may june 2007

Valley Art Association — May/June 2007

Valley Art Association2022 Main St. P.O. Box 333Forest Grove, OR 97116

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MEMBERS: Save the following 2007 date —Chalk Art: Coming up in September, Chalk Art gives everyone — kids and grownups, alike — the chance to produce their own great work of art on the sidewalks of Forest Grove. Keep your eyes open for more information in this newsletter.

The recent Sprite Workshop found plenty of kids eager to make gifts

and surprises for their family members. Thanks so much to Lorraine Warren and Barb Gookin for their hard work in making it happen.

Barb Gookin and some of her sprites, at right and below, with the wonderful things they made — having fun in the process.

Lorraine Warren, below, left, also taught the Sprite Workshop. At left, above, we see that making faces can be creative, too.

A volunteer-run nonprofit since 1966

Valley Art Association will feature artists Nate Pendleton and Sue Orlaske, and their work — produced with both fire and water,

— during the May-June show.

Nate Pendleton has loved to draw since he was a very

young child. He took advantage of all the art classes and activi-ties available in school. Frequent trips to art museums strength-ened his fascination.

Born in Tennessee — he has also lived in Fort Worth, Texas, and Phoenix, Ariz. — he now lives in Dayton, a small farming commu-nity about 30 miles southwest of Portland.

Nate studied commercial art and design at Phoenix College, took art classes and workshops at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Ore., Chemeketa Com-munity College and numerous workshops.

His career has included commercial art (mainly architectural renderings) and a sign and pictorial art apprenticeship.

In 2004 Nate closed his sign shop and now has a home studio. He has a lot more time for two of his loves: painting and fishing. Nate works in oil, acrylic and pastel, but has concentrated on water-color since 1987. His painting style is representa-

tional and he paints a variety of subjects: still life, Western art, maritime, portraits and florals.

His work reflects his fascination with strong value contrasts as a result of having lived several years in the Southwest, where he observed the strong sunlight and

Valley Art Association2022 Main St. — P.O. Box 333Forest Grove, OR 97116Phone 503.357.3703

w w w . v a l l e y a r t . o r g

FROM THE GALLERY

ART IS MUcH LESS IMPORTANT THAN LIFE, bUT wHAT A POOR LIFE

wITHOUT IT.::: RObERT MOTHERwELL :::

A nonprofit organization promoting art in the community since 1966.

Valley Art Association — May/June 2007

Continued on page 2

C O N T E N T SCurrent show................1-2

Art & the brain .............2-3

Classes .............................. 3

Class registration ........... 4

Gallery sitters .................. 5

Go Paperless ................... 5

Arts & Flowers ................ 6

Gallery Re-do .................. 7

Sprite Workshop ............ 8

Valley Art is dedicated to supporting working artists and encouraging beginning artists, while bringing out the artist within us all by exhibiting exceptional artwork and offering art classes for the entire community at affordable prices.

Valley Art general meetings are held on

the fourth Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. All Valley Art members who would like to attend are invited. We welcome your input and look forward to your interaction.

COLOR by WATER & FIRE:Sue Orlaske & Nate Pendleton

By Nate Pendleton

By Sue Orlaske

May June 2007 paginated newsletter.indd, Spread 1 of 4 - Pages (8, 1) 4/14/2007 1:34 PM

deep shadowed areas on objects. Nate often uses shadows to unify a com-position, or strong light to heighten a design.

He finds the challenges of painting, and especially the accomplishment of his interpretation, very satisfying. Nate is a member of “Splash,” a watercolor critique group in Portland.

Sue Orlaske is a Summerville, Ore., artist who works in oils and with

clay. Originally from southwestern Michigan, she has lived in Oregon since 1977. Sue is largely self-taught in pen and ink, photography, watercolor, oil painting and clay. She has taken many classes and workshops and has a bachelor’s in science and her master’s degree in biology.

From 1980 to 1994, Sue and her husband, Mitch Wolgamott, owned a gourmet coffee store and espresso bar in Hillsboro. In 1994 they moved to the Grande Ronde Valley, where they enjoy camping, fly fishing and other outdoor activities. Sue said the move was better than having a mid-life crisis.

At their home, Sue has a studio and Mitch has a woodworking shop. They travel all over eastern and central Oregon, where Sue paints and takes photos for future reference. She and her husband are also active in the revitalized Pleasant Grove Grange near Summerville, where she volunteers to

Water & Fire, continued from page 1

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‘Arts With the Brain in Mind’ — by Eric Jensen Paperback, 139 pages

How do the arts stack up as a major disci-

pline? What is their effect on the brain, learning, and human development? How might schools best imple-ment and assess an arts program?

“Eric Jensen answers these questions — and more — in this book. To push for higher standards of learning, many policy-makers are eliminating arts programs. To Jensen, that’s a mistake.

This book presents the definitive case, based on what we know about the brain and learning, for making arts a core part of the basic curriculum and thoughtfully integrating them into every subject.

“Separate chapters ad-dress musical, visual, and kinesthetic arts in ways that reveal their influence on learning.

“What are the effects of a fully implemented arts program? The evidence points to the following: fewer dropouts, higher attendance, better team players, an increased love of learning, greater student dignity, enhanced creativity, a more prepared citizen for the workplace of tomorrow, and greater cultural aware-ness as a bonus.

“To Jensen, it’s not a

Continued on Page 3

FROM THE GALLERY — Valley Art Association May/June 2007

organize art and fine craft workshops and the annual holiday bazaar.

Sue first took pottery classes at Valley Art from Janet Buskirk in the early ’90s. These were followed by many other workshops and classes. Her clay art pieces draw on all these experiences and her own trials.

Her current work focuses on hand-built vessels which are salt-fumed in a low fire sagger. She also smoke fires many of her pieces, sometimes as an additional step after the sagger firing.

Her pottery themes often include ab-stract and representational natural ele-ments — eastern Oregon landscapes, critters and plants. She is strongly tied to nature and finds strength in its timelessness and beauty. “I try to see nature’s variety in color and textures, forms and scale .... And,” she says, “I’m always looking for a bit of humor.”

Both artists will be welcomed to Valley Art with a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 2 — the First Wednesday of the month in Forest Grove when shops are open late.

Come help us welcome these two fine artists to our gallery at 2022 Main Street in For-est Grove.

The show will be up from May 2 through the end of June. Regular gal-lery hours are 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

Pendleton

rOrlaske

May/June 2007 Valley Art Association — FROM THE GALLERY

Volunteers needed

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We had some new vol-unteers in the Valley

Art gallery during the fall and winter months.

Isabelle McDaniel still heads up scheduling Val-ley Art gallery sitters and Linda Wilke chairs the mail-ing party. There is training available for everyone who helps out at Valley Art.

Volunteers are needed for many chores and ongoing tasks. Some volunteers can give time on a weekly basis; some can only give one hour a month. However, any time is appreciated and valued. The gallery we have is a great bonus to the downtown area and the county in general, as it offers many people the op-portunity to attend afford-able classes.

If you have time you can donate call the gallery at 503-357-3703 or e-mail [email protected]. Someone will be call you.

Not my best side, I’m afraid.The artist didn’t give me a chance toPose properly, and as you can see,Poor chap, he had this obsession withTriangles, so he left off two of myFeet. I didn’t comment at the time(What, after all, are two feetTo a monster?) but afterwardsI was sorry for the bad publicity.

Poem about Paolo Uccello’s“St. George and the Dragon”

The gallery underwent a “re-do” be-tween Christmas and New Years

while it was closed for the holidays.The office was relocated further to

the north side of the gallery — still in its central location. It’s much bigger now and everything is getting orga-nized.

Volunteers (don’t we love them?) moved everything from the back of the gallery to the front and the floors were redone at the rear.

Then the same volunteers came in again and moved everything — and we mean everything — from the front to the back.

The front floors now look as shiny as the back.

With its sparkle and gleam (at right) it almost looks as though the gallery has a new floor. The re-do has freshened every-thing up — and just in time for the January-February show with Ingrid Zahl-Thomas.

We’re really not

Shiny floor on the right side of the tape, unfinished on the left. Volunteers (below left) then moved all of the artwork, desk and shelves to the back of the gallery.

Below, Pete Truax and Jerry Hoerber decide where to move the shelves.

Valley Art’s gallery gets a re-do

sure how to adequately thank our volunteers for the work they do.

I’ll bet they could use the cheer of seeing some new faces and hands to help. Not my Best Side

by U. A. Fanthorpe


FROM THE GALLERY — Valley Art Association May/June 2007

Arts & Flowers 2007 has been cancelled

For a variety of reasons, the 3rd annual Arts & Flowers fund-raiser,

scheduled to be held at New Leaf Greenhouse on Susbauer Road, has been cancelled.

The event had a good first year. Even though many participants got soaked by a thoughtless, last minute rainstorm, it was well attended and everyone stayed cheerful.

Last year’s event, however, was the best party no one attended. The weather was gorgeous and the ma-rimba band added a gracious “island” feel to the evening. The food and company were exceptional.

The Arts & Flowers committee has decided to rethink some elements of the event to reduce work and cost.

There may even be a new location next year, with artists asked to handle their own setup and sales to reduce the amount of time and stress for hardworking volunteers.

The committee asks Valley Art members and friends to keep this event in mind for next year.

After a lot of preliminary planning — the 3rd annual gala was to have benefited our scholarship program — we have reluctantly put it on hold this year. Thank you so much for your support and ideas and we’ll be back next year.

A million thanks go to Ginger Steele and her generosity in allowing Valley Art to use her greenhouse space for this event two years in a row.

Theatre In The Grove presents “The Mousetrap,” May 25 - June 10, based on the book by Agatha Chris-tie. From the preeminent author of murder mysteries comes another hit about a group of strangers stranded in a boarding house during a snow storm, one of whom is a murderer.

The theater also offers acting classes. Check their Web site at the-atreinthegrove.org.

Pacific University: At the Kathrin Cawein Gallery of Art, located in the Harvey W. Scott Memorial Library, April 25 - May 19, five university stu-dents will showcase their work at the final exhibit of the academic season. Titled “Four Girls and a Guy,” the

Events throughout town ... and beyond

show will feature an array of artwork representing each student’s foray into their art.

Exhibiting students and their me-dium include Crystal Esch, ceramics; Michelle Hickey, oil painting; Motoko Kano, painting and design; Peter Ben Pigao, digital photography; and Dana Zurcher, photography.

Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m., or by ap-pointment. Admission is free. For more information, call 503-352-3076.

And if you’re on your way to the coast via Highway 18, don’t miss Fire’s Eye Gallery, 19915 SW Muddy Valley Road, west of McMinnville. Call 503-843-7797.

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Valley Art’s gallery sitters were welcomed in March to a special party just for them.

The folks who volunteer to keep our doors open, dispense information, write up sales, make sugges-tions to customers on gifts for special occasions and dust, drag the open sign in and out of the gallery and generally make Valley Art accessible to the public well deserved this thanks.

There was also time dur-ing the luncheon meeting for new information, the opportunity to ask and get answers to questions, and get sitter input.

No one can tell you bet-ter what’s right or wrong than the person who has to answer questions at the front desk. They get a little bit of everything during their time spent volunteer-ing.

Thank you also to the men in our lives who come help us out ... even when they miss important foot-ball or basketball games.

We love all our sitters.

Valley Art gallery sitters thanked in March

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Sitters get a bit of instruction and lots of appreciation from Merrie French, at far right, above.

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Valley Art May/June 2007 Art classes and Studios

Learn something new!

— NEEDLECRAFTS —E600 QUILTING STUDIOThis is an ongoing class and may be joined at any time. All levels from beginning to advanced are welcome. This is the time to do your own work, get advice on a special project and meet with other local quilters. Class meets FRIDAYS, 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. $20 per year for VAA members; $35 for non-members, or $5 per term.

— THE ART OF FLOWERS —E610 IKEBANAThe art of Japanese flower arranging, including philosophy based on Eastern culture, with oc-casional field trips. Class meets THURSDAYS, 1 - 3 p.m. This ongoing class may be joined at any time; $10 surcharge for student’s first class, $25 for non-members, $7 per each additional class payable to the instructor, Margaret Harshbarger — 503-357-5504.

— HARDANGER ARTS —E611 HARDANGER STUDIOThe Hardanger Studio is open to anyone who is interested in a non-structured environment where they can work on personal knitting, crochet, hardanger or embroidery projects at Valley Art. This is an ongoing studio that can be joined at any time. Class meets THURSDAYS, 9:30-11:30 a.m. The cost is $20 per year for VAA members; $35 for non-members, or $5 per term.

— PAINTING, DRAWING and SCULPTURE —E622 MULTI-MEDIA PAINTING STUDIO and CRITIQUE GROUPThis open multi-media studio has developed a friendly and supportive atmosphere where a person can work on their own projects in watercolor, acrylics, colored pencil, graphite, pen and ink or almost any other painting or drawing medium with the exception of oils. Each session begins with a voluntary critique. There is no instructor and we do our own clean-up. This studio is open every Second & Fourth TUESDAY of the month, Noon - 3 p.m. Come join us! First time attending, $20 for VAA members; $35 for non-members. Only $4 per attended session thereafter. Contact Lisa Zietz at 503-324-0910; [email protected].

— POTTERY —E686 POTTERY MAKINGThis class is for all skill levels. High school students are welcome. Learn a variety of techniques for forming decorative and utilitarian objects from clay. Hand building and wheel throwing methods will be explored, and students may use terra cotta clay and low-fire decorative techniques or high-fire stoneware. Class meets WEDNESDAYS, June 6 — August 1 (8 weeks, no class on July 4), 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. $97 for VAA members, $112 for non-members (includes one year membership). Clay ($11.50 per 25# bag) and tools ($13.50) may be purchased in class, or bring your own tools. Instructor: Ginger Steele at [email protected].

REGISTRATION FORM ON PAGE 4


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matter of choosing, say, the musical arts over the kin-esthetic. Rather, ask what kind of art makes sense for what purposes.

“How much time per day? At what ages? What kind of music? What kind of movement? Should the arts be required? How do we as-sess arts programs?

“In answering these real-world questions, Jensen provides dozens of practi-cal, detailed suggestions for incorporating the arts into every classroom.” — From Amazon.com online book reviews

Arts and brain,continued from Page 2

Valley Art Association needs a volunteer (or volunteers) for the position of Education Chairman. Duties would

include finding teachers for appropriate classes, scheduling classroom times and more. Call VAA President Pat Truax at

503-357-6506 or the gallery at 503-357-3703.

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Needed:Articles for this newsletter.If you would like to add your thoughts, contribu-tions and photos to Valley Art’s newsletter, send them by e-mail to [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected] newsletter we wel-come aboard Banks resi-dent Christa Seyferth, who has graciously volunteered to step in and help with the bi-monthly publication.Thanks, Christa! You’ll never know the difference you are making.To get your newsletter via e-mail, read the page 5 ar-ticle. For those with dial-up service, remember: It may take a while to load.


First Wednesday of the month in Forest Grove

in April had the theme “April Showers.” An um-brella decorating contest in Forest Grove brought some fun to town.

Valley Art’s window was decorated with “arty” um-brellas.

First Wednesday in May is on the 2nd, and the Val-ley Art reception for Sue Orlaske and Nate Pend-leton fits right in with the theme, “Heritage & the Arts.”

Come downtown to sample the sights, the arts and the edible treats.

Remember, Mother’s Day is coming up in May. There are many fine gifts avail-able in our gallery — from art, to clothing, to jewelry.

As always, see us online at www.valleyart.org.

The Forest Grove Cam-era Club, around the

valley since 1949, continues to meet in the Valley Art building. Meetings are first, second and fourth Wednes-days at 7:30 p.m., Septem-ber through May.

A full membership is $25. Current and prior newslet-ters may be downloaded at the Web site http://www.columbiacouncil.com/clubs/forestgv/fgcc.htm.

Valley Art is more than just a building. It’s an op-portunity to build a whole new you — through service to art.

VALLEY ART CLASS REGISTRATION FORMMAIL TO P.O. BOX 333 — FOREST GROVE, OR 97116

Please note: Pre-register in person at Valley Art no later than five (5) days before your class starts, or mail your registration to arrive no later than five (5) working days before your class starts. This allows time for teachers to prepare for every class, knowing how many students are registered. If classes don’t fill five (5) days before each class starts, teachers will notify registered students of class closures before the class date.

PRINT CLEARLY

__________ ________________________________________ ____________Class number Class name Class begin date

Student name __________________________________________________

Adult Teen Child Age: ________

_______________________________________________________Signature of Parent of Minor Student

___________________________________________________________________Mailing Address City, State, Zip

Home Phone _______________________ Alternate phone ____________________

E-mail address: ___________________________________________

I learned of this class through: VAA Newsletter VAA Web page

Prior VAA class Hillsboro Argus Another person Other

PAYMENT DUE AT REGISTRATIONClass Tuition $________ CashVisa CheckCheck No.Class Fee $________ Fee Description: ______________________________Total: $________ ____________________________ ____________ Payment received by (print name) Date paid

Send registration and check for tuition and class fees to Valley Art, P.O. Box 333, Forest Grove, OR 97116. Visa payments must be made at the Gallery, 2022 Main St. in Forest Grove.

May/June 2007 — Registration FormMail or drop off form at Valley Art Gallery

4FROM THE GALLERY — Valley Art Association May/June 2007

First Wednesday continues in downtown

Cultural Trust of Oregon and your tax return

You can help Valley Art and get a tax credit at the same time.

What is a tax credit? Unlike a tax de-duction that only reduces the amount of your taxable income, a tax credit reduces the amount of tax you owe.

Your gift to the Oregon Cultural Trust will reduce your April Oregon Income Tax bill dollar for dollar … a 100 percent credit for every dollar you give to the Trust ($500 for individuals, $1,000 for couples filing jointly and $2,500 for Or-egon corporations). The cultural tax Continued on Page 5

credit couldn’t be easier.Oregonians can claim their donation

on lines 39 and 40 of their Oregon Form 40 tax return, or on lines 16 and 17 of their Oregon Form 40S tax return. The “identify” code for the Oregon Cultural Trust is 722.

Step One: If you haven’t already, make a donation to one or more of your favor-ite qualifying Oregon cultural nonprofit organizations. (Valley Art is one of these nonprofits.)

ments in the jewelry cases. She is currently Valley Art’s representative on the City of Forest Grove’s Public Arts Commission.

Donna certainly has led a varied and exciting life, but she thorough-ly delights in being a grandmother.

Rusty Seeborg, another of our val-ued gallery sitters (below), was born in Lebanon, Ore.

She came to Forest Grove in 1977 when her husband was hired as su-perintendent of Forest Grove schools. They have five children, 11 grandchil-dren and four great-grandchilden. All of them live in the area, except for a son in Illinois.

Rusty’s hobbies lean toward nee-dlework, travel, gardening and read-ing. She loves a good novel and has been a gallery sitter since 2004.

Her favorite place to visit was Fin-land — her husband’s family migrated from Finland and changed the family name from Tolvanon to Seeborg.

She belongs to Emanuel Lutheran Church in Cornelius and also PEO. Rusty has plans to take a trip to Ger-many in May to attend her grandson’s wedding and spend two weeks tour-ing the area.

She is most proud of her children and grandchildren. Her grandson Michael Orwick is a painter and was juried in February at Valley Art.

Valley Art is lucky to have all of its volunteers. Our gallery sitters are

some of those helpers. They keep the doors open, sell merchandise and are the “face” of Valley Art when custom-ers come in the door.

Donna House is one of those sit-ters. She was born in Spokane, Wash., and moved to Or-egon when she was 4. Donna grew up in Estacada, and then moved back to Washing-ton and attended Washington State University.

She returned to Oregon to teach sixth grade and physical educa-tion near Astoria (Knappa Swenson), where she met her husband Tom, who was also a teacher/coach there. They have two children and four grandchildren.

Donna is proud of her 13 years on the board of directors of the Miss Or-egon Pageant and was associate pro-duction director when the family lived in Seaside.

Her hobbies are exercise class, walking, gardening, shopping and be-ing involved with community activi-ties.

Donna had fun being in business with one of our artists, Donna Berget, running the “Basement Boutique.” (Where else, but in her basement?) They sold sample clothing there for seven years. Before that they ran shopping trips to Portland and surrounding areas for small groups of women. Teaching self-esteem and self improvement was another sidelight of Donna’s teaching career.

For the last 10 years Donna has volunteered at Valley Art and you see her talent on display in the arrange-


Our Gallery Sitters 888by Catherine Wildt

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Step Two: Add up all your gifts to cultural organizations from the calendar year (this is important to note: it’s a calen-dar year — Jan. 1 - Dec. 31) and make a matching gift to the Oregon Cultural Trust.

Step Three: Claim your tax credit.

You double your investment in Oregon’s cultural future.

See www.culturaltrust.org/home/index.php for more information.

Thank you for your support.

Cultural trust, continued from page 4

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We need your e-mail addresses.

One answer to the high cost of printing and sending a bi-monthly newsletter is to put it up on our Web site and e-mail interested par-ties that it is there.

If you are interested in taking part in this new medium, please send your e-mail address to [email protected].

We will not share this in-formation with anyone else. Of course if you like to have a paper copy on hand we will continue mailing it to you or you may pick it up at Valley Art. Just check at the front desk for your copy.

Please let us know your wishes.

Go paperless, if you want to

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may june 2007

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