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Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 39F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..
Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 39F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
“Chickadees,” by Charlotte Van Zant-King, is a linoleum print with watercolors. It is one of 40 pieces of art included in a new exhibit to recognized the 40th anniversary of the Newport Visual Arts Center.
“On Duty,” a fabric collage by Janet Webster, is included in the 40x40 exhibit and fundraiser sponsored by the Coastal Arts Guild. The exhibit opens Saturday in the Upstairs Gallery at the Newport Visual Arts Center and runs through March 27.
“Chickadees,” by Charlotte Van Zant-King, is a linoleum print with watercolors. It is one of 40 pieces of art included in a new exhibit to recognized the 40th anniversary of the Newport Visual Arts Center.
“On Duty,” a fabric collage by Janet Webster, is included in the 40x40 exhibit and fundraiser sponsored by the Coastal Arts Guild. The exhibit opens Saturday in the Upstairs Gallery at the Newport Visual Arts Center and runs through March 27.
Forty years ago, plans were put in place to build an art center at Newport’s Nye Beach turnaround. The result was the Newport Visual Arts Center (VAC), and a local arts organization is hosting a fundraiser to honor that milestone.
The 40x40 exhibit and fundraiser is sponsored by the Coastal Arts Guild (CAG) and American Easel, and will feature 40 art works by 40 local artists. Each artist will use an identical wooden base — an 8 by 10-foot wooden panel — for their creation, but their choice of medium is wide open, ranging from acrylic paint to oil to watercolor, linoleum print to fabric collage.
“The concept of the exhibit as a fundraiser went to the Coastal Arts Guild board,” said Sara Siggelkow, arts education and special projects manager for Oregon Coast Council for the Arts (OCCA) and vice president of the Coastal Arts Guild. She noted that money was raised by the sale of the wood panels, not the end product.
“We donated the boards, and the artists purchased them for $40 from OCCA, with that money a donation to the ceramic arts studio at the VAC,” she said. Money from all sales of the finished artwork will go to the artists.
Siggelkow said the panels are like picture frames, with one side flat, the other side similar to a shadowbox. The artist can use either side, and the show will be hung with all panels at the same height.
“What makes the show unique is that all of the artists use the same base for their creations,” said Wendy Engler, a member of the Coastal Arts Guild.
The exhibit opens Saturday, March 5, in the VAC’s Upstairs Gallery, with a celebration from 1 to 3 p.m. featuring cookies and coffee. Those attending are invited to vote for their favorite panel and see which panels judges Sandy Roumagoux — a local artist and former Newport mayor — and OCCA Executive Director Jason Holland will select for awards.
Building of the VAC came about through community interest and urban renewal funding from the Newport Development Commission. “Don Davis is credited with the vision of redeveloping Nye Beach,” said Tom Webb, VAC director.
The Nov. 24, 1982 edition of the News-Times states that $300,000 was budgeted for the VAC construction. That edition included an artist’s rendering of what was called the Nye Beach Art Center, described as a “multi-use building with a gallery and sales area on the first floor, and classroom-studio on the second floor. The building was designed by Steven Lee of Griggs, Lee, Ruff and Ankrom.
Contractor for the VAC was Blumenstein-Dean Construction Co., and the building was completed in August 1983. The third floor was designed by Dietmar Goebel and was added at a later date.
In addition to being an exhibit space, the VAC was designed with artwork incorporated into the building. That artwork — sandblasted windows by Bill Demmon, hand-carved wood front doors by Martha Hawkes, and a sculptured retaining wall by Marge Hammond — was chosen by a jury panel from submissions, with the project sponsored by OCCA and funded by a grant from the Check-off for the Arts state income tax returns.
The March 9, 1983 News-Times includes a photo of the start of excavation, and the Aug. 3, 1983 edition shows the building as it neared completion, anticipated for later that month.
Local artist Janet Webster has delved into the history of the VAC and noted that a group of Yaquina Art Association members wanted more of a facility than the old bathhouse they were using at the turnaround. City manager at the time Don Davis agreed to build the center on urban renewal property as part of the revitalization of Nye Beach.
Webster said the VAC originally was run by volunteers, with no paid staff and no budget, and was managed by the Yaquina Art Association for a while. The newly formed Coastal Arts Guild then developed a volunteer corps to help staff the facility.
Now the city pays OCCA to manage the arts center as well as the Newport Performing Arts Center, but volunteers continue to play an important role in keeping the VAC going — Webster said Coastal Arts Guild volunteers recently weeded and sprinkled mulch around the building.
She said the VAC is in good shape now. “It needs to be maintained to stay in good shape,” she said. “If you don’t maintain something, it gets really expensive to bring it back.
Siggelkow, speaking in her role as vice president of the Coastal Arts Guild, said, “Our purpose has always been to support the arts and the visual arts center". She said CAG was formed in 1985, not long after the arts center opened.
“Prior to COVID, I’d say 90 percent of the docenting at the VAC was from our group,” she said. “This is another way for us to give back to the VAC, because we aren’t donating as many volunteer hours as we did before COVID.
“We wanted to do something to bring people back into the building after COVID, and this seemed like a good way to get people to come in to see the show and bring their friends and family into the VAC,” she added. “A big way we can help is to get word of the VAC out there.”
“Forty years is a pretty big milestone for a rural community,” Siggelkow noted. “People can visit our galleries free, and that’s not the case for a lot of places. And then there’s the view — it’s one of the best on the Oregon coast. It has a magical quality, and there’s something about having an amazing view that produces art.
“Having such a prime piece of real estate open to the public says a lot about what this community thinks about the arts,” she added. “And having a community project like this helps us recover from the pandemic.”
Webb said they are in the planning phase for determining how to formally recognize the VAC’s 40th anniversary.
“Forty years in the Nye Beach neighborhood of Newport!” Engler summed up. “Lots of art has been viewed and even more has been created.”
And more art will be on display at the 40x40 show at the Upstairs Gallery, from noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, March 5-27.
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