Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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As time goes by, we forget, as a people, how to do many things we once knew how to do: cobbling shoes, for instance, or dipping candles. And while we become experts at attacking cell phone keypads with our thumbs, we are literally all thumbs when it comes to various creative endeavors that many people were once very good at. "It's a dying art," we shrug, as if that solves the problem. But Jeremiah Colladay is not the kind of guy who shrugs away a problem, and when he discovered what he could cre...
Talk about Art By Carolyn Henderson When life handed Barbara Coppock a bushel of lemons, she didn't stop with just making lemonade. The Clarkston artist, who creates intaglio print etchings of cherished buildings, landscapes, and landmarks of country scenes, set up a (figurative) lemonade stand and started a profitable business in the midst of personal tragedy. It started after Coppock's children graduated from high school and flew the nest, leaving her time to pursue her printmaking interests...
By Carolyn Henderson If you walk around town or country, you may have found a piece of artwork in the form of a painted rock. Sometimes they have an encouraging statement on them, other times a colorful image that brings a smile and sense of gratification. "The best part about painting rocks is putting these small pieces of art out into the world to share with others as an act of kindness," says Ashly Beebe of Dayton. "I have found a few rocks myself, and it is such a special moment. For some it...
Blah. That's how some people, in one word, encapsulate the month of January – it's cold and bleak, the holidays are over, and spring is maddeningly distant. "What on earth could possibly be exciting about January?" That's a good question, and at Wenaha Gallery, the answer every year is the Annual Canned Food Drive, with all the food brought into the gallery during . . . January donated to the Dayton Community Food Bank. "When we started the Canned Food Drive at the gallery – it was ten years ago...
All day, every day, we use things. While this sounds ridiculously simple, think about it: when you make a tuna fish sandwich, you grab the can opener, scoop tuna into a bowl with a spoon, stir in mayonnaise, spread the filling on with a knife, and cut the final product in half on a cutting board. When any of the elements you use – spoon, knife, bowl, cutting board – is beyond boring and ordinary, it adds a jolt of beauty to the experience. "There is a satisfaction that comes with a com...
When you really love what you do, you tend to 1) do it a lot, and 2) teach others how to do it. And that's exactly what Patricia Bennett, a textile artist who creates quilted home décor items and wall hangings, has been doing ever since she began sewing 58 years ago on a machine that was powered not by electricity, but by the action of her feet. "I loved sewing from the first time I used a treadle sewing machine in junior high school," the Bayview, Idaho artist says. "Later, I was putting...
We hear a lot about the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, to the point that someone created a clever acronym – STEM – for verbal emphasis. Lately, STEM has changed to STEAM as art was added to the mix, and to painter Steve Henderson, art is far more than one little letter in an acronym. "The world needs art," the Dayton artist, who sells his original paintings and prints nationally and internationally, says. "It sounds trite, but I believe it deeply. It has alw...
Inspiration strikes at the oddest times, often when we're doing something supremely ordinary. For artist Sheryl Parsons, who creates holiday sculptures from gourds, driftwood, clay and repurposed objects, inspiration whisked in while she was chopping wood, back when she lived in North Pole, Alaska. "I noticed that some of the slabs that chipped off when I missed the center of the logs had a shape that would lend itself to painting Santa figures on," Parsons remembers. "The flat sides only needed...
Some people have very few nice things to say about broccoli. Culinary preferences aside, it's worth looking at broccoli closely to marvel at its makeup: each head consists of many little heads – florets – repeated over and over In the world of mathematics as well as art, this is called fractalization: the repetition of the same shape, in various sizes and formats, to create a cohesive whole. "Both cauliflower and broccoli are one big shape, and when taken apart, they are still the same sha...
Sometimes, when we're nervous about how a particular endeavor will turn out, we close our eyes and hope for the best. And while this technique does work now and then, it's not the best plan when you're creating an acrylic pour painting. According to Walla Walla painter Joyce Klassen, it takes "imagination, spontaneity, the willingness to get down and dirty in the process, and the courage of knowing when to quit." Specifically, you pour a number of different colored acrylic paints in a cup, then...
Dreams and goals, by their nature, contain an element of the impossible. If they didn't, they'd be just be ordinary activities we take for granted (although, interestingly, one person's ordinary activities are often another person's dream). For Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, a former teacher who became an astronaut and is now a geologist for a private firm, she knew from a young age that she wanted to be all three. And though the three dreams seem separate, they share an appreciation for science...
Long before there were machines, there was – and still is – the human hand. And as miraculous and wonderful machinery is, it does not begin to compare with the creativity of the hand, impelled by the human heart and brain. For Portland potter Dave Raynalds, ceramic plates, platters, and even globes, benefit from the direct interaction of clay and hand. Raynalds specializes in a technique call slab-built ceramics, which involves hand shaping clay – as opposed to using the pottery wheel – into it...
Things have changed a bit in the Old West over the last two centuries. While we don't ride horses as much as we did then, we still admire the life of the cowboy, the vast expanse of mountains and prairie, and the wildlife of the area. This is the New West, a subject close to the heart and hands of oil painter Tobias Sauer. Sauer has spent a major portion of his life residing near the route taken by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. "I paint scenes from the West because I love it," says the Coeur...
A mile north of Venice, Italy, is a series of islands called Murano. Linked by bridges within the Venetian Lagoon, Murano is renowned for its glassmaking, a process its artisans have perfected over centuries. Richly colored and with distinctive and unique patterns, Murano glass -- in the right hands -- transforms into one of a kind beads, which are then set into necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. A pair of those right hands belongs to Veneta Simpson, a jewelry artist from Richland who uses a to...
Before the TV reality show that had little to do with its title, the simple life was one wise people have lived for thousands of years. It involves a lot of thinking, a sense of gratitude, and an appreciation for day-to-day elements which we tend to take for granted – especially in a corporate-based society emphasizing the over possession of advertised products to achieve happiness. But happiness, as Dixie artist Ellen Heath knows, has nothing to do with owning a particular model of car, d...
Glass art is one of those things that are difficult to accept as being created. I mean, isn't glass like eggs or milk – it just sort of appears all neatly packaged and ready for sale? Before I proceed, allow me to mention that we keep chickens and goats, so happily I'm well aware of where eggs and milk come from. And now, thanks to a chat with Pasco glass artist Gregory Jones, I have a firmer idea of how glass bowls – especially the wavy vintage receptacles and lacy, coral glass bowls that Jon...
Art and history are not neutral subjects. Because they both deal with humanity, with all its messiness of politics, differing opinions, varied cultures, and good and bad behavior, both disciplines force us to think, question, ponder, analyze, reason, and explore. One thing we immediately discover is that there are no easy answers. The second thing develops from the first: though there are no easy answers, it does not mean we stop looking for them. Nona Hengen, a writer, researcher, speaker, arti...
In addition to being a proficient artist who paints with pastels, scratchboard, and acrylic, Debbie Hughbanks knows a LOT about boxes, because she's always sending her artwork somewhere. "A good box is 'key' to shipping successfully," says the western and wildlife painter, who last year was accepted into 11 major national shows. "I wrote an article, Shipping Pastel Paintings for the Fainthearted, that addressed shipping if you don't purchase the special art shipment boxes." From the Western...
January may be the time to make – and break – New Year's Resolutions, but it's also a grand opportunity to pamper oneself. Especially if one actually goes through with the resolution to exercise more. Personally, when my muscles feel sore from two too many burpees (and it can be argued that two burpees is twice as many as one needs), there's only one thing better than soaking in the tub with a good book, and that's soaking in a tub enhanced by a bath bomb locally made by personal care artists Ar...
Christmas may be the season for giving, but it's not the only one. And while January seems an unlikely candidate for altruism, at Wenaha Gallery, it's the perfect time for the community to give back to the community through the gallery's Annual Canned Food Drive. "We purposely chose January as the month for our food drive because during the Christmas season, there is so much focus on gift-giving and celebration that once you are over the seasonal holidays, people are almost burnt out," says Pat...
As a person who likes to sew, it always disturbed me that such aficionados are called "sewers," a term that, pronounced a different way, is something no respectable person wants to be called. So when I found the term, "sewist," I was most excited, and when I discovered Dayton sewist Kathy Snow – who makes my own high-amateur efforts look like something, well, a skilled amateur would create – I was even more excited. Snow is a Sewist Supreme, fashioning intricately detailed work that ranges from...
Technology is great, but if we don't watch ourselves, it has a tendency to dehumanize. Art – which has a history as long or longer than technology – counteracts that. "In the age of machines, robots, and computers taking over almost every aspect of human life, we are finding that creativity is the real human value that has no substitute," says Joseph Rastovich, a metal sculptor from Kennewick. One of a family group of artists dubbed The Talented Trio, Joseph lives, works, innovates, and bra...
Fine art photography consists of much more than point and click, and a finished art piece involves as much time and effort in the printing, as it does in the field. “Digital cameras have opened the field of photography to so many more people,” Kennewick artist Barb Thrall observes. “I think some of the consequences of this are a devaluing of the medium – I think there has been a misunderstanding” (on the part of the public) “when photographers use Photoshop in the processing of their images.” Photo enhancement, Thrall goes on, has been arou...
You don't need a washing machine to create felted wool, which is a good thing, because the art of creating dense, waterproof fabric from natural fibers goes back to 6,500 B.C. For Walla Walla fiber artist Linnea Keatts, all she needs is some hot, soapy water; a flat surface; a rolling pin; and some elbow grease. Oh, and the wool item to be felted. "Heavier fleece is used to make 3D pieces such as purses, vessels, vase holders, bowls, and so on," Keatts, who has been felting for more than 35 year...
Artisan desserts, live music, a free gift, and hot, felted wool – the combination is intriguing enough that it’s worth setting aside the afternoon to check out. Wenaha Gallery in Dayton, Wash., celebrates art and artists Sat., Oct. 7, from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. during the town’s annual Art Walk, part of Dayton’s On Tour and Fall Festival. Five artists will be on site, including Walla Walla felt artist Linnea Keatts, who will demonstrate how to turn wool and silk fibers into wearable and usable art. Keatts is joined by four other regional artists, in...
