“West of West,” A Celebration of Ranch Life at High Desert Gallery Group Show Opens May 30 through June 29. Please join us for the Artist Group Reception Saturday, May 30, from 4 – 7pm. The All-Star lineup of High Desert Gallery Artists includes Cristina Acosta, J Chester Armstrong, Paul Alan Bennett, Grace Bishko, Glen Corbett, Kathy Deggendorfer, Trisha Hassler, Kimry Jelen, Sue Smith, Jean Wells, Cary Weigand, Jerry Werner.
High Desert Gallery And Custom Framing
281 W Cascade Avenue at Oak Sisters,
Oregon 97759
541-388-8964 / 866-549-6250
Open Daily: F/S/S/M 10am to 5pm, T/W/H
10am-2:30pm (Spring Hours)
Open Daily: 10am to 6pm Starting June
14, 2009 (Summer Hours)
www.highdesertgallery.com
In preparation for the West of West, A
Celebration of Ranch Life Group Show, High Desert Gallery featured
artists, plus special guest Central Oregon artists, were asked to
write about the thoughts and experiences that inspired their
creativity. Here's a sneak preview from two very talented artists:
“Horses Running”
Original Oil and Mixed Media on Canvas
By Cristina Acosta
I love watching horses, naked of any tack, running across a large expanse of land. They are un-tethered and moving their bodies without the constraints of human direction. Watching them, a little of myself runs with them. I lived with horses on an old homestead when I first moved to Central Oregon in the 1980's. Often alone for weeks at a time, the horses were part of the family of animals on the ranch. They became my friends and companions. Observing them taught me to remember to embrace joyful abandon in the small moments of my life. -- Cristina Acosta, May 2009
“Daily Chores”
Original Acrylic / Oil in sepia tone
by Jerry Werner
This painting was
inspired from some family photos of my cousin Joe's wife Patty.
As I was going through these old photos I really liked the one of Patty's dad, Floyd Dewayne Stuck, he was 16 at the time in 1949. Floyd was a logger: their family moved here from Oklahoma in 1940. Lived in a tent in Hillsboro Oregon for a year and then bought property in Gales Creek, Oregon.
The Stucks built a barn in 41 soon after the original house burnt down in the huge Tillamook burn fire, times were rough, the barn made it through the fire along with the chicken coup, so they remodeled the chicken coup to live in. They started a small strawberry farm and built a small logging mill on the property, the barn just fell down this last winter. Until just a few years ago there was still an outhouse on the property.
The painting is an accumulation of the two photos, the edge of the barn in the foreground is also the same barn in the background with the cow standing in front of it. Floyd would gt up early to feed and milk the cows then harness the workhorses up with the skid and take them out to do the logging.
There was an old car on the road in the back of the barn, I own a 37 Ford panel delivery, so I made the car into my old delivery, and you know that's what artist's license is all about. -- Jerry Werner, May 2009
