs of local biologist Mary Edwards, the bronzes of local sculpture Tim Norman and prints of lithographer Dennis Cunningham of Portland. This is the first art exhibit hosted by the Josephy Center and it will remain open for viewing through Feb. 16; it is running in conjunction with the Wallowa County Reads program. Show directors are Ed Pitts and Rodd Ambroson, who both drew everyones attention to the handsome metal painting hangers, designed by Tim Norman and fabricated by Chuck Frasier.

The next Josephy Center exhibit, scheduled for Feb. 27-March, will be of American and European art collected by local artist Steve Arment, titled Artists Eye Collectors Passions.

A juried show is being planned that will feature art collected by Wallowa County residents. The grand opening event included a slide presentation of underwater photographs of fish on the Lostine River, shown by Edwards, and a fly tying and fly fishing demonstration by Fishtrap writer-in-residents Cameron Scott. Josephy Library of Western History and Culture curator Rich Wandschneider was on hand to introduce the library, which is located in a large upstairs room. Music was provided by Roger Magee on his hand-crafted flutes and food by Lears Main Street Pub and Grill.

The Josephy Center, sited in a handsome Main Street log building that was originally the home of Bank of Wallowa County (now Community Bank), is the fulfillment of a dream for a group of local art and music lovers who started planning for a cultural center in Wallowa County over four years ago. One of the group, Ann Stephens, purchased the long-vacant log building last summer, with the idea eventually the non-profit that was formed would buy it. We have a tremendous gift here and we hope we can utilize it far into the future, said Pitts. While Rivers was the first art exhibit for the center, it has already hosted music and other classes, and a community Christmas concert organized by Wallowa Valley Music Alliance.  I thought it was wonderful, Stephens, who serves as chairperson of the centers board of directors, said of the grand opening. There were lots of people here and everyone was smiling. She added, Everything has come together. Its even better than I imagined. This building deserves to be an art center.

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By Elane Dickenson

Read more at: https://wallowa.com/2013/01/22/josephy-center-opening-attracts-crowd/