Chronicling the Spirit of Lake Oswego

2008-06-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

Chronicling the Spirit of Lake Oswego

By: Kristen Forbes

[This article was published in the Lake Oswego Summer Events Program as a supplement to the Lake Oswego Review on June 12, 2008].

The 2008 Chronicle Invitational Art Exhibit at the Lakewood Center (368 S. State Street), June 20-22, “will be a place to slow down, sit down and enjoy the gifts of our local artists and the impressions of our surroundings from their perspectives,” says chair and curator Tom Carey.

He and his committee scouted out and invited a talented and diverse group of around 40 Northwest artists (whose mediums range from watercolors to metals) to participate in this year’s event. Artists were given free rein to interpret the theme of “chronicling Lake Oswego.”

“Proven artists go out into the community and ‘chronicle’ to produce a piece of art that is in their area of expertise,” Carey explains. “They give their interpretation of the life, times, spirit and the people of Lake Oswego and the surrounding area.”

This year’s artists exceeded the committee’s expectations, Carey says. As photographs of the artwork began trickling in at committee meetings, Carey says there were a lot of “oohs and ahs.” He is excited for the public to experience the fruit of the artists’ labors.

Among artists featured in the exhibit is Lake Oswego watercolorist Linda Terhark, whose painting “The Mallards of Oregon” pops with varying shades of green and blue. Terhark was inspired by the mallards she’s seen fly back to Lake Oswego each spring for the last thirty-two years.
Terhark says her love for art came early. As a young girl, she decorated her room with bright paper, pictures and drawings, as though it were her “personal art gallery.” Her family took note of her artistry and put her in charge of decorating at holiday times. She hung paper, objects and her own paintings all over the house.

Her mother was a piano teacher and her father owned a paint company, so it seems fitting that the motto on his company sign read, “For Better Color Harmony.” Terhark recalls seeing his truck filled with buckets of varying shades of paint, “from which he would concoct any color to meet a customer’s needs.”

On her first trip to Europe, Terhark visited Mattise’s home in Southern France and Picasso’s pottery studio. “I have never forgotten the impact of that trip,” she says.

Terhark went on to become a teacher, where she drew her inspiration from her students. When she instructed them to make their work “big, bright and beautiful,” the children always delivered.

Now retired, Terhark collectively draws from all the people and objects that have inspired her in her life. Above all else, color remains her biggest inspiration.

“I hope people viewing my work will smile, put aside their troubles and find visions of freedom and joy,” Terhark says.

Also featured is West Linn’s Sara Swink, who will showcase a ceramic sculpture (“Gift of Tallapus”) that has special meaning to her.

“When I walk along the Tualatin River near my house,” Swink says, “I feel very close to nature. I often imagine the people who lived here and enjoyed the bounty of nature before white settlers took over. In my research about the indigenous people of the area I learned that according to Kalapuya Indian legend, Tallapus, who is Coyote spirit, is credited with constructing Willamette Falls so the people could easily catch salmon. In my piece the figure gives thanks to Tallapus for his gift.”

Swink, who has loved clay since childhood, studied art at Foothill College, San Jose University and San Francisco State University. She taught at many venues in California and out of her own studio before establishing Clay Circle Studio in West Linn.

Swink says she thinks “the art and dream worlds are deeply interconnected” and tries to convey this in her sculptures.

“My interest lies in working with the figure to bring dreams, fantasies and feeling states into three dimensions,” Swink says. “I use form, surface and expression to investigate and communicate what lies beneath the surface of consciousness.”

Salem’s Walt Bensman, who combines ceramics and wood in two-dimensional art, is also a featured artist, along with five artists from Portland. Marcy Baker specializes in monotype and collage. Jeff Gracz takes pictures that look like paintings. Shelley Herberger works in diptych and oil media on panels. Lori Latham’s specialty is acrylics. Don MacLane does kinetic sculptures in steel and stone.

“It will be a delightful show,” says Carey.

The Chronicle exhibit is a City of Lake Oswego and Lake Oswego Foundation for the Arts exhibit.

Kristen Forbes is a freelance writer. To view her blog, visit www.krissymick.blogspot.com