Art in the High Desert Growing by Leaps & Bounds

By VALERIE CLARK Cascade A&E Editor

Just in its third year, Central Oregon’s Art in the High Desert festival has already established quite a name for itself, this year attracting more than 400 artists from across the country to apply to be a part of the show. Festival organizer Dave Fox said its popularity this year is thanks to the success of the past two festivals, bolstered by their perfect location on the Deschutes River in the Old Mill District and by the strong support of an arts-centric community.

“I’m filled with so much pride with the fact that these people will apply to be in this show, which is still a young show,” Fox said. “What artists tell us is that the location is magical. The people that come to the festival are interested; they understand art. The town supports it.”

Out of the 438 artists who applied to be a part of the show, 108 were selected by a panel of four jurors: Bill Hoppe, associate professor in Central Oregon Community College’s art department; Danae Miller, a local sculptor; Betsy Bensen, a Portland-based jeweler and Debbie Leahy, director of the Salem Arts Festival. The jurors reviewed four images submitted by each artist as well as an artist’s statement and an example of their booth. “We think that how they present themselves to the public is really important,” Fox said. As is the custom in most art shows, the jurors go through all the applications during a two-day marathon at the COCC computer lab. But in this case, they’d already had about three weeks to look through the material beforehand.

“They do that homework ahead of time,” Fox said. “They’ve pretty much already seen what’s there.” Applications increased this year from 397 last year and 351 the first year, Fox said. “This year we really took a bigger jump, because we’re becoming quite well-known, I think,” he explained. Mark Stephenson, a photographer who participated in Art in the High Desert during its second year, is quoted on the festival’s website singing its praises. “I’d heard great things about the Art in the High Desert organizers, the volunteers, Bend, the community spirit and the magically gorgeous venue. But I was leery about participating in a festival with just one year under its belt. Now I’m thanking my lucky stars I took the chance. Not only was all that good stuff true, my Art in the High Desert sales bested my earnings at the last two Sausalito Art Festivals! I’m coming back as long as they’ll take me,” Stephenson said.

To fulfill their task of choosing festival exhibitors, the jurors rank each entry, and the best applicants in each category are selected for the festival, giving the artwork a healthy mix. “We curate the show and create what we feel is a really well-balanced show of the 14 media that are represented,” Fox said. “We don’t just take all the top scores. That gives it a really good balance.” This year’s festival will have “a good balance” indeed, with artists representing 13 states and Canada and showing off a wide variety of unique and beautiful artwork, from colorful, hand-crafted sculptural pepper mills to elegant, one-of-a-kind wooden kaleidoscopes. Also in the vein of “functional art” are the interesting baskets created by an artist whose medium is stainless steel mesh, aluminum and rubber. “He creases it and folds it sort of along the lines of origami,” Fox said.

One of the farthest-traveling artists, coming all the way from Kentucky, will showcase her alabaster vases and bowls, integrated with wood and steel. And a nationally-known artist will bring his larger-than-life kinetic sculptures, forged with cast glass, hammered copper and welded steel. And in the ceramics category is an artist who throws earthenware pottery and airbrushes it with a colorful underglaze. One of the show’s photographers will literally has gone to the ends of the Earth for his art. He spent five days traveling 8,000 miles from Oregon to the Antarctic Peninsula to capture the perfect image. A Native American artist in the festival uses the traditions of her people, handed down through thousands of years, for her work in clay, glass, bronze and wood. A ceramics artist has perfected the use of steel-tipped tools, including a kitchen can opener, to create stoneware that is part of the Smithsonian Institute and the American Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand. All in all, Fox said, it’s an exciting group of artists.

There will be 52 new artists at this year’s festival, and art lovers will want to be sure to make it to the Old Mill District for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet these craftspeople. “These are professional artists that will be here once a year and they might not come back,” Fox said. And the great thing about coming out to the festival and actually meeting the artists, he added, is that if you buy a piece of art, it makes it that much more special. “It’s a chance for the people really to come and meet the artist who does the original work and have some interaction with them, learn about how they do it,” Fox said. “Buyers are investing in a piece of that artist. It’s more than just ‘stuff.’ The art that I really enjoy in my home are the pieces that I know what the story is. I had a touch of that artist and I understand what they do and how they do it, and why they do it. I think that’s an important piece for people to see this as an opportunity to embellish their lives; to have a taste of people that are coming from all over the country that juried into this festival.”

Fox stresses the importance of art in our lives, no matter what the economic circumstances of the moment may be. “I think art really does make a difference in people’s lives in terms of the spirit of your life,” he said, adding that the festival offers pieces at all prices, accessible to anyone. “This really has a broad price range,” he said. “We urge artists to think about that.” In addition, the festival is offering some incentives to encourage people to make investments in art. The first 15 people to spend $500 on each day of the festival will receive prizes, he said.

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