(Anton Yakushev and Goph Albitz | Photos courtesy of COMAG)
The Central Oregon Metal Arts Guild, or COMAG, traces their roots back to 1998, when seven jewelers met on an April evening to discuss their work and future collaboration over pizza and beer. What started as an informal get together blossomed into the guild we see today; the guild that fosters collaboration and puts on an annual art show to support guild members and others.
The COMAG annual show is happening on August 4 and 5 from 11am to 7pm on Friday and 10am to 7pm on Saturday. This year’s show is the ninth annual showing, and COMAG show director Amy Pfeiffer said things are being done a little differently this time. This year’s show is taking place at a new venue, the Open Space Event Studio, just off of NE Lafayette Ave in Bend’s Central District. According to Pfeiffer, this new space is “logistically, very friendly to our style of large sculptures,” and she hopes that the central location will draw in more visitors and foot traffic.
Like past shows, this year’s event will feature a broad range of metalworking, along with new additions in ceramics and weaving. Visitors will get the chance to check out and purchase everything from small pieces of jewelry to large scale sculptures. A raffle will be held on each day, and two lucky guests will get the chance to win 100$ worth of credit to spend on the artwork of any artist at the show.
The art showcase will feature the work of 24 confirmed artists and potentially more, according to Pfeiffer. For the first time in COMAG history, the annual show will feature local artists and guilds outside of COMAG. In what has traditionally been a show exclusively showcasing metal arts and collaboration between artists of that broad medium, this year’s show has extended an invitation to local ceramics artists and weavers, as well as their respective local guilds.
“We collaborate with other artists regularly, so it felt like it would be a good thing to work towards a show for all the guilds,” Pfeiffer said. “It feels great to have invited ceramics artists and weavers.”
Pfeiffer said that the ultimate goal for the COMAG art show is to feature as many mediums as local artists are creating with, and to collaborate with other local guilds, “Wherever there is a nonprofit guild open to collaboration, we might work with them,” she said. “Our guild is open to partnerships with others.”
If you know COMAG, you know that this spirit of collaboration is nothing new for the guild; in fact, a keystone of their mission is to encourage and foster collaboration between artists of all kinds, guild members and nonmembers. COMAG regularly hosts artistic demonstrations at the homes and workshops of guild members. In these demonstrations, a guild member will show the rest of the guild some sort of technique or style that they have been using in their work, in hopes of inspiring and teaching something to the other artists in attendance.
According to featured COMAG artist Goph Albitz, “a welder’s demonstration might teach a sculptor something new about how to create their structure, while a jewelers demonstration might show the welder a new technique, just on a smaller scale.”
The collaboration doesn’t stop there, however. Several pieces at the COMAG show will be collaborative works between artists. For example, jeweler Goph Albitz and blacksmith/metalworker Anton Yakushev will be presenting several floral sculptures that feature components of each of their respective mediums.
This particular duo is an exciting one. Goph has more than 55 years of experience as an artist, and even ran previous COMAG shows as the director. Anton is a Russian artist who was first invited to showcase his work in the United States in 2019 through the Northwest Blacksmith Association.
Coming from Russia, Anton mostly communicates in Russian, while Goph speaks English. Despite the language barrier, the two seem to communicate through their art, and with the metal that they sculpt.
Goph shared a story about going home to his wife after working with Anton for three days and realizing that they haven’t actually spoken once, “But, we totally understood what was going on, and we communicated through our work,” Goph said.
He followed up my saying that having a collaborative piece is like having a dance partner, in that you don’t have to communicate verbally to create something beautiful.
Together, the duo has several collaborative pieces that they are excited to share with visitors to the COMAG art show, as well as personal pieces that showcase their own style. “He’ll have his own booth, I’ll have mine, and we’ll still have space to show our shared work,” Goph said.
The show will feature live demonstrations as well, similar to the regular monthly demonstrations put on by COMAG guild members to share techniques. According to Pfeiffer, the show will feature live ceramics work as well as live, small-scale glass work, along with the possibility of a metal artist doing a demonstration, as well.
For the guests, the show will include multiple food trucks to grab some local grub, as well as beer and wine options. A big part of COMAG’s mission is to inspire people to get into art and to keep it accessible. This show is expected to be one where guests can peruse lines of unique, handcrafted art, talk to the creative minds responsible for the work and learn a thing or two about how the art was created, all while enjoying good food and drink.
About the future of the show, Pfeiffer said, “We’re still together and still going strong. We intend to keep it that way.”