2018 Ashland Open Studio Tour Artists
Artists create because they have no choice: after breathing it is second nature. Creation is an avocation, not always easy, but always fulfilling. Artists also have lives, but a life grounded in the creative process. Usually if an artist isn’t making art they are thinking about making art. Meeting an artist on their own terms in their studio is a casual affair. Their artistic natures often spill over into lovely gardens and whimsical unexpected touches. An artist’s studio is a work place where their oeuvre and working methods can be viewed in tandem. Artists are a varied and quirky lot, sometimes quite proficient in a number of mediums. The hallmarks of an artist’s work are often punctuated by forays into other creative mediums, because an artist’s life is suffused in the creative process.
8Scroll down for more about individual artists for the 2017 Ashland Open Studio Tour in Southern Oregon
Please click on the artist's name to visit their website
Ann DiSalvo
Native to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with an art degree from UW Stevens Point. Spent twelve years in the arts and natural sciences in Kentucky. Moved to Ashland in 1993. Opened a studio with Bruce Bayard on A St. in 1998 and became involved with many organizations centered in the arts, most currently as Secretary of the Ashland Gallery Association and editor of the Ashland Gallery Guide. Facilitating two figure drawing sessions each week in Ashland. Participated in every Art Along the Rogue Street Painting Festival in Grants Pass until 2012. Founding member of the Pomegranate Group, a women's figure study session. Tutoring drawing in the Studio privately, and occasionally in classes. Specializing in dry media: pastel, charcoal, pencil; but expanding into others periodically to explore ideas in various realms. Portraits, plein air, allegory, fables, graphic serial, illustration; are all considered. Portfolio shows work in book covers and page illustrastion, wildlife and botanical illustration, card design and ad illustration. Mixed media is ever-present.
Native to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with an art degree from UW Stevens Point. Spent twelve years in the arts and natural sciences in Kentucky. Moved to Ashland in 1993. Opened a studio with Bruce Bayard on A St. in 1998 and became involved with many organizations centered in the arts, most currently as Secretary of the Ashland Gallery Association and editor of the Ashland Gallery Guide. Facilitating two figure drawing sessions each week in Ashland. Participated in every Art Along the Rogue Street Painting Festival in Grants Pass until 2012. Founding member of the Pomegranate Group, a women's figure study session. Tutoring drawing in the Studio privately, and occasionally in classes. Specializing in dry media: pastel, charcoal, pencil; but expanding into others periodically to explore ideas in various realms. Portraits, plein air, allegory, fables, graphic serial, illustration; are all considered. Portfolio shows work in book covers and page illustrastion, wildlife and botanical illustration, card design and ad illustration. Mixed media is ever-present.
Bruce Bayard
Bruce began oil painting at age 9, and is mostly a self-taught artist. He has worked in a wide range of media and techniques including oil, acrylic, casein, collage, lithography, etching, screen printing, graphite, crayon, encaustic and assemblage.
In 2000, Bayard began an exploration into digital technology as a means of creating art and has been using that medium exclusively ever since. His current work involves using video and still images combined into a “moving electronic collage” for performance art and for film.
Bruce began oil painting at age 9, and is mostly a self-taught artist. He has worked in a wide range of media and techniques including oil, acrylic, casein, collage, lithography, etching, screen printing, graphite, crayon, encaustic and assemblage.
In 2000, Bayard began an exploration into digital technology as a means of creating art and has been using that medium exclusively ever since. His current work involves using video and still images combined into a “moving electronic collage” for performance art and for film.
Cheryl Kempner
I make things that make me smile. Hundreds of brightly colored clay birds have been created in my studio – they are silly and whimsical. The birds hold flowers, balance books on their wings, hold a teapot or a bouquet of stars. These crazy birds evolved during a time of a family illness; hand-building fun birds helped me cope. Today the clay birds have expanded into the garden and have combined with metal. My husband welds and I use a plasma torch to cut recycled steel. It has been fun to fuse clay and steel into new creations for the garden.
Hopefully you will be able to visit my studio during Ashland’s Open Studio Tour in October. Walk through my hillside garden and enter the kiln room. My works are fired in two electric kilns. I work with both low-fire and mid-range clays – a typical firing lasts for more than seven hours and reaches over 2000 degrees. My studio has a panoramic view over the valley. I am a hand builder, so I stand and work at my raised counter. A three-foot slab roller flattens the slabs of clay that I shape into my art work. In fact, the crazy birds are formed from strips of clay that are paddled around a balloon. Come see the studio.
I make things that make me smile. Hundreds of brightly colored clay birds have been created in my studio – they are silly and whimsical. The birds hold flowers, balance books on their wings, hold a teapot or a bouquet of stars. These crazy birds evolved during a time of a family illness; hand-building fun birds helped me cope. Today the clay birds have expanded into the garden and have combined with metal. My husband welds and I use a plasma torch to cut recycled steel. It has been fun to fuse clay and steel into new creations for the garden.
Hopefully you will be able to visit my studio during Ashland’s Open Studio Tour in October. Walk through my hillside garden and enter the kiln room. My works are fired in two electric kilns. I work with both low-fire and mid-range clays – a typical firing lasts for more than seven hours and reaches over 2000 degrees. My studio has a panoramic view over the valley. I am a hand builder, so I stand and work at my raised counter. A three-foot slab roller flattens the slabs of clay that I shape into my art work. In fact, the crazy birds are formed from strips of clay that are paddled around a balloon. Come see the studio.
Claudia Law
Claudia Law is an internationally recognized art quilter and teacher, who has a seriously joyful relationship with fabric and nature. Claudia’s vision is to capture the beauty of nature and power of good design. She revels in color and rejoices in texture, movement, luminosity and the illusion of transparency - using paints, fibers, folded raw-edged fabric applique, beading, fabric confetti, thread sketching, free-motion quilting and 3-D fabric motifs as needed, to bring life to each unique creation. Claudia is represented by Ashland Art Works Galleries, at 291 Oak Street, in Ashland’s Historic Railroad District.
Claudia Law is an internationally recognized art quilter and teacher, who has a seriously joyful relationship with fabric and nature. Claudia’s vision is to capture the beauty of nature and power of good design. She revels in color and rejoices in texture, movement, luminosity and the illusion of transparency - using paints, fibers, folded raw-edged fabric applique, beading, fabric confetti, thread sketching, free-motion quilting and 3-D fabric motifs as needed, to bring life to each unique creation. Claudia is represented by Ashland Art Works Galleries, at 291 Oak Street, in Ashland’s Historic Railroad District.
|
Dana Feagin
|
Denise Kester
Denise Kester is a renowned teacher and international artist. She has been teaching workshops for 23 years in the creative process including monoprinting, collage, and book arts. She has presented “Awaken and Amplify Your Creativity” with Dr. Jean Houston’s Social Artistry Seminars and Women of Wisdom conferences of Seattle WA. Denise is Artistic Director of Drawing On The Dream, an art distribution company since 1992. She exhibits her work at Hanson Howard Gallery. She is a recent featured artist on Oregon Public Television’s Art Beat.
Denise Kester is a renowned teacher and international artist. She has been teaching workshops for 23 years in the creative process including monoprinting, collage, and book arts. She has presented “Awaken and Amplify Your Creativity” with Dr. Jean Houston’s Social Artistry Seminars and Women of Wisdom conferences of Seattle WA. Denise is Artistic Director of Drawing On The Dream, an art distribution company since 1992. She exhibits her work at Hanson Howard Gallery. She is a recent featured artist on Oregon Public Television’s Art Beat.
Denise Souza Finney
Denise Souza Finney is a painter who lives in Ashland Oregon. Her studio is a converted one hundred year old barn surrounded by lush gardens. She works in acrylic and paints the figure, flamenco dancers, and poppies. Her paintings are colorful, gestural, and semi abstract. "I love to play with the different qualities of acrylic paint. You can make it as thin as watercolor and as thick as a bas relief." Through high school and college she studied jazz dance and ballet and had the sincere intention of pursuing a career as a dancer. However, "I was just as passionate about painting, and it was necessary to give my full attention to either one or the other." Having once been a dancer and now a practicing yogi, she is very aware of beauty and expressiveness through movement of the body. "I strive to show movement in my paintings and the intention of action or stillness in my work. Those two behaviors invoke a lot of feeling and are a basic premise of the human condition"
Denise Souza Finney is a painter who lives in Ashland Oregon. Her studio is a converted one hundred year old barn surrounded by lush gardens. She works in acrylic and paints the figure, flamenco dancers, and poppies. Her paintings are colorful, gestural, and semi abstract. "I love to play with the different qualities of acrylic paint. You can make it as thin as watercolor and as thick as a bas relief." Through high school and college she studied jazz dance and ballet and had the sincere intention of pursuing a career as a dancer. However, "I was just as passionate about painting, and it was necessary to give my full attention to either one or the other." Having once been a dancer and now a practicing yogi, she is very aware of beauty and expressiveness through movement of the body. "I strive to show movement in my paintings and the intention of action or stillness in my work. Those two behaviors invoke a lot of feeling and are a basic premise of the human condition"
Elaine Frenett
As this Colorado tomboy plucked “pollywogs” from ponds, played “cars” with the boys next door and sewed doll clothes for the numerous dolls she can still name, Elaine was drinking in the color and textures that enliven her paintings. Although she majored in “Art” in high school, it wasn’t until, when studying for her B.S. in Graphic Design in California, adding an “Illustration” focus, that she discovered watercolor. “Watercolor spoke to me the very first time I met it. The transparent layering mesmerizes me as I work, the organic movement of each peculiar pigment over brilliant, white cotton paper punctuates my encounter and the dense richness of strong values stimulates a hidden voice within me”, Elaine recalls.
Transitioning quickly into Fine Art, then adding plein-air and expanding that into visual journaling, she finds herself moving away from the predictability of replicating scenes, digging more deeply into what “story comes out of her”. This award-winning artist has been published from New York to Los Angeles, is in collections private and museum. She continues instructing monthly at the Ashland Art Center and leading her annual women’s retreat. Elaine finds that it’s those magical, mystical watercolors that steward her endless exploration.
As this Colorado tomboy plucked “pollywogs” from ponds, played “cars” with the boys next door and sewed doll clothes for the numerous dolls she can still name, Elaine was drinking in the color and textures that enliven her paintings. Although she majored in “Art” in high school, it wasn’t until, when studying for her B.S. in Graphic Design in California, adding an “Illustration” focus, that she discovered watercolor. “Watercolor spoke to me the very first time I met it. The transparent layering mesmerizes me as I work, the organic movement of each peculiar pigment over brilliant, white cotton paper punctuates my encounter and the dense richness of strong values stimulates a hidden voice within me”, Elaine recalls.
Transitioning quickly into Fine Art, then adding plein-air and expanding that into visual journaling, she finds herself moving away from the predictability of replicating scenes, digging more deeply into what “story comes out of her”. This award-winning artist has been published from New York to Los Angeles, is in collections private and museum. She continues instructing monthly at the Ashland Art Center and leading her annual women’s retreat. Elaine finds that it’s those magical, mystical watercolors that steward her endless exploration.
Harriet Greene
Sculpting in marble creates a strong affinity for the earth which grounds and gives me a wonderful sense of achievement. I carve my sketch onto a marble slab, ink it, register a piece of paper, rub the surface and pull a print. Each print is an original.
I was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec; studied drawing and painting at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts, etching at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art and stonecut printing with Canadian sculptor Stanley Lewis. Drawn to the west in 1978 I moved into a log cabin in Grand Teton National Park and fell in love with the wilderness. Native American tribes traveled through the valley on their way to Yellowstone. Being in such close proximity spurred my interest to their plight. I have completed a series - “Indian Oratory of Eight Great Chiefs.” Work in Progress: “Sculpting for Peace” 5 pieces of marble, 1’x2’x4”
I have shown in galleries in Canada and the US. "Going Home," a 3-dimensional sculpture and my coyote stonecut print both won prizes in "Women Artists of the American West" exhibits.
One-woman show: Montreal, QC, Calgary, AB, Stowe, VT, Jackson Hole, WY, Taos, NM, a 4-group show on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. She has a newly published book, "Crossing the Boundary, A Return to the Wilderness and Freedom"
Sculpting in marble creates a strong affinity for the earth which grounds and gives me a wonderful sense of achievement. I carve my sketch onto a marble slab, ink it, register a piece of paper, rub the surface and pull a print. Each print is an original.
I was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec; studied drawing and painting at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts, etching at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art and stonecut printing with Canadian sculptor Stanley Lewis. Drawn to the west in 1978 I moved into a log cabin in Grand Teton National Park and fell in love with the wilderness. Native American tribes traveled through the valley on their way to Yellowstone. Being in such close proximity spurred my interest to their plight. I have completed a series - “Indian Oratory of Eight Great Chiefs.” Work in Progress: “Sculpting for Peace” 5 pieces of marble, 1’x2’x4”
I have shown in galleries in Canada and the US. "Going Home," a 3-dimensional sculpture and my coyote stonecut print both won prizes in "Women Artists of the American West" exhibits.
One-woman show: Montreal, QC, Calgary, AB, Stowe, VT, Jackson Hole, WY, Taos, NM, a 4-group show on Canyon Road in Santa Fe. She has a newly published book, "Crossing the Boundary, A Return to the Wilderness and Freedom"
|
Janette Brown
|
Julia Janeway
My work will always be about my love for story. I find inspiration in describing fleeting moments of life’s larger narrative—a magpie alights on a fence, a man tries to describe a flying fish for a 1902 nature book, a swallow’s wings turn sharp against the sky as it dives.
My mother was a potter and art teacher. Under her influence I grew up making art, but concentrated on the written word in school, eventually earning a PhD in literature in 1994. That same year my mom died from breast cancer, leaving me her well-used wheel, kiln, and a series of mysterious glaze recipes. It took nearly ten years and several moves later to see what I had inherited. I found myself in Southern Oregon, teaching literature but connecting with a group of ceramic artists who showed me how to shape the fog of grief into the delight of working with clay. During those years, my studio was a 6X6 foot pumphouse where I worked every spare moment, making pots and competing with the pump and waterlines for space. My kiln was outside. As a result, I like to say that my apprenticeship in ceramics was literally affected by the rolling of the seasons and the events of the natural world around me.
The illustration-aspect of my work borrows heavily from books, particularly woodcut and lithograph prints. I often incorporate words into my designs and layer colored engobes and underglazes. Each piece is hand carved from drawings or patterns of my own. Unless otherwise stated, my work is dishwasher, oven, and food-safe.
My work will always be about my love for story. I find inspiration in describing fleeting moments of life’s larger narrative—a magpie alights on a fence, a man tries to describe a flying fish for a 1902 nature book, a swallow’s wings turn sharp against the sky as it dives.
My mother was a potter and art teacher. Under her influence I grew up making art, but concentrated on the written word in school, eventually earning a PhD in literature in 1994. That same year my mom died from breast cancer, leaving me her well-used wheel, kiln, and a series of mysterious glaze recipes. It took nearly ten years and several moves later to see what I had inherited. I found myself in Southern Oregon, teaching literature but connecting with a group of ceramic artists who showed me how to shape the fog of grief into the delight of working with clay. During those years, my studio was a 6X6 foot pumphouse where I worked every spare moment, making pots and competing with the pump and waterlines for space. My kiln was outside. As a result, I like to say that my apprenticeship in ceramics was literally affected by the rolling of the seasons and the events of the natural world around me.
The illustration-aspect of my work borrows heavily from books, particularly woodcut and lithograph prints. I often incorporate words into my designs and layer colored engobes and underglazes. Each piece is hand carved from drawings or patterns of my own. Unless otherwise stated, my work is dishwasher, oven, and food-safe.
|
Karen Stall
|
|
Kristin Gamble
|
Linda Elesiya Evans
Linda graduated from the University of California at Davis with a B.A. in Art & English in 1970, studying with the foremost artists of the time, among them Wayne Thiebaud and Jose Arguelles. Since 2007, Linda has been painting in pastels & oils with Medford artist Roni Marsh. In 2008, Linda also studied with internationally known instructors Terri Ford & Bob Rohm, and in 2009 & 2010 with master pastelist Albert Handell. She dedicated 2011 & 2012 to advancing her oil painting skills with Mt’ Shasta’s Stefan Baumann. Since May 2013 Linda has had the opportunity to learn advanced pastel & oil techniques with internationally renowned artist Richard McKinley, right here in the Rogue Valley. Now Linda exhibits paintings in both media in local and state galleries & competitions, and she has won awards & press coverage for her “Personalitrees” series, and was invited to participate in 2011’s “Shifting Patterns,” climate change explored through art. This year long project was sponsored by the Oregon Art’s Comission.
Linda graduated from the University of California at Davis with a B.A. in Art & English in 1970, studying with the foremost artists of the time, among them Wayne Thiebaud and Jose Arguelles. Since 2007, Linda has been painting in pastels & oils with Medford artist Roni Marsh. In 2008, Linda also studied with internationally known instructors Terri Ford & Bob Rohm, and in 2009 & 2010 with master pastelist Albert Handell. She dedicated 2011 & 2012 to advancing her oil painting skills with Mt’ Shasta’s Stefan Baumann. Since May 2013 Linda has had the opportunity to learn advanced pastel & oil techniques with internationally renowned artist Richard McKinley, right here in the Rogue Valley. Now Linda exhibits paintings in both media in local and state galleries & competitions, and she has won awards & press coverage for her “Personalitrees” series, and was invited to participate in 2011’s “Shifting Patterns,” climate change explored through art. This year long project was sponsored by the Oregon Art’s Comission.
Martin Goldman
I graduated from the College of William and Mary with a bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and worked on Madison Avenue as a cartoonist, graphic artist/designer, art director/TV producer and TV commercials director.
I left the fast track of Madison Avenue and Hollywood to pursue my own peripatetic path, which led from Stowe, Vermont to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to Taos, New Mexico and points in between.
I wrote and directed my first feature film for Paramount Pictures. My TV commercials for Coca Cola and Faberge won the Bronze Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
My painting “Pretty as a Picture” was a finalist in the “ARTS FOR THE PARKS” national competition. My classical photograph “Mother and Son” won in the New York Magazine photograph contest and “Freedom” was a winner in the annual photo contest of the Albuquerque Arts Magazine (2009). I have published a cartoon book called “DON’T WORRY" and my newly published memoir "Mad Ave to Hollywood."
I graduated from the College of William and Mary with a bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and worked on Madison Avenue as a cartoonist, graphic artist/designer, art director/TV producer and TV commercials director.
I left the fast track of Madison Avenue and Hollywood to pursue my own peripatetic path, which led from Stowe, Vermont to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to Taos, New Mexico and points in between.
I wrote and directed my first feature film for Paramount Pictures. My TV commercials for Coca Cola and Faberge won the Bronze Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
My painting “Pretty as a Picture” was a finalist in the “ARTS FOR THE PARKS” national competition. My classical photograph “Mother and Son” won in the New York Magazine photograph contest and “Freedom” was a winner in the annual photo contest of the Albuquerque Arts Magazine (2009). I have published a cartoon book called “DON’T WORRY" and my newly published memoir "Mad Ave to Hollywood."
Pamela Ourshalimian
I am fascinated by perceptions of self image, and subsequently the value placed on the physical form, especially that of women. Recently, I have begun to explore the driving force behind these perceptions.
My art is an abstracted expression of my own personal experiences. I distort and exaggerate the form to create a personal connection between the painting and the viewer. It is our deepest desires and humanness that I wish to visualize and communicate. Staying within the intrinsic human form allows me to go beyond my perceived reality, allowing my essence and energy to emerge through each piece.
I have explored many mediums and methods throughout my life. I attended the Flint Institute of Arts in Michigan in the 1970s, and have lived throughout the country in places as varied as Santa Barbara, Michigan and Hawaii. I now call Southern Oregon home. Here there is an abundance of talented and skilled artisans, whom I have had the pleasure to learn from and work with.
My continued studies have allowed me to explore a myriad of mediums. Most recently, I have re-explored water-color, attending workshops around the Pacific Northwest and studying with nationally acclaimed artists.
I am fascinated by perceptions of self image, and subsequently the value placed on the physical form, especially that of women. Recently, I have begun to explore the driving force behind these perceptions.
My art is an abstracted expression of my own personal experiences. I distort and exaggerate the form to create a personal connection between the painting and the viewer. It is our deepest desires and humanness that I wish to visualize and communicate. Staying within the intrinsic human form allows me to go beyond my perceived reality, allowing my essence and energy to emerge through each piece.
I have explored many mediums and methods throughout my life. I attended the Flint Institute of Arts in Michigan in the 1970s, and have lived throughout the country in places as varied as Santa Barbara, Michigan and Hawaii. I now call Southern Oregon home. Here there is an abundance of talented and skilled artisans, whom I have had the pleasure to learn from and work with.
My continued studies have allowed me to explore a myriad of mediums. Most recently, I have re-explored water-color, attending workshops around the Pacific Northwest and studying with nationally acclaimed artists.
|
Paula Fong
|
Richard Newman
Richard is a transplant from the East Coast
(Boston and NY). He works in a variety of media including two and three dimensions. He is a graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. His teaching and academic career as artist and college art professor spans close to seventy years. His studio, which he shares with his wife and fellow artist, Rochelle Newman, also features a separate gallery.
Richard is a transplant from the East Coast
(Boston and NY). He works in a variety of media including two and three dimensions. He is a graduate of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. His teaching and academic career as artist and college art professor spans close to seventy years. His studio, which he shares with his wife and fellow artist, Rochelle Newman, also features a separate gallery.
Rochelle Newman
“Art defines a life.
Art is both metaphor and matter.
Art places a frame around experience.
Art provides the lens through which to view the world.
Art is the cloak I wrap around to protect my spirit.”
-Rochelle Newman
“Art defines a life.
Art is both metaphor and matter.
Art places a frame around experience.
Art provides the lens through which to view the world.
Art is the cloak I wrap around to protect my spirit.”
-Rochelle Newman
Sarah Burns
Sarah Burns was born in 1976 in Eugene, OR. She is a representational, observation based painter. She uses traditional methods and materials. Subjects include figure, still life and landscape. “The more I make and study art, the more I find I am studying science. In order to understand what I see and create more convincing illusions, I might look into the biology of the retina, light, geometry, human muscular and skeletal anatomy, meteorology and geology. In turn, this scientific inquiry inspires wonder and awe for the natural world, so, in addition to its purpose of feeding the practical part of art making, it ultimately feeds the mercurial, harder-to-define emotive and spiritual part of creating art.
I approach my subject with a little bit of scientific distance too. I try to be as fair as possible to my subjects and tell the truth of what I see. Obviously what I see is filtered through me and I choose subjects I find beauty in and feel affection for, but I do want to be specific and make documentaries in paint. I hope they will be eventually be seen as part of a historical record, like a family album for a region.”
Sarah Burns was born in 1976 in Eugene, OR. She is a representational, observation based painter. She uses traditional methods and materials. Subjects include figure, still life and landscape. “The more I make and study art, the more I find I am studying science. In order to understand what I see and create more convincing illusions, I might look into the biology of the retina, light, geometry, human muscular and skeletal anatomy, meteorology and geology. In turn, this scientific inquiry inspires wonder and awe for the natural world, so, in addition to its purpose of feeding the practical part of art making, it ultimately feeds the mercurial, harder-to-define emotive and spiritual part of creating art.
I approach my subject with a little bit of scientific distance too. I try to be as fair as possible to my subjects and tell the truth of what I see. Obviously what I see is filtered through me and I choose subjects I find beauty in and feel affection for, but I do want to be specific and make documentaries in paint. I hope they will be eventually be seen as part of a historical record, like a family album for a region.”
|
Paula Fong
Paula is an illustrator of the natural world, including original pen and ink and watercolor images and reproductions, trail signs, brochures and book designs, produced over the last 20 years. She has an education and background as a Forest Ecologist and Soil Scientist with the federal government, and for the last ten years has exhibited with Ashland Art Center. |
