Alleda Real Estate
25 NW Minnesota Ave., Ste. 1, 541-633-7590, www.alledarealestate.com.
Featuring Joren Traveller, a member of High Desert Art League, thru April. After attending art classes at Otis Art Institute, Traveller graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in microbiology and animal science. An accomplished equestrian, she also competed in the Olympic 3-Day event selections trials for 3-Day Eventing and coached dressage, hunters and show jumping. After moving to Central Oregon, Traveller returned to her art work and pursued her love of sketching, painting and sculpting. Captivated by form and texture she works bronze and ceramic to produce beguiling sculptures that express the character she sees in each individual creature. An avid naturalist, Traveller enjoys traveling throughout the Northwest and Southwest gathering ideas for her art from places visited and wildlife observed as well as charismatic domestic animals. Working mainly in oil and inspired by the all of the outdoor activities offered in and around Traveller, Joren is currently working on a series of sports and nature paintings as well as her animal portraits.

 

Art in the Atrium, Franklin Crossing
550 NW Franklin Ave.
Celebrates First Friday with digital art by Dorothy Freudenberg. The exhibition continues through April 25. Freudenberg creates digital media images and the rapid change and growth in digital technology quickly alters and expands her capability to produce her art. This constant experimentation with new technique as well as subject matter also morphs the artist’s aesthetic. Her imagery arises from deconstructing, reshaping, recolorizing and recombining digital photos and layering the constructions into digital collages. The work reveals Western and Eastern influences in that the artist creates both active space with profuse objects and intense color as well as still, barren space with minimal subject matter.
As an artist creating outside the confines of the traditional, the photography of her early career blended with a painter’s eye and new technology, evolving her distinctive body of work. This exhibition reviews that work over several years, and illustrates Freudenberg’s journey as it opens our eyes to a few of the myriad possibilities of the always-emerging technical world.
Noi Thai serves wine and Thai appetizers and Andy Armer and Friends perform jazz. Billye Turner, art consultant curates the Franklin Crossing displays with info at 503-780-2828 or billyeturner@bendnet.com

 

Atelier 6000
389 SW Scalehouse Ct., Ste. 120, 541-330-8759, www.atelier6000.com.
Twenty one original prints by famed artist M.C. Escher thru May. M.C. Escher was a prolific artist and master printmaker, producing more than 400 original prints in his lifetime.
The exhibit showcases Escher’s skill in wood cut, wood engraving, lithography and linocut. ScaleHouse, a growing network of creative collaborators in Central Oregon, was fundamental in organizing the Escher exhibit.

 

Azillion Beads
910 Harriman St., Ste. 100, 541-617-8854.
Featuring Azillion Bead’s jewelry artists.

Bend Premier Real Estate
550 NW Franklin Ave.
Exhibiting the photography of award-winning landscape/travel photographer Stuart L. Gordon. Gordon will be on hand to tell the story behind each of the stunning images he captured with his camera during a reception from 5-8pm on First Friday.
Between Bend Premier Real Estate and North Soles, more than 30 of his matted and framed images will be on display. Featured in the exhibits are several images from the photographer’s collection of Central Oregon photographs as well as from his extensive travels throughout the Western United States and British Columbia.
Included in the April exhibits are two award-winning images, First Snow and Sunset Light on McWay Falls. The first, taken on a autumn morning at Sparks Lake, Oregon, was selected as one of a dozen photographs singled out for praise in a worldwide competition judged by celebrated nature photographer Art Wolfe in 2013. The second image, taken along the Big Sur coast, was a winner in a 2012 worldwide photography contest sponsored by the PhotoShelter web-hosting site.
Gordon is currently working on a book of his fine art photographs that he expects to publish as an e-book in late 2015. All the matted and framed prints in the exhibit are made with archival inks and will be on sale throughout April at both locations. The prints are available in a variety of sizes from the photographer’s website: www.chasingthelight.zenfolio.com.
Gordon also produces an annual calendar of Central Oregon images, sales of which benefits the Environmental Center of Central Oregon, and donates 10 percent of proceeds from exhibit sales during First Friday Artwalk to The Bethlehem Inn, Central Oregon’s shelter for the homeless.

 

Bluebird Coffee Company
On Bond in Franklin Crossing Building, 541-330-2100.
Exhibiting artwork by local artists.

 

Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty
821 NW Wall, 541-383-7600 ext.211, rebecca.green@cascadesothebysrealty.com, cascadesothebysrealty.com.
Featuring Hazel Reeves. Working as an interior designer for over 20 years, Reeves’ background includes a stint in furniture sales, healthcare design and as a senior interior designer for the State of Oregon. “In my favorite series I have created, the story in my paintings leads me to mix very realistic faces in a very abstract matrix,” said Reeves. “I love the visual textures I can achieve by using hand dyed tissue paper, Washi paper and found paper together with acrylics and glazing.” Reeves started painting seven years ago and has recently been working on large paintings.

 

Century 21 Lifestyles Realty
550 NW Franklin Dr., Ste. 188.
Grand opening April 3: ribbon cutting 4:30pm, enjoy finger foods and an open bar for the celebration of the expanded location. Door prize: be entered to win a free weekend in Sunriver Vacation Rental, compliments of Mt. Resort Properties. Meet and mingle with members of our community and enjoy the lifestyle of Bend’s vibrant Downtown. First Friday featured artist: Charles Cockburn, a local artist who takes incredible nature photographs. Live music by Leighton Tuttle.

Chocolate Element
916 NW Wall St., www.chocolateelement.com.
Three artists on display: Donna Cherry quilts inspired by nature and natural beauty. Beverly Adler award winning fiber art. Teri Shamilan glass art.

 

Crow’s Feet Commons
875 NW Brooks St., 541-728-0066, www.crowsfeetcommons.com.
Local band Isles at 7pm.

 

Desperado
330 SW Powerhouse, Old Mill District. 541-749-9980.
Featuring Bend artist Barbara Slater who is inspired by the “out west” way of life and cowboy culture with a touch of city glitz. Painting oils with energy and spirit, this artist’s pigmentation is rich and succulent, while her brushwork is bold and responsive. Barbara continues her studies with different genres, painting still-lifes, florals, landscapes and animals. Animals are her present focus with images of vibrant roosters, horses, cows and other barnyard residents. Painting these rural inhabitants with love and respect, Barbara gives each animal an attitude and personality. Slater is a member of Oil Painters of America, California Art Club, American Women Artists (AWA) and The High Desert Art League. www.barbaraslater.com. 

Feather’s Edge Finery
113 NW Minnesota Ave., 541-306-3162, www.thefeathersedge.com.
Featuring local, regional and U.S. based artists each and every First Friday. Thru April, Bend artist Euijin Esther Gray.

 

FootZone
842 Wall St. 541-317-3568, www.footzone.com.
Heaven Can Wait Kick Off party with Heaven Can Wait registration, a discount on all pink items in the store and complimentary beer from Bend Brewing Company.

 

Jeffrey Murray Photography
118 NW Minnesota Ave. 925-389-0610, www.jeffreymurrayphotography.com.
Landscape photography by Jeffrey Murray from local and national locations.

 
John Paul Designs Custom Jewelry + Signature Series
1006 NW Bond St., www.johnpauldesigns.com.
Specializing in unique, one of a kind wedding and engagement rings in a variety of metals.

 

Karen Bandy Design Jeweler
25 NW Minnesota Ave., Ste. 5, 541-388-0155, www.karenbandy.com.
Tucked between Thump Coffee and Alleda Real Estate, Karen Bandy is not easy to find, but well worth the effort. Karen is Central Oregon’s only national/international award-winning jewelry designer and has been specializing in custom design in downtown Bend since 1987. Her designs are bold, fun and always very wearable. Karen Bandy is also an abstract acrylic painter whose work can best be described as colorful and textural contemporary fine art. When there is an actual subject, horses and wild animals are often depicted. Open Tues.- Thurs., 11:30-5pm and by appointment, and First Fridays 5-9pm.

Lubbesmeyer Studio & Gallery
Old Mill District, second story loft, 541-330-0840, www.lubbesmeyer.com.
The Lubbesmeyer twins offer a range of work created in fiber and paint. Through the twins’ collaborative process, they distill literal imagery into vivid blocks of color and texture, creating an abstracted view of their surroundings. The working studio and gallery is open Tuesday thru Saturday.

 

Mary Medrano Gallery
25 NW Minnesota Ave., Ste. 12 (above Thump Coffee), 408-250-2732, www.marymedrano.com.
Mary Medrano is a full-time artist living and working in Bend with a studio downtown overlooking Tin Pan Alley. She makes pet portraits and expressive animal paintings.

 
Mockingbird Gallery
869 NW Wall St., 541-388-2107, www.mockingbird-gallery.com.
New works by local artist Dawn Emerson, Inspirations. Emerson captures the movement and dynamism of animals in a rush of flickering light and shadow, using dramatic shifts of color tones. Her goal is to simplify and say just enough, engaging the viewer to share in the vision. “The focus of my work is a passion for movement and a thirst for energy. I paint impressionistically with ink and oil pastel, using strong composition, clear focus and bold colors to convey the sense of movement I am after.” The subjects of her mixed media paintings – horses, donkeys, ravens, sheep and landscapes – evoke a strong and animated presence. Dawn has 25 years of experience teaching drawing and painting to all ages and levels. She teaches workshops and juries shows around the country and Canada, and now offers workshops and private study in her new 1,800 square foot studio (recently completed by her husband Bruce). She also teaches foundational drawing as a part-time instructor at Central Oregon Community College in Bend.

North Soles Footwear
800 NW Wall St.
Photography by Stuart L. Gordon. See exhibit details under Bend Premier Real Estate.

 

Art at the Oxford
The Oxford Hotel, 10 NW Minnesota Ave., 541-382-8436.
Exhibiting Jill Rosell’s photography. Travel after college from her native New Zealand to the U.S. ultimately brought the artist to Bend. Rosell seriously began her photography career during college but continued locally, capturing her small children and photos from her daily activities. The latter, and her devotion to photography, resulted in her creation in 2010 of the Facebook page – I LOVE BEND, OR. Daily the artist photographs the people and places of Bend, offering her love of Bend to some 10,500 people locally, nationally and internationally. She has posted over 1,500 unique images and created thousands of I LOVE BEND, OR bumper stickers seen around town. An admired natural light portrait and lifestyle photographer, her studio is the outdoors and her passion is to capture a wide variety of subjects. She also teaches workshops and works on her upcoming coffee table book. www.jillrosellphotgraphy.com. The artist’s exhibit continues through April 26 in the lobby of the Oxford, open all hours. Billye Turner, art consultant, curates displays of fine art for The Oxford Hotel lobby. For additional information contact Turner at 503-780-2828 or billyeturner@bendnet.com

Painted Paradise Gallery
841 NW Bond St. #12, 541-280-2405 or 541-280-0320, www.paintedparadise.com.
Original art and custom frames. Owner Ken McCreary paints on natural materials such as plaster, stone and natural wood. McCreary started about 40 years ago drawing hot rods for friends in high school. Surfing around the California coast translated into seascape airbrush paintings on canvas, vans, cars and surf boards. He calls his new gallery “The biggest little gallery in Bend” that has an eclectic feel to it.
The Painted Paradise Gallery displays original paintings by Ken Mac in oil, acrylic and digital art. The subject matter of his paintings are all about his own ideas of “Paradise” in landscapes and tropical seascapes. Some wildlife and of course hot rods in a digital medium.

 

Patagonia @ Bend
1000 NW Wall St., Ste. 101, 541-382-6694, www.patagoniabend.com.
Mike Putnam will display his photography. www.mikeputnamphoto.com.
 
Paul Scott Gallery
869 NW Wall St., Ste. 104, 541-330-6000, www.paulscottfineart.com.
New works by guest artist Holly Rodes Smithey who began working with metal in 2005, focusing on sculpture. The contrast between the solidity of cold raw steel and the malleability of the material when worked with heat and flame also finds expression in Holly’s metalwork. Her use of unique patinas acts as storyteller, while rhythm and balance play primary roles.

 

QuiltWorks
926 NE Greenwood Ave. 541-728-0527.
The QuiltWorks April gallery will feature over 50 quilts based on the Deschutes County Library’s 2014 Novel Idea selection The Dog Stars by Peter Heller. Thru May 1.

 

Red Chair Gallery
103 NW Oregon Ave., 541-306-3176, www.redchairgallerybend.com.
Red Chair has invited area high school art students to be juried into the gallery and sell their art work as featured artists for April. This is the third year the gallery has worked with the high schools, hence the title of the exhibit Emerging Artists 3. High schools represented in the gallery will be Mountain View, Bend High and Sisters High School. The owners of Red Chair Gallery visited each of the high schools to jury in the work. All the submitted art work was outstanding and it was unfortunate that they were not able to take every piece that was offered. The artists who are accepted in the gallery will be asked to sign a 30 day membership commitment that places them under the same sale guidelines that the regular members of the gallery are held to, as part of an effort to give the students a “real world” art gallery sales experience.
The teachers at each high school have all been critical components in putting this program together. They have pre-screened and gathered the art works and also created the enthusiasm among the students. Many of the same students that were involved in the past are represented in this year’s show. The buzz from last year’s show and the sales from it have helped to not only generate excitement but increased the quality of work presented.
New this year will be the People’s Choice Award. The first place winner will have the opportunity to display their piece for an additional month at the gallery and prizes include gift certificates from Blick Art Supplies and Atelier 6000. Voting will take place on April 4, First Friday, through April 6.

Sage Custom Framing
834 NW Brooks St., 541-382-5884, www.sageframing-gallery.com.
Featuring Nancy Misek, Central Oregon and Beyond Pastel Landscapes. Nancy is constantly inspired by the beautiful patterns, colors and designs in the surrounding world.  She is driven to look closely at this beauty and interpret it in a fresh way. She prefers the excitement of painting on location, (plein air) to studio painting and during the warmer months can often be seen painting the local landscape. She tries to bring the feelings she has for the scene into her painting, so the viewer can also feel her excitement and inspiration. By sharing these quiet observations with the viewer, Nancy hopes her pastel paintings will make us want to stop and look more carefully at the world around us.
 
Silverado
1001 Wall St., 541-322-8792, www.silveradogallery.com.
Featuring Joseph Christensen of JC Lapidary. Oregon artist handcrafting beautiful jewelry featuring many stones from the Northwest. 

Sunny Yoga Kitchen
2748 NW Crossing Dr. Suite 120, 541-678-3139, www.sunnyyogakitchen.com
Featuring the acrylic and encaustic paintings of local fine artist Lisa Marie Sipe. Her work is about how nature is synthesized by our consumer culture. She captures incidents of abstraction in nature, such as tree bark or the spots on dog bellies, and paints them larger than life in unexpected colors. Sipe’s work has been exhibited at the Tucson Museum of Art, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art and many other locations nationwide. Sipe works at the Lumin Art Studios in Tumalo. www.LisaMarieSipe.com

 

The Silver Otter
706 SW Industrial Way, Ste. 100, Bend. 541-241-7818. www.thesilverotter.com.
Exhibiting a collection of locally made art and handmade crafts from all over the world.

 

Townshend’s Bend Teahouse
835 NW Bond St., Bend, 541-312-2001.
April highlights children’s artwork from students of Jennifer Poncia’s World of Art. Artists range in age 5-11. Come experience the expressions created in reliefs made of cardboard on wood panel, along with a few pieces inspired by Edgar Brandt’s iron works of the Art Deco period… Textures, colors and expressions are unique to each child’s interests. Included in the show is Indoor Swimming Pool, on a warped piece of salvaged plywood, a delightful piece, and group project done as a birthday gift.

 

Tumalo Art Company
450 SW Powerhouse Dr., Ste. 407, 541-385-9144, www.tumaloartco.com.
Marty Stewart’s show, April Mix features new landscapes in soft pastel and acrylic. Her subtly atmospheric compositions sing with expressive color and light. For this show she will be exploring some new visual territory including water birds, a lily pond and more. Marty’s pastel paintings have won many awards, notably a first place in the Pastel 100 Competition and Artist’s Magazine 28th Annual Competition abstract categories in 2011. Her image was chosen to be the signature artwork for the 2014 Sunriver Music Festival.