Coast calendar: Cool diversions for summer’s dog days

Late August is the time to apply to teach a workshop, audition for a play, or beat the heat by visiting a gallery.

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It’s been a hot, muggy summer here on the Coast, which for those of us fond of the more moderate, 60-ish temperatures makes a visit indoors to a gallery or theater all the more inviting.  Luckily, there’s something cool going on pretty much all up and down the Coast.

A new exhibition of linocut printmaking by Marit Berg is up in the Imprint Gallery in Cannon Beach. Berg’s work frequently features animals with “a subtext that expresses the delicate balance of life within the natural world and how animals develop particular traits to thrive in their habitats,” said gallery co-owner Jane Brumfield. The artist has been drawn to portraying hares, which are included in this show, and has also turned her attention to foxes.

“Waiting Fox,” by Marit Berg (linocut print, 26 x 34 inches) is one of the fox and hare series on display in Cannon Beach’s Imprint Gallery.
“Waiting Fox,” by Marit Berg (linocut print, 26 x 34 inches) is part of Berg’s fox and hare series on display in Cannon Beach’s Imprint Gallery.

“Natural selection rewards survival through adaptation,” Berg writes. “These adaptations reveal themselves in interesting and varied forms, particularly in animals. They may evolve as competitive display; to warn off a predator; or as camouflage in the surroundings. These traits have also informed myth and symbolism in many cultures. I investigate these traits and contrast them to exemplify the diversity and specialization of the species, in separate works.”

Berg’s father taught more than 30 years in a printmaking studio and her mother was an abstract expressionist painter. After receiving her MFA in painting and printmaking from San Diego State University, Berg joined the printmaking department of Tacoma Community College, where she has taught printmaking for the past 14 years.

The exhibition is  part of Imprint Gallery’s program of printmaking shows, in the upper gallery, at 183 N. Hemlock Street. The exhibition continues through Sept. 15.

THE LINCOLN CITY CULTURAL CENTER invites you to stop by at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18, for a complimentary pastry and cup of Cape Foulweather Coffee while enjoying a concert by local musicians. Music programs at the center vary and may feature anything from a  string quartet to small band. Admission is free, although donations are welcomed. Local musicians looking to perform at the ongoing event can call Rita Warton at 541-994-8585.

THE SITKA CENTER FOR ART AND ECOLOGY has put out a call for new instructors to teach summer classes as it heads into its 50th year in 2020. The center strives to offer a variety of “inspiring workshops that provide time and space for place-based reflection, inquiry and creation at the intersection of art and ecology.” They’re looking for instructors who can integrate unique perspectives in art-making and environmental stewardship. “The center welcomes proposals in a variety of media and subject matter that help to foster a deeper appreciation and connection to the natural world and the creative self.” The deadline for proposals is Sept. 3. Click here to learn more about teaching at Sitka.

Sponsor

Portland Center Stage at the Armory Nassim Portland Oregon

AS USUAL, THERE’S LOTS GOING ON IN NEWPORT. The Red Octopus Theatre Company is holding auditions for Doubt, A Parable from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 18, in the Newport Performing Arts Center. The play, by John Patrick Shanley, won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play.

Actors will be asked to read from the script (there is no need to prepare a monologue) and should expect to stay the entire time. Callbacks and additional auditions will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. the next evening.

The play takes place in 1964 New York. Father Flynn, a beloved pastor of St. Nicholas Catholic Church, is deemed too friendly with a particular student by Sister Aloysius, who enlists a young, naïve nun to report on his behavior. According to the website: “Those reports convince Sister Aloysius that Father Flynn is improper at best, and predatory at worst. After significant power plays and philosophical war, Sister Aloysius succeeds in eliciting a resignation from Father Flynn, but the emotional and psychological cost is very dear. And there is never a good answer: only doubt.”

The production will run Nov. 1-17 in the David Ogden Stiers Theatre at the Newport Performing Arts Center. The 90-minute play is performed without intermission.

AT THE NEWPORT VISUAL ARTS CENTER, it’s all about the Coast as the Oregon Coast Council for the Arts presents Art 363: Representing the Oregon Coast through Sept. 29. The show includes three gallery exhibitions, a series of short films, a student exhibit, storytelling, and other related activities focused on the 363 miles of coastline stretching from Brookings to Astoria. Also included are interpretive and representational works created by artists over the past 40 years and within the past 40 days. Project partners include the Sandgren PaintOut Project, The Wetlands Conservancy, and the Wandering Reel Traveling Film Festival.

"Cape Foulweather" by Susan DeRosa is among the pieces in a Newport Visual Arts Center show celebrating four decades of the Sandgren PaintOut Project.
“Cape Foulweather” by Susan DeRosa is among pieces in a Newport Visual Arts Center show celebrating four decades of the Sandgren PaintOut Project.

Also at the center, Open Studios drop-in sessions invite locals and tourists to stop by from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17 and 24, “to paint, draw or otherwise create from the vistas of the VAC’s ocean-view classrooms.” Participants are encouraged to bring their own supplies, but some materials will be provided. 

“Open Studios is an opportunity to share with the creative community and the general public what we sometimes take for granted,” said center director Tom Webb. “The VAC has incredible and inspirational views of Nye Beach and Yaquina Head. Participants can create while remaining out of the elements of wind and rain.”

Sponsor

Open Studios sessions are free to the public, but a $5 donation is suggested to cover future supplies, and reservations are not required. The center is at 777 N.W. Beach Drive in the historic Nye Beach neighborhood of Newport. August Open Studios will be in the Room 302, accessible via Northwest Third Street or from the public staircase off the Nye Beach turnaround.

For more information, contact Tom Webb at 541-265-6569 or twebb@coastarts.org.

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This story is supported in part by a grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust, investing in Oregon’s arts, humanities and heritage, and the Lincoln County Cultural Coalition.

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Photo Joe Cantrell

Lori Tobias is a journalist of many years, and was a staff writer for The Oregonian for more than a decade, and a columnist and features writer for the Rocky Mountain News. Her memoir “Storm Beat – A Journalist Reports from the Oregon Coast” was published in 2020 by Oregon State University press. She is also the author of the novel Wander, winner of the 2017 Nancy Pearl Book Award for literary fiction and a finalist for the 2017 International Book Awards for new fiction. She lives on the Oregon Coast with her husband Chan and rescue pup Gus.

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