May’s First Friday Gallery Events & Exhibit Openings

Bend Senior Center
1600 SE Reed Market Rd.
541-388-1133 • bendparksandrec.org/facility/bend-senior-center
The Bend Senior Center at the new Larkspur Community Center is showing art by members of the SageBrushers Art Society. Come visit the new facility and enjoy beautiful paintings in acrylic, oil, pastel and watercolor, as well as outstanding photography. Showing thru June.

Blue Spruce Pottery
20591 Dorchester E.
541-382-0197 • bluesprucepottery.com
This family-owned business has been making handmade pottery in Bend since 1976. Call to arrange a time to come shop their large selection of mugs, bowls, casseroles, lamps and more. Shop online and have gifts shipped directly to your family and friends. You can also find Blue Spruce Pottery at Red Chair Gallery in downtown Bend.

The Grove
921 NW Mt. Washington Dr.
The Grove at Northwest Crossing is continuing an exhibit of paintings and prints by Jean Lubin, Vivian Olsen, Janet Frost and Janice Rhodes thru May 11. On May 12 a new exhibit will feature pastels by Jan Dow, watercolors by Liz Haberman and Helen Brown and oil paintings by Pamela Beaverson. The show will conclude on June 9.

High Desert Museum
59800 S Hwy. 97
541-382-4754 • highdesertmuseum.org
Continuing thru October 1, Creations of Spirit, is largely in the voices of the seven Native artists commissioned to create works for the exhibition, and they share their stories of their pieces — ranging from a hand-carved High Desert Plateau flute to a tule reed canoe and paddles — as part of a deep connection to traditions as well as part of the vitality of contemporary Indigenous communities.
Continuing thru May 7, Under the Snow. In the depths of winter, a deep layer of snow quiets the High Desert’s forests. Not a single creature seems to stir. But just under the snow, a secret world has come to life! Dive with us into the snow, where voles, shrews, insects and porcupines build a matrix of tunnels and dens. In this natural history exhibit, visitors will learn about this subnivium environment, the seasonal habitat where animals, plants, and fungi flourish. An interactive wall graphic will allow visitors meet some of the subnivium’s wildlife, including a little mouse named Graupel. Join the High Desert Museum to explore a hidden world of snow.
Continuing thru June 25, 2023, In The Arena. As long as there have been cowboys, there have been Black cowboys. One of the most enduring symbols of the American West, the cowboy evokes self-reliance, strength and determination — qualities found at the Black rodeos held each year across the United States. Through the lens of Bay Area photographer Gabriela Hasbun, this exhibit documents the exhilarating atmosphere of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — the only touring Black rodeo in the country — and the show-stopping style and skill of the Black cowboys and cowgirls who attend the event year after year.

Jeffrey Murray Photography Gallery
118 NW Minnesota Ave.
541-325-6225 • jeffreymurrayphotography.com
The Jeffrey Murray Photography Gallery features the work of local photographer Jeffrey Murray. Visitors can browse comfortably in the two-story gallery enjoying visually adventurous displays of landscape, wildlife and contemporary work. Open daily Tuesday-Sunday.

Kreitzer Gallery
20214 Archie Briggs Rd.
805-234-2048 • KreitzerArt.com
Announcing Contemporary Realist David Kreitzer. In the tradition of Turner and Cezanne, master oil and watercolorist David Kreitzer’s commitment to beauty and meditative work compels him to create exquisite, mood-invoking oil and watercolor Central Oregon splendor landscapes, figure, fantasy, oak and vineyard hills and Nishigoi koi images.
David, whose career was launched with a sold out show at Maxwell Galleries in San Francisco, has been a professional artist for 57 years.
David grew up as the son of a Lutheran minister who, due to his duties, moved his family frequently throughout the Nebraska countryside. Kreitzer has exhibited his work in numerous one-man shows in museums, universities and galleries across the country, and his paintings have served as posters for the Mozart Festival in San Luis Obispo, California, Atlantic Magazine and the Seattle Opera. He was a featured artist for the American Artist Magazine, and his collectors include Michael Douglas, Mary Tyler Moore, the Howard Ahmansons, the Robert Takkens, the Cargill Corporation and the Hind and Hirshhorn Foundations. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Thomas Albright, in his review of David Kreitzer’s first solo exhibit at Maxwell Galleries in San Francisco, wrote: “Kreitzer demonstrates how much poetic intensity the old tradition can still contain.” He has recently moved to Bend from the California coast, where he resides with his wife, celebrated opera singer Jacalyn Kreitzer. They have two children, Anatol and Fredrica.
Exhibiting daily 1-5pm and all First Fridays.

Layor Art + Supply
1000 NW Wall St., Ste. 110
541-322-0421 • layorart.com
Layor Art is excited to be displaying a group show of art by members of the SageBrushers Art Society for May. Stop in to see this work by the artists of Bend’s largest arts organization. In a variety of media and subjects, this exhibit is sure to have something for everyone: shop for your own art and desk supplies while you browse this great exhibit space. The show goes through the month of May and can be viewed during Layor’s regular business hours: Monday through Friday 10am-5pm, Saturday 10am-4pm and Sunday 12-4pm.

Lubbesmeyer Studio & Gallery
Old Mill District, second story loft
541-330-0840 • lubbesmeyer.com
The Lubbesmeyer twins offer a range of work created in fiber and paint. Thru the twins’ collaborative process, they distill literal imagery into vivid blocks of color and texture, creating an abstracted view of their surroundings. Call the studio for hours and appointments.

Mockingbird Gallery
869 NW Wall St.
541-388-2107 • mockingbird-gallery.com
On First Friday, May 5, from 5-8pm, Mockingbird Gallery will be hung with beautiful artwork for Outside Perspectives, a three-person show for Steven Lee Adams, Joseph Alleman and Eric G. Thompson. Rich Hurdle will be playing his jazz stylings for the gallery. This exhibit will run thru May.
Steven Lee Adams strives to portray an elusive feeling of timelessness that lies beneath the surface of what may seem commonplace… introspective paintings, urging us to look deeper for the subtleties of nature around us and the complex world of emotion within each of us.
Noted particularly for his work in watercolor, familiar subjects, such as weathered barns, red-roofed farmhouses and wind-swept fields of alfalfa attract Joseph Alleman’s interest.
Whether he is painting in oil, egg tempera or watercolor, Eric G. Thompson invites you into the peace that he has enveloped within this momentary glimpse of time with his paintings.

Oxford Hotel
10 NW Minnesota Ave.
541-382-8436
High Desert Art League member Janet Frost is exhibiting her landscape paintings at the Oxford Hotel during the month of May. Inspired by Central Oregon’s landscape, Frost’s works in oil interpret the natural beauty and atmosphere that make the region unique. This exhibit, entitled River Impressions, focuses on the banks of the upper Deschutes River.
“One of our area’s favorite pastimes is to take a float down the Deschutes,” Frost says. “In creating these paintings, I was thinking about what one might encounter along the river on a summer afternoon. On a single float, you might experience brilliant sun and dark storm clouds, woodlands and wetlands and, of course, the abundant wild life that make the river their home.”
Frost is an award-winning artist who received her degree in fine art from the University of Redlands and has continued her painting education through numerous classes and workshops over the years. She is a member of the High Desert Art League, Oil Painters of America, the American Impressionist Society and Plein Air Painters of Oregon (PAPO).

Peterson Contemporary Art
550 NW Franklin Ave.
541-633-7148 • pcagallery.com
On Friday, May 5, from 5-8pm, four-person show for Rebecca Haines, Sandra Pratt, Edmond Praybe and Tyler Swain, Setting New Standards, will open at Peterson Contemporary Art. This exhibit will run thru May.
From her first love of creating photo-realistic human portraits, Rebecca Haines has since developed a passion for portraying wild creatures in a more unique and personalized style.
With nature and old architecture as her inspiration, Sandra Pratt’s palette has evolved into rich reddish blacks, pale blues, creamy yellows, blue grays and brownish tans.
Edmond Praybe took a painting class in college and learned how to paint in oils and he enjoyed the density, versatility and viscosity of oil and loves to play with different color options and variations.
Tyler Swain’s works focus on the natural world and wildlife, but he has started painting en plein air recently to get more of nature onto his canvases.

Red Chair Gallery
103 NW Oregon Ave.
541-306-3176 • redchairgallerybend.com
In May, Red Chair Gallery showcases the work of five artists. Sue Lyon-Manley shows plein air landscapes, while Sue Dougherty displays wildlife photography. The pedestals are filled with ceramic sculptures of animals by Joren Traveller. Sara Krempel and Helen Sanderson exhibit their very different styles of jewelry. Located at the corner of Bond Street and Oregon Avenue, Red Chair Gallery is open seven days a week: Monday-Saturday, 10am to 6pm and Sunday, 12-4pm. Open late on Friday, May 5 for First Friday.

Sage Custom Framing & Gallery
834 NW Brooks St.
541-382-5884 • sageframing-gallery.com
For the month of May, Sage Custom Framing and Gallery welcomes Bend Artist Susan Hood. Hood is an accomplished painter in multiple styles and mediums, but in more recent years, her focus has been on landscape.
In her own words, “I am passionate about painting the landscape, both plein air and in the studio. Until 2009 my focus was experimental painting where I achieved signature status in the International Society of Experimental Artists. After retiring from social work and moving to Central Oregon in 2012, my creative energy turned to representational landscape painting. I love to explore our diverse landscape, set up my easel and paint from life. In my oil paintings, I seek to express the wonder, joy and aliveness that I feel in the midst of our awe inspiring landscape.” Show runs May 5-27.
Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10am-4pm and Saturday, 12-4pm. Open for First Friday May 5 from 4-7pm.

SageBrushers Art Society
117 SW Roosevelt Ave.
541-617-0900 • sagebrushersartofbend.com
SageBrushers Gallery presents a show of current works by the art society members working in water media (watercolor, acrylic, pen and ink). Opening reception Saturday, May 14, 2-4pm. The SageBrushers Gallery is open Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 1-4pm. Showing thru June.

Scalehouse Gallery
550 NW Franklin Ave., Ste 138
541-640-2186 • scalehouse.org
Please join Scalehouse in welcoming Heidi Schwegler, In Praise of Fragmentation, from May 5-June 24, with a First Friday opening celebration on May 5 from 5-7pm.
Things break. My project, In Praise of Fragmentation, considers a landscape awash in fragments. In fact, the everyday functioning of our global economy is dependent on things breaking, namely, “planned obsolescence.” I consider my work an aesthetic investigation into the “culture of breakage” and its consequent philosophical implications. I recontextualize broken things as the basis for new sculptural forms. My process blurs conventional distinctions between the manufactured and crafted, combining industrial and handmade tactics. I use both traditional and experimental materials; found forms are re-made and in glass, gold, porcelain, resin and wood.
In early 2022, I found a four-inch porcelain shard in the Mojave Desert. Its contours are unmistakable; it is from a toilet unceremoniously abandoned in the middle of nowhere. This unremarkable shard has become an ersatz conceptual totem for my project. I have invited an archaeologist, forensic scientist, writer, anthropologist and museum registrar to scrutinize and study this shard. Each participant will exercise the normative models of their discipline in “interpreting” the shard. I will design and fabricate sculptural constructions in response to each participant’s findings.
About Heidi Schwegler:
Heidi Schwegler explores a wide range of materials in the service of her subject matter. Drawn to the peripheral ruin, she deftly incorporates found objects with traditional craft and sculpture media. “When [an object] is no longer contextualized by function and ownership, the discarded thing’s anonymity and ambiguity render it pervious to the imagination,” she says, approaching such things as a source of investigation. “I consider its formal qualities as raw material — but a very particular raw material that is both new and an indicator of past use, past value, and past purpose.”
Schwegler’s accolades include an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission, Hallie Ford Fellowship and two MacDowell Colony Fellowships in the Visual Arts. She was artist-in-residence at MacDowell, Pilchuck, VCCA, Yaddo, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and Bullseye Glass Company, among others. Notable exhibitions of her work include the 2018 Bellevue Art Museum Biennial, Portland2016: A Biennial of Contemporary Art, curated by Michelle Grabner and presented by Disjecta Contemporary Art Center; her 10-year retrospective, Botched Execution, at The Art Gym at Marylhurst University, OR and the Sheldon Museum of Art in Lincoln, NE. Schwegler holds a BFA from the University of Kansas and MFA from the University of Oregon. She divides her time between Portland, OR andresides full time in Yucca Valley, CA where she is the founding director of Yucca Valley Material Lab. Her sculptural work is in the permanent collection of the Portland Art Museum currently on view in the Hoffman Galleries of the Northwest Art wing), the Crocker Museum and the Hallie Ford Museum. Learn more at heidischwegler.com.

The Stacks Art Studios & Gallery
Old Mill District, Second Floor
404-944-9170
The Stacks Art Studios & Gallery features the artwork and work of local creators Lindsey Luna Tucker, Kira Frances, Lindsay Gilmore, Ashley Paggi and Alyson Brown.
Lindsey Luna Tucker uses her sensitivity to emotion, exaggeration of gesture and manipulation of color and space, to create abstract landscape oil paintings. While her work is rooted in a visual awareness of the physical world, she favorites emotional truth over visual realism.
Kira Frances creates oil paintings to investigate the nature of truth and share alternative realms of beauty. For her still life pieces, she sets up the objects and alters their context just enough to suggest a dream-like landscape; for her geometric pieces, she takes an idea and deconstructs it, revealing the concept through the display of shapes and angles.
Lindsay Gilmore creates abstract landscape paintings inspired by the colors and compositions that have captivated her while on adventures outdoors with her family.
Ashley Paggi (Ash Cascade) is a surface pattern designer whose bohemian/retro style evokes a polished yet gritty sense of place. While she mainly licenses her art, you can find some of her own products such as bandanas, mugs and stickers, at The Stacks.
Alyson Brown (Wild Folklore) is a photographer and stylist specializing in beverage and botanicals. While she focuses most of her time on brand development and content creation, Alyson is also The Stacks in-house mixologist for First Fridays.
Call the studio for hours and appointments.

Touchmark at Pilot Butte (Previously The Alexander)
1125 NE Watt Way
541- 238-6101 • touchmark.com/senior-living/or/bend
Encaustic artist Janice Rhodes continues her exhibit of works done using the ancient technique of melted wax painting. The exhibit will run thru the month of May.

Tumalo Art Company
Old Mill District
541-385-9144 • tumaloartco.com
Our May exhibit, The Spectrum of Birthstones, opening May 5 from 3-7pm during the Old Mill District’s First Friday Gallery Walk, will include 12 new watercolor paintings by Helen Brown, each focused on one gemstone’s color. The subject of her work is broad including landscapes, flowers and even an automobile.
What better way to study color than to concentrate on the 12 birthstones of the calendar? Helen will do just that in her May show. “I like the idea of examining color as a gem because each stone reflects many variations of its color through facets and light.” Painting on rice paper with a watercolor batik technique her strikingly detailed paintings have texture and clarity and regularly wins awards in juried watercolor exhibits.
Tumalo Art Co. is an artist-run gallery in the heart of the Old Mill District open seven days a week.

The Wine Shop
55 NW Minnesota Ave.
541-389-2884 • thewineshopbend.com
The Wine Shop is showing paintings by SageBrushers Art Society member Judy Blackmarr Stejskal (Judylee Watercolor on FB). Judy will be hanging recent original watercolors and Giclee fine art prints of landscapes, waterscapes and wildlife from the Pacific Northwest, the Great Lakes region and the Gulf Coast. Judy takes inspiration from artists such as Michael Holter, David Smith, Lee Ricks and Nancy Buskey. Stop in to enjoy the view while sampling a great beverage! Showing thru June.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *