Oregon
SALEM CONFERENCE CENTER
2007-2008
LET A TRADITION BEGIN
Inspired by the idea of displaying art in the public galleries of the
Salem Conference Center, the Oregon Artists Mayor’s Invitational is
a year-long exhibit featuring work from artists around the state. The
idea of having art on public exhibit in the conference center struck
a chord with Mayor Janet Taylor as a means to attract and engage
visitors and residents alike. Our mayor’s support and enthusiasm for
this exhibit has created another Salem tradition: each year, one piece
of art will be selected best of show by a panel of jurors, and become
part of Salem Conference Center’s permanent public collection.
The Salem Conference Center and the City of Salem would like to
thank all of the artists who accepted our mayor’s invitation to create
a cultural event for all of Salem to enjoy. We also greatly appreciate
the efforts of Shelley Curtis of Corvallis, curator of Oregon State
University’s Art About Agriculture collection, and Mary Lou Zeek
of Salem, who served as consultants to the Invitational committee.
This catalogue documents each work of art shown in the inaugural
exhibit. The exhibit will remain on display and be open to the public
through June 2008. By then, a new show will be created, juried and
displayed as the next Mayor’s Invitational. We all look forward to
continuing this annual event for years to come.
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MAYOR’S GRAND PURCHASE
Award Winner
A RT I S T S TAT E M E N T
Color is my painting venue. Years of teaching have beset my mind
with skills...skills to evoke an essence of Oregon’s Willamette
Valley landscape, couched in subtractive secondary pigments.
My treatment of landscape explores the beauty and grandeur of
this Northwest. This painting uses a natural order (the landscape)
against an artistic minimalist order (the red rectangles) for the
purpose of creating visual contrast. Visual contrast [is] visual
meaning produced by seeing opposites like high contrast (black
and white) photographs.
Art is for me, a means to communicate about the significance of
what I have seen in the life experience.
James Mattingly
Mattingly, James
Monmouth, Oregon
(1934-2006)
Born: Southgate, California
Airlie Autumn
2003
Acrylic on Canvas
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FIVE HONORARIUM
Awards
Bibler, Rob
Salem, Oregon
Mirari
2006
Oil on Canvas
A RT I S T S TAT E M E N T
The title of the painting is a Greek word, 5000 years old, and it
means to wonder. The word mirror is derived from it, and mirari
is the root of the words miracle and mirage, so this word has
associations with fantasy and illusion. The representation of a
person and their mirror image can suggest the disunity of the self.
The synonym for a mirror image – reflection – has a psychological
as well as optical meaning. In some dream interpretation, water is
a symbol of the unconscious mind. Water depicted in a painting
can suggest a great many meanings. Andrei Tarkovsky, the great
Russian filmmaker, spoke of water as “the blood of the earth.”
Robert Bibler
A RT I S T S TAT E M E N T
Georgia O’Keefe said, “I was a very stupid fool not to at least
paint as I wanted to and say what I wanted to when I painted. I
found I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say
in any other way – things that I had no words for.”
Hausser, Carol
Salem, Oregon
Everybody’s Listening
But You
2003
Watercolor on Paper
Everybody’s Listening But You is a large abstract watercolor, which
employs a broad range of watercolor techniques to create a
carnival-like world of playful connections and disconnections.
There is the suggestion of two figures in conversation. One is an
animated being in the foreground – comprised of its flailing parts
and kinetic energies – and the other a sentinel-like figure in the
background.
Caorl Hausser
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A RT I S T S TAT E M E N T
Rural Oregon renews and strengthens my belief in the importance
of Nature to the human spirit. The views here are at once spectacular and serene, yet ordinary. From the hills, I watch the light and
shadows across the valley, studying the abstract shapes and volumes
that draw me into the scene.
In the spirit of The Unknown Craftsman (Soetsu Yanagi, Kodansha International), I think of myself as a servant and messenger
of beauty. My paintings are singular in their capture of time and
mood. I am interested in the dormant seasons, when life is quiet
and preparing to renew itself. These are solitary and reflective times
about transition. Even the most ordinary scene is rich and evocative, and I prefer the unassuming intimacy of a simple landscape to
one of overwhelming grandeur, which I find somehow sentimental
and cold, not in the scale of everyday human emotion.
Marilyn Higginson
A RT I S T S TAT E M E N T
The scene is translated from my experiences among Baskett Slough
wildlife sanctuary just due west of Salem on Highway 22. The
rolling forested hills and grasslands are familiar yet not specific –
approachable, not exclusive.
Higginson, Marilyn
Sheridan, Oregon
Untended Orchard
2007
Kuhns, Kristin
Salem, Oregon
Approximate Center 4
2007
Oil on Canvas
Acrylic and Fiber on Canvas
Referential shifts in color and perspective suggest a subjective
experience, a sentimental experience imposed upon the landscape
to carry us into and through the painting. Flat areas of exposed and
stitched fabric are crafted using traditional needle and thread. By
combining an illusion of place with the physical evidence of craft
our domestic imprint or presence among the land is pondered.
Kristin Kuhns
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TWENTY-FIVE PARTICIPATING
Artists
Yes, Phyllis
Lincoln City, Oregon
For Mothers
2005
Acrylic on Canvas
A RT I S T S TAT E M E N T
I love to garden, to watch the evolution of a seed pushing up the
earth, turning into leaves, flower buds, and then glorious flowers.
It’s magic. The colors, textures, scent, and power of a flower cannot
be matched. Put them in a clear glass vase and it makes my heart
beat faster. How fascinating to see the refraction of stems as seen
through the life-giving water. It is my intention to try to capture all
of this in a simple and colorful manner.
Bauer, Marlene
Bergeman, Rich
Branch, Harrison
Casey, John
Cave, Claudia
Clarke, Mark
Coe, Margaret
Cook, Andrew
Cotter Howell, Eileen
Cruson, Jon Jay
Disterheft, Annegret
Hall, Carl
Hull, Bonnie
Kirk, James
Lindburg, Nancy
Lucas, Paul Joseph
McCulloch, Sue-Del
Melton, Terry
Sandgren, Nelson
Schlegel, Robert
Shull, Jim
Strauch, Paul
Stuart, Susan Trueblood
VanDreal, John
Waters, April
What better way to honor someone than to present them with a
bouquet of beautiful flowers?
Phyllis Yes
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Bauer, Marlene
Portland, Oregon
Nina
2007
Acrylic on Paper on Wood Panel
Branch, Harrison
Corvallis, Oregon
Untitled
1989
Platinum/Palladium Photograph
Casey, John
McMinnville, Oregon
Pacific Morn
2007
Acrylic on Masonite
Bergeman, Rich
Corvallis, Oregon
Richmond, Oregon
(abandoned church)
2004
Platinum Photograph
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Cave, Claudia
Corvallis, Oregon
Oregon in Color and
Black and White
2007
Coe, Margaret
Eugene, Oregon
Douglas County #3
2006
Oil on Canvas
Watercolor on Paper
Clarke, Mark
Eugene, Oregon
Landscape
2007
Acrylic on Canvas
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Cruson, Jon Jay
Eugene, Oregon
Vista #3
2007
Acrylic on Canvas
Disterheft, Annegret
Salem, Oregon
Before the Otter Came
2007
Cook, Andrew
Portland, Oregon
Steens Summit
2005
Collage
Oil on Canvas
Cotter Howell, Eileen
Salem, Oregon
Intersect
2004
Watermedia and Collage
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Hall, Carl
Salem, Oregon
(1921-1996)
Born: Washington D.C.
Mountain Cabin
Four Seasons
1969
Kirk, James
Monmouth, Oregon
Oregon My Oregon
2003
Watercolor on Paper
Acrylic on Paper
Hull, Bonnie
Salem, Oregon
View West
2005
Oil on Canvas
Lindburg, Nancy
Salem, Oregon
Boogie Woogie
2007
Oil on Linen
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Melton, Terry
Salem, Oregon
The 45th Parallel
2007
Lucas, Paul Joseph
Tillamook, Oregon
Crowning Glory
2007
Acrylic on Canvas
Oil on Canvas
McCulloch, Sue-Del
Salem, Oregon
Sunflower Fields Forever
2007
Acrylic and Wax on Canvas
Sandgren, Nelson
Corvallis, Oregon
(1917-2006)
Born: Manitoba, Canada
Red Log
Date Unknown
Watercolor
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Shull, Jim
Silverton, Oregon
Rowena Bridge
2006
Acrylic on Linen
Schlegel, Robert
Banks, Oregon
Bird House
2007
Mixed Medium on Canvas
Strauch, Paul
Turner, Oregon
Purple Swale
2007
Acrylic on Canvas
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VanDreal, John
Salem, Oregon
Lughnasa Moondance
2007
Oil on Canvas
Stuart, Susan Trueblood
Salem, Oregon
The Deschutes in February
2005
Mixed Media on Paper
Waters, April
Salem, Oregon
Willamette River Bend
2007
Oil on Canvas
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Salem Conference Center and the City of Salem
would like to thank the following companies and
individuals for their generous support:
CONNOISSEUR
Comcast
The Family of Delight Stone & Cliff Curry
PAT RO N
Anna & Edwin Peterson
ENTHUSIAST
Kathy & Darr Goss
We also would like to thank the judges who participated
in the selection process for award nominations:
Nancy Lindburg
Artist, former Arts Administrator
Cynthia Addams
Chairwoman of the Oregon Arts Commission,
Executive Vice President of the Collins Foundation
John Olbrantz
Director, Hallie Ford Museum of Art
For information about the works of art or artists in this exhibit,
please contact the administrative office of the Salem Conference
Center or Mary Lou Zeek Gallery in Salem. All artwork is
for sale unless designated otherwise.
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Oregon
ARTIST
SERIES
PRESENTED BY:
200 Commercial Street SE
Salem, Oregon 97301
www.salemconferencecenter.org
Phone: 503 589-1700
Fax: 503 589-1715
Toll Free: 877 589-1700