Sculptor Blythe Eastmen

 One of my favorite artist is clay sculptor Blythe Eastman Blythe Eastman  .  She showed with me at my studio in 2009.  We, Meadowlake Studios, filmed her for an Arts Alive show.  For one reason or another the show got stuck then forgotten in the editing bay. 
 

 
In 2019 when we were doing Arts Alive shows of some of Art Harvest Studio Tour artists I ran across Blythe's show files. Her work is fantastic.  She is able to capture complex yet subtle animal gesture with an elegant minimalist approach.  Her show need to be finished.  We posted on Arts Alive in 2019.

It has been a long, long two years

Life was looking good the Fall of 2019.  The annual Arts Alliance of Yamhill County  sponsored Art Harvest Studio Tour  was great.  Driving around Yamhill County with the 2019 Fall colors is pure joy. We were fortunate to interview and film several of the Tour artists. We went to their studios and learned a lot about different art mediums. 

Master Painter Jess Anderson

We visited Master Painter Jess Anderson at the studio just outside of Sheridan, Oregon. 

 

 

Felt Artist Jennifer Bencharsky

 

 

We visited Jennifer Bencharsky who does beautiful felt work and lives in Newberg which is on the other side of the County. 

 

As the Tour does, it gave us an excuse to travel from one side of beautiful Yamhill County  to the other and see some fantastic art and meet and talk with many great talented artists. You can see those at Arts Alive: Art Harvest Studio Tour on Youtube.

 You all know what happened in 2020 and this year 2021.  The Art Harvest Studio Tour cancelled both years. All of the Arts seemed to go into a stress induced shock and a kind of hibernation. For Liz and I at Meadowlake Studios the Arts Alive video interviews were shut down.  At least we hope it is hibernation because there are signs the Arts are beginning to wake up and roam around the landscape again. 

One art exception to hibernation might be writing and writers.  Literary journals expanded across the internet.  I guess for many writers the social isolation was a fantastic excuse to finish that novel, write short stories, work on a movie script, and scratch out some poems.  

Unfortunately with our video productions stymied, with my Poetry On Demand events at art and wine gatherings cancelled, going out to crowded restaurants for dinner or out to clubs to hear music was impossible, I went into a personal hibernation, which I'm finally beginning to wake.  

I really missed the Poetry On Demand events. During McMinnville and Newberg downtown association wine and art nights, we set up a table in a busy wine tasting bar, sat behind our manual typewriters, wrote poems as topics were given to us under pressure to finish while the people were sipping wine or having dinner.  It was wonderful to hand a freshly typed poem to the person who had given the topic and see their reaction to the poem they had prompted. The past two years I missed that stress and creativity.  One good thing. We did publish a collection of our 2018 and 2019 Poetry On Demand poems.

I've been off and on with this blog over the years. I have excuses. Now in late Fall 2021 as I am beginning to stir from my almost two year long stupor, shaking off the stress, emerging lean and hungry, I will try to pick up this blog which I've neglected.

Our Excellent Art Harvest Studio Tour Adventure: Marilyn Affolter

Marilyn Affolter

It is Friday, October 2nd, first day of the 23rd Art Harvest Studio Tour.  The Art Harvest Studio Tour opens early at 10 am.  Since Marilyn's studio is a nice morning walk for us from home, we bought our buttons, and looked at Marilyn's beautiful work. Her studio is on Evans Street just off 3rd Street in downtown McMinnville.

Marilyn's downtown gallery/studio is small and flows through hall like rooms which are lined with amazing art work.   It is not the luxury of expansive rooms that makes her studio shine, it is the quality of work so close you can look closely.
 
Marilyn Affolter's enthusiasm for life and the world around her is reflected in her person and in her work.
Last year Marilyn talked about her work with Arts Alive TV host Lynda Phillippi

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The Fiber and Rug Merchant in Oregon Wine Country

              Maybe it was in the souks of Marrakessh?  We were there almost 40 years ago.  We walked down the narrow, twisting, intertwined alleyways.  Merchants and craftsman were elbow to elbow in their open shops. Stepping around a tiny donkey loaded with heavy crates of Coke Cola, we headed down an alley with brightly covered wool roving hung like lanterns between the buildings.  The sun came filtered through the shades of red, yellow, gold, green, and browns.  There was the tap, tap, of a floor loom.  Children, no more than 9 or 10 spun thread with ornate drop spindles.  We were in the Rug souk of  Marrakessh..

              Men in striped jalabas smiled at us and patted at a pile of rugs they sat on as we walked by.  Row upon row of shops full of very similar rugs, it is a mystery to me what makes a person stop and look at a particular pile of rugs.  A wrinkled man with a white mustache and a wide smile greeted us in German.  We looked blank.  He tried French.  Americans we said, he nodded, and called back through a curtain at the back of the shop.  A teenage boy in a white jalaba came out to greet us.  He spoke with a slight American southern accent.  They were Berbers, he explained.   This was his uncle’s shop.  The family was from the Atlas Mountains not far from Fez.  They had just delivered some of the most beautiful rugs they had ever made.  We were extremely lucky to happen upon his uncle's shop. 

            The old man began to roll out one beautiful rug after another.  Here, feel the fiber.  Look at the backing.  We knelt down, felt the wool, admired the strong backing and the elegant design.  These rugs are made to last a lifetime, several life times.  And as I type this I look down at one of the rugs, just as beautiful as that day we first saw it.

            During this year's Art Harvest Studio Tour I think Elizabeth was remembering that day in the rug souk of Marrakessh as she rolled out her rugs for a young couple that came by her studio.  They felt the fiber.  They felt the quality of the backing.  They admired the design.  And they took one of her rugs home with them.

            It was a good Tour.

Play is its own reward: Art Harvest Tour mass Production

The Art Harvest Studio Tour was the first two weekends, including Fridays in October.  The week between we had student tours come to the studios.  From the first Friday our attendance was down from previous years.  I had time in the studio.  What to do?  Make masks.

Mantel Masks

When folks did come in, since I was working anyway it was easy to give them a quick demonstration and make another mask.  One of the first sales on the first Friday was one of the two remaining Mantel Masks.  I was down to one mantel.  I decided to make mantel masks during the Tour and as demos for the students.

Bisque, thinking about glaze

It kind of got away from me.
This year I was on a mission to do clearance.  I priced to clear.  It worked.  I got rid of a lot of work.

I sabotaged my clearance agenda.  One of the students asked what was my favorite thing in working with clay.  My answer.  When the clay is malleable, ready to remember my touch and be shaped into whatever I suggest.  When the clay is alive.

Thus I make and make and make.  I will be always having clearance sales to have room for more.

Play is its own reward.  How often have I heard that?

Arts Alive appearance talking about Pottery

On October 18th we went down to the McMinnville Community Media studio to appear on Arts Alive the local arts and culture show.  Liz talked with host Lynda Phillippi first.  I posted the video of her.  I forgot to post my interview.

We talked about clay and pottery and the Art Harvest Studio Tour, of course.  The Tour was last weekend and the second weekend is coming up.

We had students on the Student/Education Studio Tour today.  They all seemed to come at once.  It was kind of frantic for awhile.  Still fun.

Art Harvest Student Education Studio Tour

Liz Santone demos felt making at her studio

The Art Harvest Studio Tour is on its 20th year.  For several years some of the Tour artists host an Art Harvest Student Education Studio Tour during the week between the regular weekend public Tour.

Today Liz and I hosted students from the Yamhill Carlton area.

Making a mask

Show youth how to make something from a fluff of wool or a lump of clay is a pleasure.

Making felt 

Some Tour artists across Yamhill County are opening their studios this Tuesday, Wednesday and/or Thursday to demonstrate or talk about the art that they do.

Those who visit Liz get an extra surprise.  They get to have a hands-on experience of making felt and taking it home with them.

Because of the nature of clay, the students get to touch the clay and watch as I have all of the fun.  There is a magic in sharing a craft skill and the excitement of creating with young hearts.

Elizabeth Santone on Arts Alive

Elizabeth's segment of Arts Alive will show the week of September 22nd through 28th.  The schedule is on McMinnville Community Media  Liz talked with Lynda Phillippi about felting, painting and the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County's annual Art Harvest Studio Tour .

This was the first time Elizabeth has been on the Arts Alive show to talk about her felting and painting.

Painting with Fire

Nike of Samothrace

This summer I worked with artist Dwight Evalt on a video to show one of his painting techniques which uses fire. The beginning of the painting Nike of Samothrace.  It came together and a young local musician Treven Hughes' music fits the action.  The music was recorded last year at McMinnville Community Media studio.

Dwight and I are almost neighbors.  Dwight lives in Carlton Oregon.  His website is dwightevaltart.weebly.com

Liz and I and Dwight were on this year's Art Harvest Studio Tour  A program of the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County which has been sponsoring the Tour for 20 years.  The 2012 Tour was Friday Oct 5, 6, 7 and the second weekend Oct 12, 13 and 14.   With a Student Education Tour during the week between.

It was a pretty good Tour.  I don't think Dwight demonstrated painting with fire.  You can see here.