Atelier 6000 Presents Under Pressure

Once a year Atelier 6000 launches an outdoor print shop for a live printmaking extravaganza using an industrial steamroller. A steamroller turned into a printing press, invited artists and the creation of large-scale art. All in the A6 parking lot of Atelier 6000 - 389 SW Scalehouse Ct., Bend.

Held on Saturday and Sunday, September 11-12, 9am–3:30pm artists and the community watch art being crushed and formed under tons of pressure. Invited artists ready giant printing plates in diverse manners - either by building up boards of Masonite with found objects, wax, cardboard or wire to develop a collagraphic composition or carving an image into the plate or feeling the moment and painting directly onto the plate to create a monoprint.

In any case, all anticipate the moment the steamroller crushes the plate against a sheet of heavy paper leaving behind an inked and textured print - a work of Steamroller Art. The escalation of energy oozes throughout the day as the steamroller flattens the artwork – but not the enthusiasm of the artists. www.atelier6000.com, 541-330-8759

Jesse Lockwood Unlocks His Creativity

By TRINITY COMBS Cascade A&E Feature Writer

The fresh mind of artist Jesse Lockwood is the essence of creativity with his intriguing open-ended paintings, illustrations and three dimensional pieces. His art allows the viewer to experience something new. His unparalleled style gives great contribution to the ever-growing culture of Central Oregon. Lockwood’s art has been prominent in the community since he moved here three years ago, and his out-of-this-realm pieces keep the public intrigued.

But to Lockwood, art is just a way to step back from reality while tapping into the abundant source of creativity just waiting to emerge. Lockwood’s work is currently displayed throughout Bend in businesses including CHOW restaurant and the Astro Lounge. He’s had art and T-shirts displayed in Vanilla, Tew Boots Gallery and he has posters in Ranch Records. He’s presented art exhibits at Townshend’s in Bend and Portland, including his most involved painting, The Origins of a Metaphorical Life. Lockwood’s art ranges from stencil tributes to surrealism paintings and illustrations.

He is always looking for innovative ways to release his ingenuity. He frequently references Star Wars and is known for burning holes in canvases to create a three-dimensional effect. Lockwood’s Tribute Collection includes his unwavering fascination with The Big Lebowski. “The Big Lebowski is something that needs to be paid tribute to,” Lockwood said. “The Coen brothers in general are amazing, but that movie especially represents something solid and far out.”

Lockwood’s accolades to The Big Lebowski include a grand-sized painting of the Dude, The Jesus and Walter in the bowling alley from the movie. The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy involving a case of mistaken identity of The Dude Lebowski (played by Jeff Bridges). The Dude is tormented by a gang who believe he’s the millionaire, Jeffrey. The Dude needs help from his friend, Walter Sobchak (played by John Goodman), and the plot spins until everyone wants something from the Dude. Lockwood is also passionate about his pop stencil work featuring celebrities like Mr. T, Wonder Woman, Dukes of Hazzard, Easy Rider, Magnum P.I, Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood.

“The choice of who I want to pay tribute to all comes down to the essence of what that person is about,” Lockwood said. “The people I choose might not be famous or super popular, but something about the person is right on and a tribute needs to be paid.” The process of stenciling involves different layers of stencils for the extensive detailing of a picture’s varying coloring and lighting. Lockwood also paints eye-opening pieces of surreal realities that allow him to drift into an alternate universe while painting. “My artwork puts people in a new place. It might have some aspect of life so people can relate but it’s a little weird so it forces a new perspective.”

Lockwood is a fan of surrealism because it provides an escape from the groove of life being the same everyday. Lockwood’s fast-paced mind continues to work wherever he goes, which is how he found inspiration in animal bones while hiking around Oregon. He is currently using the bones as part of three-dimensional pieces for a new series. Lockwood said getting his art out in the community through local businesses has taught him the business side of things, and he is grateful the businesses oblige. “I find locations that my work would compliment and I approach the owner,” Lockwood said. “The artwork is hung up, tagged for sale, and people can call if they want to buy a piece, or purchase it directly from the establishment. I just make sure it’s a space that my pieces would add to the environment.”

Lockwood’s main point throughout all his art is the importance of creativity. “Everyone’s brain is different,” Lockwood said. “I’ve developed a way to tap into that right side and find release in following inhibition. If you’re true to your creativity, you’ll end up making the best art work you possibly can to your potential, instead of being influenced or blocked by others.” “I feel fortunate to have an overactive brain because I’m able to drift off to other places and not get stuck where I’m at,” Lockwood said. “The more creativity there is the better life is for everyone, whether it’s in neighborhoods, the community, or society as a whole; our culture needs more creativity.” Lockwood’s love for art coincides with his teaching career at Bend High School, where he helps kids tap into their creativity.

“I have the kids focus on technique and style and all the technical points,” Lockwood said. “But it’s just as important to teach them to use the creative side of the brain.” Lockwood believes no matter what, creativity can be used in any job. “Sometimes I just drift off into another world without time,” Lockwood said. This is also thanks to his great inspiration, music. “The music and art go hand-in-hand. I’ll listen to Jimi Hendrix or Pink Floyd. Just the painting and music at the same time gets me going.” Lockwood feels fortunate that people have ended up enjoying his art as much as he has. His main advice would be that with anything you do, you have to find your passion, have fun, and go in full-heartedly. 541-318-7480, www.jlockwoodart.com

Ten World-Class Artists
at Lahaina Galleries

Bend’s Lahaina Galleries will play host this month to ten renowned artists from all across the globe, and the public is invited to come and meet these visionaries in person at a special reception. From 11am-2pm on Sunday, July 11, July’s featured artists from all around the world, from Oregon to Japan, will attend a special public reception to discuss their artwork.

Attending artists are: Alexi Butirskiy, who is traveling from Moscow; Italian masters Dario Campanile & the Twins, Alessio & Marcello Bugagiar; Canadian Jade sculptor Lyle Sopel; Japanese artist Hisashi Otsuka; Chinese impressionist Lau Chun; Maui wood sculptor Steve Turnbull and Oregon artists Jim Daly and Donna Young.  “It’s so rare for Bend to have an event like this,” said Beau Killett of Lahaina Galleries. “It’s an incredible opportunity to have all these people under the same roof.” Campanile is recognized as one of the foremost contemporary realist painters. After working in Los Angeles for more than a decade, in 1986 he was selected to create the 75th Anniversary logo for Paramount Studios, the familiar image of a mountain peak at sunset that you see before a Paramount movie begins.

In 2006 he was given the rare honor of painting the Dalai Lama’s likeness for the Missing Peace Found touring exhibition. Butirskiy currently serves as Professor of Drawing at the Russian Academy of the Arts. In the fall of 2007, Alexei was invited to exhibit his work at the prestigious Il Vittoriano in the Piazza Venezia, Rome, Italy. Built in 1911 to honor the Unknown Soldier, Il Vittoriano has been the site of many important art exhibitions honoring Picasso, Dali, Chagall, Monet, Manet, Degas and many more. Donna Young is considered a contemporary modernist who specializes in portraying vivid and effervescent aspects of landscapes found in the Pacific Northwest.

Inspired by Andrew Wyeth, Young tries to paint scenes of peaceful streams, trees and mountainsides from an unusual perspective that she says “encourages the viewer to put aside old habits.” Through the use of vibrant colors and different perspective, she wants viewers to feel they are no longer standing outside a painting but rather part of the landscape itself. Her fresh and vibrant viewpoint has won her numerous awards and led her to be chosen for the cover of Skywest Magazine. Donna is currently receiving international distribution through a few of her works published with Grand Images.           541-388-4404 or www.lahainagalleries.com

Students Explore the Outdoors Through Art

Last month students from local schools explored a new outdoor “field classroom” with the assistance of a professional artist. Following this exploration and with professional guidance they will create a public art piece that interprets their outdoor experience. The Deschutes National Forest, Bend La Pine School District, and Discover Your Northwest are partnering to establish Ryan Ranch, south of Bend near Dillon Falls on Deschutes National Forest land, as a “field” classroom for students in Central Oregon Debra Robasky, an artist from the Painted River Studio in Portland, will work with middle school and high school students at Ryan Ranch to create a 60 foot square collage inspired by the landscape of the Dillon Falls, Deschutes River, and Ryan Ranch Meadow. When completed, the collage will be displayed at the Bend La Pine School District Board Room in downtown Bend. In addition, selected art work will be used for future interpretative materials for Ryan Ranch such as informational panels and brochures. Other students will be filming the project for a documentary about Ryan Ranch. The Guest Artist Workshop is funded by a “More Kids in the Woods” Forest Service grant. The More Kids in the Woods efforts developed, in part, because of Richard Louv’s, book Last Child in the Woods. Robasky, the artist, has worked on student projects for over 20 years and has worked with the Forest Service on conservation education and interpretation programs for the past 14 years.

David Yatomi Urbanscapes

Donald Yatomi presents Urbanscapes and Other Human Spaces, an exhibition of oil paintings which will be shown in the upcoming “Oils, Acrylics and Metals” show through May 29 at BICA Gallery. Yatomi describes his work in oil as contemporary realism. His style is reminiscent of the Ashcan school from the early twentieth century which is best known for portraying the gritty urban scenes of daily life.

A century later, Yatomi’s work appropriately brings this artistic style to the forefront of today and offers the modern collector a snapshot of twenty-first century life. In his work, Yatomi explores the realms of the industrial and the urban; in particular, the urbanization of the desert and the solitude of the Western American metropolis. His ideas examine the notions of alienation vs. congregation that occurs at a particular point in time in very specific locations.

It is not urban development itself that he is inevitably drawn to, but rather to the paradoxes of the social encounter and human isolation in the midst of urban development. It’s the uncelebrated spaces that he is drawn to paint; the spaces and objects that we, in our everyday lives, may overlook, oblivious to the solitude and peace within the common. Yatomi’s small and large format oil paintings on canvas and/or canvas board are both dynamic and serene. He describes his wide-angled compositions, originating in the early 1990’s as a sardonic attempt to refer from the then trend of cropped, panoramic photography and film developing.

The panoramic format stuck as he continued his interest for urbanscape paintings, in which it eventually and suitably evoked the subject of population sprawl and mass-communities that he was after. Yatomi graduated from the University of Hawaii with a bachelor of fine art in painting. He attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. There he received a second bachelor of fine art in illustration with distinction in 1996. Yatomi’s work is currently being exhibited in The Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City, UT and the William Benton Museum of Art in Mansfield, Connecticut. He is successfully affiliated with two other fine art galleries in Utah and Idaho and privately collected in several states. 541-788-4623 www.bicagallery.com

New Magazine for Kids Brings Arts Education Home

Julie Hill — mom, award-winning graphic designer and volunteer art teacher — knows a thing or two about the importance of art to learning development. She’s putting her knowledge into action through a new publication for kids called ArtDawg Magazine, to bring more art education to children in elementary and middle school.  

“Studies* show that learning about art is directly associated with gains in math, reading and critical thinking. Yet in an era of school budget cuts, art education is often the first thing to go. I have taught art as a volunteer in many classrooms and I love to see the creativity of the kids. Often, the child that doesn’t necessarily excel in the classroom or on the sports field comes alive through an art lesson,” says Hill.

That’s where ArtDawg Magazine comes in— a full-color, 28-page magazine created especially for kids age five to 12. Unlike any other art magazine for kids, each issue showcases the work and inspiration of both master and contemporary artists, interesting careers in visual arts, age-appropriate projects, how-tos, puzzles and activity pages— all related to visual arts and available through a quarterly subscription.  Hill, the designer-turned-entrepreneur, uses her graphic design expertise to create page layouts that make the publication fun to read.  

The stories are short and written in a kid-friendly style. Special “words to know” encourage kids to learn new vocabulary words related to what they are reading. And interactive pages invite the reader to draw right in the magazine.  The first issue of 2010 was published in early February and features the mysterious artwork of Rene Magritte, Ohio “Recycled Art” artist Michelle Stitzlein and The Texas Tweens who invented the jewelry line called “SnapCaps.”

The inaugural issue, launched in November 2009, relates the story of master artist Henri Matisse, features contemporary artist Noelle Dass, and includes an interview with the creator of SpongeBob Squarepants—Stephen Hillenburg—who told how a career in marine biology led to his creation of the popular cartoon characters and a job with Nickelodeon.

“By highlighting an actual ‘career’ in art, I want to inspire kids to open their minds to all kinds of career possibilities and to pursue their dreams. When I was a kid, art was not taken seriously as a career choice. Today, being creative and artistic can open the door to a whole world of choices.” The magazine publishes quarterly —February, May, August and November — with a subscription price of $19.99.Hill has over 20 years of experience with volunteer-taught art education programs.

After moving to Bend, Oregon in 2001, she started a program at High Lakes Elementary called “Art-In-A-Box”. Modeled after the Art Literacy program in the Beaverton, Oregon school district—the Art-In-A-Box program uses parent volunteers to teach art lessons in the classroom. Based on master artists, Hill was able to use her educational background in art history to create a curriculum.

The lessons include both biographical information about the artist and hands-on art lessons based on the artist’s style.  www.artdawgkids.com or Julie Hill at 541.318.5057

Catering to the Artful Traveler

In 1990, on her first trip to Europe, Bend Artist, Cindy Briggs took a plein air painting workshop in Paris. She loved France, loved the instructors, and loved painting around the city. However, she didn’t love dragging too many art supplies on the metro, racing for trains, getting lost and disliked staying far out of center of Paris in a nothing-special hotel.

While Briggs relished the experience she decided she would plan tours that truly cater to artists, include inspiring painting demonstrations in a nurturing atmosphere, be as stress-free as possible traveling at an artist’s pace and offer delightful accommodations in a scenic location. Ten years later she’s in her eighth year of leading Make Every Day a Painting tours in Europe with Seattle Artist, Theresa Goesling.

The artists are returning to the Amalfi Coast, October 1-9, 2010 with a renewed focus on creating captivating watercolors, journaling and mixed media. A spectacular place to paint plein air and take photographs to provide inspiration for years to come, the Amalfi Coast is known for its rugged terrain, picturesque towns, turquoise blue seas, umbrella filled beaches, vineyards and lemon groves. The participants will take in the wonderful rhythm of Italy as they enjoy the plein air experience. “Every sketch or painting is proof that you personally connected with the landscape and dared to be creative on location. Minimal art supplies are suggested so you spend more time painting and less time packing and setting up. We stay in the heart of spectacular Positano - just a simple walk to the beach and a scenic boat ride to the Isle of Capri and Historic Amalfi.

The bed and breakfast hotel has incredible coastal views and owner “Mama” Maria makes everyone feel like part of her family,” Briggs shared. With beginning to professional artists and many return students in the group, she said, “all you really need is the desire to nurture your creativity and an adventurous spirit.” The instructors guide each student into new ways to artistically capture the essence of a scene with confidence and provide on site reference materials in their comprehensive aquamedia manual “Make Every Day a Painting” included with their tours. Like their personalities, Theresa’s work is experimental, vibrant and bold,

Cindy’s work is calm, colorful and luminous – the two balance each other and share their enthusiasm with their students. An artists workshop is a gift of time you give yourself, whether in Oregon or in Europe. Along with the Amalfi Coast trip, Briggs and Goesling are also planning another Mediterranean cruise in 2011 and offer workshops closer to home at the Arts Central Station in Bend and at Daniel Smith in Seattle, Washington. For details see www.MakeEveryDayAPainting.com or 541-420-9463. Briggs is featured in Bend at The Wild River Art Company, with the High Desert Art League at the Redmond Design Center. Both artists show at Takara in NW Crossing.

Eastlake Celebrates 25 Years
in the Business

What does it take to survive in business for more than 25 years? Debbie Spicer, owner of Eastlake Framing, would tell you it requires a fundamental, yet simple philosophy: love what you do, do it with integrity, and remember to always give back. “I’ve been lucky enough to combine my business expertise with one of my life’s passions – photography,” said Spicer.

Spicer studied art and photography in college. In her early twenties, she started a photo finishing business in Wagner Mall. Nine years later she started her own photo re-touching venture. One of her clients introduced her to Eastlake Art Company, an art supply company that did minimal picture framing. Debbie purchased it in 1992 and eventually changed the name to Eastlake Framing. Under Spicer’s leadership, Eastlake Framing has developed a retail footprint that is three-times the size of an average frame shop in the US.

It has been recognized as the small business with the best consumer marketing program in the country by the Photo Marketing Association/Professional Picture Framing Association (PMA/PPFA). Eastlake Framing was also recognized as Bend’s 2008 Distinguished Small Business of the Year. Spicer’s recognition as a business owner is due in large part to her charity. Spicer believes people want to do business with companies who are interested in enhancing the community.

Her latest contribution has been a year long venue for Bend’s best photographers to showcase their work. The grand finale celebration for the 25th Anniversary of Eastlake Framing will be a signature event that few will want to miss. On Friday, December 4, 5-9pm, at their frame shop on Galveston, they will be celebrating 25 years of artistic spirit by creating a truly stunning piece of art. Debbie Spicer, owner of Eastlake Framing, has teamed up with Saxons Jewelers and Ric Ergenbright to create a statement of true wearable art that is valued at $35,000.

The artistic creation will feature an exclusive diamond encrusted necklace that is surrounded by a gorgeous one of a kind photograph. Come and enjoy live music, wine, catered food and anniversary cake, along with wonderful art and a chance to win a silver anniversary gift from Eastlake Framing. See you there! www.eastlakeframing.com.