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Salem Carfts an Art TraditionJuly 6, 2008July 6, 2008
The Mayor's Oregon Artist Series turns 2 this month at the Salem Conference Center, and it's no longer an invitational. This year's show, which opens with a Saturday paid reception, was a juried event for the first time and drew a large number of artists from around the region. Intended as a showcase of Northwest art, the exhibit in the conference center lobby is designed to build a permanent art collection for the center.
"It was a call to artists, which was new, so it wasn't invitational," said Mary Lou Zeek, who helped organize the show.
Each year, one piece of art is selected Best of Show and receives the Mayor's Purchase Award from a panel of jurors. Last year, the award went to Jim Mattingly's painting "Airlie Autumn," an acrylic on canvas work by the late Monmouth artist.
This year's winner will be announced at the opening reception.
"We also invited artists back who were winners (of 2007 awards)," Zeek said.
The returning artists also were jurors: Rob Bibler and his wife, Carol Hausser, of Salem; Kristin Kuhns of Salem; Marilyn Higginson of Sheridan; and Phyllis Yes of Portland.
Hausser was unable to join in the judging, and Yes was unable to participate in the exhibit.
Alyssa Reynaldo, conference center sales assistant, said 248 pieces were submitted this year by 87 artists.
"We had a lot from the Portland-Tualatin area," she said. "We also had a good bunch from the Eugene-Corvallis area."
Twenty-six artists were accepted, some with more than one piece. The final show has 87 works, not including the works by Mattingly, Bibler, Hausser, Higginson and Kuhns.
This year's art exhibit ranges from landscapes to abstracts, threadwork and various kinds of photography.
The artists include some names familiar in Salem, such as oil painter Margaret Coe of Eugene; Salem oil painter John VanDreal; Salem acrylic artists Bonnie Hull, Sue-Del McCulloch and Corrine Loomis Dietz; Monmouth watercolor artist James Kirk; and Rickreall pastel artist Judy Phipps.
Several photographs, including digital photography, are in this year's show.
Chrissie Bertsch, general manager of the conference center, has been a backer of the exhibit idea as a way to enhance the attractiveness of the conference center.
"I think compared to the first year there's a bit more of a mix," she said of this year's show. "I think it's going to be a really nice, wide variety."
The first year featured the work of 31 artists out of 32 invited.
Zeek said she is pleased with the results.
"We all felt really good," she said of the selection process. "We thought there was a real balance of work, a good grouping."
The yearlong exhibit, which runs into next July, is seen by Mayor Janet Taylor as a way to attract and engage visitors and residents alike.
The goal for the city is to build a permanent collection to showcase Oregon artists and promote the arts in Salem's downtown.
To make the show easier to do in the future and ease the burden on the center staff, the mayor has given permission to form a foundation in the name of the show.
Zeek said the paperwork for the new foundation, the Oregon Artist Series Foundation, has been completed and submitted for approval.
The foundation is seen as a way to organize the annual show but also to do other events in downtown Salem, such as facilitate art installations through the city's Percent for Art Program, another initiative of the mayor, Zeek said.
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