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Wild Arts Festival 2020
Today is the opening day of the 40th Wild Arts Festival in Portland Oregon. This is an awesome show. It is well organized, has outstanding artists, and supports a great cause. The on-line Marketplace opens at 10:00 this morning. There is a live-streamed celebration for the 40th Anniversary 4:30 today and there is a virtual silent auction all week. https://www.wildartsfestival.org I donated a craftsman style bird house.
The Wild Arts Festival is a big fund raiser for the Audubon Society. Robin and I have gone to the show since we moved to Portland in 2012 to buy art, talk with artists, and support a great cause. Last year I was honored to be selected by the jury as an artist in the show. That was FUN. I have to say, I miss the art festival crowds and camaraderie.
This year I was also fortunate to be accepted into the show. When the full impact of the pandemic hit and the Festival decided to shift from an in person show to a virtual venue I was all in. I am a huge supporter of arts. They play a critical role in our society. Most of you know I am an engineer by education and occupation. I feel firsthand how also being an artist helps me balance my world.
Art also teaches you to be comfortable failing. When you make art, you make it for you. You are the maker and first viewer. If you like what you made, then you feel good. When you sell art, someone else also needs to like it. That is the part that can be uncomfortable. That is the part that is so valuable. As an artist, can you work up the courage to hear that someone doesn’t like your artwork? Can stand being rejected by a juried show or gallery? Its hard and its valuable and I believe it makes me a better person - braver, more empathetic, more understanding, and calmer.
So check out the show. https://www.wildartsfestival.org Check out the Audubon Society. https://audubonportland.org/our-work/protect/habitat-and-wildlife/
THANK YOU for supporting artists during these strange times.
Cutting up wood
In my last post, I talked about the huge tree that fell on our house. Once the sawdust settled and the tree was cut into pieces in the driveway, I got started turning the tree into wood I can use for bowls and boxes.
Last weekend I cut a few of the large pieces into blocks that will eventually become bowls. I started with the wood that was closest to the ground when the tree was standing. The wood was beautifully spalted, which may have contributed to the trees last act of falling on our house.
I love spalted wood. The fungus that grows along the path of least resistance in the tree looks really beautiful when it is exposed in a bowl, box, furniture, or carving.
On Sunday, I realized just how much wood I have sitting in the driveway, when I created this stack of blanks from a piece of “scrap” that was left over from one of the larger chunks of tree.
I have way too much wood for me to use, so I will be reaching out to some local woodturners to give some of it away.
Zombie Apocalypse
We had our own zombie apocalypse late Friday afternoon and yesterday.
Just before I was going to going join some of the bond team to review neighborhood traffic safety projects for 2021, I received a call from Robin telling me our 70-ft tall Big Leaf Maple fell onto our house. Ugh. Stinking zombies.
Fortunately, we have have an arborist who has done work for us before in southeast Portland. (I know - who has an arborist? Seriously. At our old house he removed a large Norway Maple that had split, but that did not fall on the house and he removed and replanted two dying street trees, so we have an arborist - Chad Honl of Honl Tree Care #honltreecare). Friday night, he was able to arrange for a crew and a 60-ton crane to come remove the offending tree early Saturday.
The craning operator was really nervous. We live on a hill with a narrow private road for access. They don’t like to set their cranes up on hills on the West Hills because they can cause the hill to slide. They also like a lot more room than we had available. It was a very tight fit. In the photo below, the crane’s outrigger is just a few feet from a 6-ft drop-off (moat?) between the road and the house.
There was a lot of swearing and wild waving of his arms as he and Chad discussed how to go about removing this large and heavy tree from our house. They took the tree out in pieces - maybe ten picks. The whole crew did a great job. The crane operator was really precise and Chad’s tree climber was really good. The whole operation took about four hours plus an hour of planning. Chad was giddy because it all went so smoothly. We felt lucky.
There is some damage to the house. No water leaks that we could see - phew. The tree didn’t fall very far before it hit the house. If it had picked up speed, the damage would have been way worse - I feel super lucky.
The tree will make its artwork debut at one of the shows next year - probably the Bellevue Art Museum show. And now we have space for a deck on the front of the house. :)
Robin and I spent the rest of the day sawing up logs and coating the ends with emulsified wax to they don’t split as they dry. I was smart enough to let most of the tree go to the chipper (it was really hard to see good wood turned into bark chips), but I still probably kept too much wood. It’s a bad habit. :)
We haven’t seen the bill yet, but I suspect a 60 ton crane for four hours won’t be cheap. Oh and they were all earning OT for working on Saturday…
Our insurance company USAA will cover all but our dedcutible. We’ll get a contractor out here this week to inspect the attic, chimney, and roof and give us an estimate and schedule for repair the house.
The zombie apocalypse is real.
And I suspect the birds are spying on us - probably for the zombies but maybe for Elon Musk getting us ready for chip implants. Anything is possible in 2020.
The 60-ton crane barely fit.
Good thing it didn’t fall very far before hitting the house - Lucky.
Super impressive tree climbing with a chainsaw.
September 4th, 2020
Pandemic? WTF?
When I last posted to this blog, COVID-19 was a shadow slowly creeping towards us. I had applied to several big northwest art shows and I was waiting to hear if the juries liked my art work. I was wood turning painting, riding my bike, climbing in the gym, working with my team at work to be a collaborative machine, and living the 2020 life most of us expected to live.
Then along came March 2020. Our world forever changed. At work we scrambled to send people home and still provide the minimum services needed to run a city - water, sewer, storm water, transportation, police, library, parks, social services. Gathering in public became taboo. You could die. Masks became a standard part of the wardrobe - like underwear or socks. We bought toilet paper, disinfectant, soap, and we hunkered down and worried. It was stressful time.
This spring (which seems like forever ago), I was accepted into BAM in Bellevue, Art in the Pearl, Salem, and Wild Arts. Wow! I went ahead and paid my booth fees and started planning for the art shows. I was excited and scared.
Then the inevitable happened and we all realized we weren’t going to be congregating in large crowds anytime soon. All shows canceled and then went virtual. I have a website, but I’ve never used it for commerce. This year that would need to change.
Tonight I put the finishing touches on my commerce page. I linked it directly to the Art in the Pearl site so hopefully your experience is as seamless as possible. I’m a civil engineer and an artist, not a webmaster. I worked hard and learned a lot. Hopefully it works this weekend.
I am a huge fan of learning, so I know whatever happens, I will learn some lessons and apply them at my next show in November - Wild Are Festival. Hopefully, next year we will be back in person. I miss seeing people and sharing in their joy when they buy a piece of art or just stop by the booth to talk. If not, I will keep learning and I will find other ways to make the experience real. We are doing it at work now. I’m sure we can do it in the art world.
In addition to the COVID and the Black Lives Matter movement (I’ll post my thoughts on that in another blog post - it is sooo important for us to eliminate racism - to me it is the key to our future success as a nation), the other big happening this year for me has been painting.
I’m kind of addicted - ok I’m in love with it. I’ve been painting a ton this year and it is AWESOME. I entered my first two juried exhibitions last week - Oregon Society of Artists Fall Show and a group show at Blackfish Gallery focused on politics and love for humankind.
One of my pieces called Boundaries (we made the frames too) was accepted into OSA’s Fall show. Robin had two pieces accepted into the show. That felt so good. I havent heard back from Blackfish yet, but my fingers are crossed. I entered a piece called 98,223 RIP that I finished on Memorial Day after 98,223 people in the US died form COVID-19. Last week were up to 183,000 and climbing. For reference, around 211,000 U.S. soldiers died in the Vietnam War. Ugh! We don’t feel like a super power or a leader of the free world right now. Deep breath Jeff - deep breath.
I hope those of you who attend the virtual Art in the Pearl enjoy yourself. There is a lot of awesome art by a lot of awesome people. Let’s stick together, support each other, and regain our role as world leaders. It starts here with you and me. Have a great weekend and don’t forget to celebrate LABOR. It is the foundation of our economy.
February 2020
Well, the rest of 2019 went by almost as fast as the first half.
We went to Salem Art festival in July. That was really fun. We camped in the van in a field that was reserved for artists. We ate dinner each night and breakfast each morning in the awesome restaraunts in Salem’s downtown. We spent some time with Robin’s cousin Fred and his wife Laura. It was very fun to see them. Between breakfast and dinner, we hung out in the booth under the giant oak trees and sold bowls and other turnings to the awesome patrons who frequent the art festival.
We also bought a painting from Bend artist https://artist-barton-degraaf.myshopify.com and traded him a redwood vessel for part of the sale.
In November, we were in the Audubon Society Wild Arts Festival in Portland. That was a really great experience and we met some really nice people and sold some art. For that show, I added chopsticks to my collection. People really like those. We also bought some more art.
In October, we went on vacation along the coast of Oregon and Northern California. That was a really great trip. We brought back a fair bit of wood that I will make into bowls and other art pieces. And we visited a bunch of galleries along the way. Some of our favorites include:
Korbly Wood Products - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Korbly-Wood-Products/168769099802595
Mossy Creek Pottery near Salishan - https://www.mossycreekpottery.com
The Hawthorne Gallery and Redfish Restaurant in Port Orford - https://www.hawthornegallery.com/contact-us
Arcata Artisans in Arcata California - home of Humbolt State - http://www.arcataartisans.com
Just before we left for vacation, I decided to start painting with acrylics. I painted a wood bowl and really liked making art with color. On vacation, Robin and I painted outside occasionally and I am hooked.
You can see some of my paintings on my website under the menu item, Wood and Paint.
This winter, Robin and I are taking a painting class at the Drawing Studio in Portland. It is three hours on Thursday nights for ten weeks. Hopefully I learn more about mixing colors and and painting from observation.
Finally, I entered several shows again this year. We’ll see if I get in - Edmonds Art Festival, Salem Art Festival, Art in the Pearl, Art in the High Desert, Art in the Pearl, Wild Arts Festival, and Bellevue Arts Museum Art Fair.
I think that catches me up for now.
2019 - Where has it gone?
It is hard for me to believe it is already July. January this year seemed like the longest month ever. But, the rest of the year flew by. We were SOOO busy at work and at home that I haven’t had time to update my website or even post on social media. It has been a crazy year.
On the home front, we bought a new (to us) home in the West Hills of Portland. We’re in the Sylvan Highland neighborhood.
It is a really cool house nestled in Portland’s maple forests at an elevation of 960’. It is the kind of place we would visit for a relaxing quiet vacation. Now we live here.
I love coming home. It is peaceful, relaxing and beautiful. Uma seems to love it too. She spends a lot of time laying on the upper deck surveying her domain (which for a dog is as far as she can see).
Of course, buying a new home meant selling our old home. That ended up being a fair bit of work that we accomplished in our spare time this spring. The home sale closed on June 28th. Since then I have been back in the wood shop catching up on the art I should have been making all year.
I have made some really cool pieces this year that I will post to my website when I get a chance. I finally turned a few bowls and hollow forms from some maple burl I picked up in Northern California many years ago.
I’m glad I waited to turn that wood until now. I am a much better woodturner than when I bought the wood from an old barn in California.
I’m looking forward to a slower pace for the rest of 2019.
Bend Fall Festival 2018
That was fun. I’ll write more about our trip to Bend shortly. In the meantime though, I was selected as best of show and awarded with a $750 check. What a great surprise.
Tualatin Art Splash 2018
I had a great first art show this weekend. It was a really fun event, although temperatures were 95+ for three days. I ended up getting third in the show and selling about $500 of art.
Kristin Shauck from Astoria was the judge. I really enjoyed talking with her and listening to her talk about the importance of art. I was surprised to get an award. There were many really talented artists. I was really a huge surprise when I was awarded 3rd overall. Kristin really seemed to like three dimensional art that you could feel.
I really enjoyed the sense of community. It felt like all the artists were in it together. They were super welcoming to me as a first timer. I felt like I found my tribe.
https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/recreation/2018-artsplash-art-show-and-sale
https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/sites/default/files/fileattachments/parks_and_recreation/page/5042/2018_artist_awards.pdf