Most ArtsWatch readers know Gary Ferrington as a byline: the author of dozens of ArtsWatch stories about young Oregon composers, Eugene music and dance, and much more, from soundscapes to streaming music. 

But Gary, who died last month in Eugene at age 83, gave much more to Oregon arts than his reporting for ArtsWatch. A photo artist himself, he was also one of Eugene’s most valuable arts boosters, one especially devoted to expanding opportunities for young composers. As both journalist and advocate, in his retirement years after a three-decade career as a University of Oregon faculty member, Ferrington did more for arts and artists than most will do in a lifetime. 

He also set a wonderful example of how to use the arts to maintain a creatively vital and intellectually and artistic curious last chapter — right up till his final days. A celebration of life will be held sometime in October, but we’re celebrating Gary’s generous life in the arts right here. 

Oregon Origins

Born in Portland in 1941, Ferrington grew up on the family farm in Springdale, Oregon. As he wrote in his final ArtsWatch post earlier this month, his lifelong passion for nature’s sights and sounds blossomed early on, during solitary rural interludes around his home. Later, he devoted many hours to “exploring the Columbia River Gorge,” according to an obituary provided by his nephew, Bob Ferrington: “Gary’s passion for photography began while hiking the many trails along the old Columbia River scenic highway. Gary was the family photographer. He always had his camera with him to document family gatherings and holidays.” 

Music was his other early passion. His parents bought him a piano when he was a teenager, and he’d play Christmas tunes for holiday family singalongs, Bob Ferrington recalled. But a college professor discouraged his plans to pursue a career as a pianist, a moment fictionalized in one of his recent short stories. Spoiler: the would-be pianist becomes a storyteller, as Gary ultimately did himself. 

Instead, he earned a scholarship and then a master’s degree in instructional technology from the University of Southern California, and returned to his beloved Oregon in 1967 to teach in Instructional Systems Technology and Cinema Studies at the UO. But he never forgot those youthful enthusiasms, conceived during his bucolic Oregon childhood, for Oregon’s sounds and sights. 

Eugene Arts Advocate

Those early passions converged in later years as Ferrington participated in a Eugene photography club, and found himself especially drawn to soundscape music — a modern combination of music and nature that’s especially prominent in the Pacific Northwest. That in turn led Gary, a capable writer, to edit the Journal of Acoustic Ecology and contribute to its parent World Forum for Acoustic Ecology as webmaster, video coordinator, secretary and board member. 

After retiring from his faculty position in the University of Oregon College of Education in 1998, he also became increasingly involved in Eugene’s art scene. That included the Downtown Institute for the Visual Arts, a prominent corner space at the heart of the city’s downtown pedestrian mall that became available when its previous tenant, along with many others, moved out during the economic crash. From its inception in 2003 to its relocation to Drain in 2015, DIVA helped draw thousands of shoppers and others to Eugene’s downtown art scene it helped boost.

“Gary played a major role chairing the film committee and reaching out to connect with filmmakers traveling up the West Coast to show their work in Eugene,” recalls DIVA co-founder Carole Zoom. “Gary helped DIVA create opportunities to show new and experimental media, host workshops, exhibitions and festivals. Wise and dedicated, Gary helped artists, filmmakers and musicians thrive through his stewardship of DIVA. Gary will be greatly missed by the arts community in Eugene.”

His efforts on behalf of his community extended beyond its campus and arts organizations.

“Gary had a huge heart, and was a mentor to many young people in Eugene,” his nephew’s obituary said. “He welcomed many into his home and assisted them as they struggled to get their lives on track. Gary never expected anything in return for his efforts. Gary was a gentle soul, and would sign off his texts, emails and letters with ‘Be kind to others.’”

Ferrington contributed his most bountiful beneficence to young composers at the University of Oregon, where he gave young creative musicians the kind of encouragement his own college music teacher denied him. During his teaching career, he’d hear their music emanating from the music school practice rooms and concert halls, and started attending concerts featuring original student music. After he retired, UO student concerts became his principal pastime, and then more.

“For more than twenty years, Gary has been a much loved member of our University of Oregon composers community through the Oregon Composers Forum (OCF),” wrote UO composition professor Robert Kyr in an email to ArtsWatch. “Throughout this period, he has generously supported the creative development of all our composers—undergraduates and graduates alike—as a writer and photographer who kindly volunteered to be our social media and publicity coordinator and manager of our Facebook account. Selflessly and tirelessly, he continually championed the achievements of our OCF composers, past and present, through their music for the OCF concert series, the Music Today Festival, the Vanguard Concert and Workshop Series, the Pacific Rim Gamelan, and the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium, as well as their extensive accomplishments beyond the university. We are deeply grateful for his kindness, for his generous support, and for the many ways that he inspired all of us to be the best artists and musical citizens that we can be through our creations, music-making, and community-building.”

One of Ferrington’s principal contributions was endowing a fund to benefit UO composition students. Characteristically, he named it not for himself, but after the young composer, Brandon Scott Rumsey, whose music had inspired his generosity. 

In a recent essay, Gary explained how much he drew from the young artists he treasured. 

“Among those in my life as an educator have been many younger people as students and friends whose enthusiasm and wonder has been shared with that part of me that has always been curious about the present and future,” he wrote. This symbiotic relationship has been mutually beneficial as my experience and their youthful energy is shared.”

Telling Oregon Arts Stories

Ferrington’s deep involvement in UO and Eugene arts made him a natural contributor to ArtsWatch, where you’ll find dozens of his stories on both our current and archive sites. (Some are linked here.) What he might have lacked in technical arts expertise or journalism training, he made up for in enthusiasm, insatiable curiosity, and a humility that allowed him to ask seemingly simple questions that (as we professionals sometimes forget) produce explanations that general readers really value. 

His first post for us, in 2013, was about the UO’s commendable Music Today Festival, and no one covered it as often or as well as Gary did. We listed that first one as a “guest post,” but Gary immediately became part of the ArtsWatch family. He regularly covered the school’s Oregon Composers Forum concerts, provided young composers with some of their first interview opportunities with journalists, and shone a rare and welcome spotlight on next generation Oregon music. He frequently covered the Oregon Bach Festival’s valuable Oregon Composers Symposium, usually also including his own photos. He was equally excited abut the symposium’s then-new video concerts. 

When UO students worked with the Eugene Symphony, and with famous musicians in residence such as Roomful of Teeth, Gary not only wrote about it, but also about the renowned vocal ensemble itself, struck up an acquaintance with RoT singer Esteli Gomez, and even hosted her during her return engagements with the university. 

He wrote about many concerts at UO’s storied Beall Concert Hall, a walk away from his downtown apartment, and covered UO faculty musicians as well as their students. When UO ensembles played non-UO contemporary Oregon music, Gary was usually there — even when they played down the road at Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden. 

It’s hard to imagine now, with so much homegrown classical music being performed live almost every week, but way back when we started ArtsWatch, I lamented how few opportunities readers had to hear Oregon contemporary classical music on Oregon stages. I mused to Gary that we needed a one-stop shopping spot for Oregon performers and presenters who wanted to play Oregon music, but didn’t know where to find it or who was writing it. Gary agreed — and actually did something about it, setting up and maintaining the database for what we called Oregon ComposersWatch, posting the entries submitted by dozens of Oregon composers, even writing some entries for legacy composers. Eventually, his flagging health made it impossible for Gary to rebuild and maintain the site to work with ArtsWatch’s evolving tech requirements.

By then, so much had changed that it was no longer rare to find Oregon contemporary classical music on Oregon stages. You could say that most of OAW’s music coverage was now ComposersWatch. Now, anyone who wants to perform or present original Oregon music can just search our site for Oregon composers, and find a trove of outstanding locavore creators and their music, and know that those shows will likely receive enough attention here to sell enough tickets to make it feasible. In his ArtsWatch reporting and work on ComposersWatch, Gary Ferrington played an important role in making that happen.

Maybe covering those enthusiastic young artists helped Gary stay young himself. Gary never closed his mind, or his ears, to new sounds, new combinations, new artistic expressions. He was often willing to push past his own preferences when we asked or when a good story demanded. 

“I’ve not been personally fond of choral music and rarely include it in my selection of classical music, he wrote about a concert of new student works for choir. “So I approached this event with some trepidation. To my surprise, I found myself fully involved in listening to these new compositions – most performed for the first time.” 

Nor did he limit himself to contemporary classical music, profiling rising young jazz musicians and their collaborations. I can’t think of another journalist so devoutly devoted to chronicling the early efforts of unknown, emerging composers. Future readers will appreciate Gary’s insights into their nascent creations. 

That easy access to Beall and other UO performance spaces, as well as the Hult Center and other downtown arts venues, made Gary, who never owned a car, appreciate his downtown nest. He even told non-Eugene readers how to enjoy his hometown’s fertile arts scene without using climate-damaging conveyances. In childhood, he set up extensive model train landscapes in the family garage, and throughout his life, enjoyed many cross-country train trips. 

Beyond campus, Ferrington also provided some of the most frequent coverage of Lane County arts, including Eugene Opera, Eugene Symphony (especially on the too-rare occasions it featured Oregon music), visiting musicians such as Cascadia Composers, even community orchestras when they featured music by emerging composers.

He wrote some of the first stories about Eugene’s sterling Delgani String Quartet. It’s startling to realize that none of the founding members depicted in his 2015 articles still perform with the ensemble, but that shows just how long he was on the job.

One of Gary’s other interests was dance, and he often wrote about Eugene Ballet, usually focusing on the relationship between movement and music, and sometimes delving into the creative connections between choreographer and musicians. Here too, he was especially interested in artistic collaborations, especially university/professional artist interactions, and intersections between art forms, like choral music and theater, even music and comedy. 

And as one of the original DIVA advocates, Ferrington celebrated in 2021 when Eugene’s then new Midtown Art Center finally provided, if not exactly the kind of showcase DIVA promised, at least a downtown home for various major Eugene arts groups.

Diving into the Streams

One of Ferrington’s most important journalistic contributions transcended live concert coverage, chronicling the rise of streaming music. As age and health problems, some stemming from botched surgery, increasingly limited the mobility of a music lover who’d walked thousands of miles a year much of his life, Gary found a new source for his beloved contemporary music. 

“As I grow older, I find it more difficult to go out on those dark, wet and blustery Oregon evenings to enjoy a concert of classical or contemporary music,” he wrote in 2016. “Although I’d prefer sitting in a venue enjoying a live performance, I know it won’t always be possible. So, it is with much personal pleasure that I’ve discovered Internet live-streaming and have spent the last couple of years exploring the availability of both statewide and worldwide concert performances.”

A few years later, of course, that experience proved immensely valuable to ArtsWatch readers when we were all stuck at home, stranded on our screens. Gary was our guide. “What I enjoy most about webcasts is not only the ability to access music by noted contemporary composers“ he wrote, “but also the music of emerging composers who may one day become the established names in music.” 

During those homebound days, he even introduced us to virtual travel: “Slow walks allow me the opportunity to observe people and culture in places where I’ve never been or even heard about. I enjoy discovering what people have in common and what makes us unique given the diversity of cultures we embrace.“

As the UO expanded its online contemporary music options, including the Music Today Festival he covered for us often, and as other universities and organizations began building streaming into their performance models, Gary became our readers’ trusted concierge to new music streams in Oregon and beyond. 

Ferrington’s interests in dance and streaming video converged in a story about screendance that introduced many of our readers to this recently developed art form. Another now-streamable, too rarely written about art form that Gary loved and knew deeply: radio theater. When I asked him to recommend some of his faves, he supplied a list of often freely available historical recordings that would take years to get through. 

Music and Nature

For all his virtual gallivanting, nothing so enchanted Gary as the sights and sounds of his Oregon origins, including one that involved another practitioner of his own artistic passion, photography. And when that converged with his interest in young composers, we readers were the beneficiaries. 

One thing I learned from Gary is just how devoting attention to the sounds of nature, often when incorporated in or inspiring music derived from it, enhances our appreciation of it. So of course, he was a devotee of soundwalks, and passed on that devotion to ArtsWatch readers. I even got to accompany him on one in downtown Portland.

In his final story, he gazed all the way back to his beginnings, the rural Oregon community where he grew up, recalling natural sounds heard seven decades ago, showing the persistence of sound and nature throughout his life, throughout all our lives. 

“On this World Listening Day,” Gary wrote, “I encourage readers to close their eyes and listen. What sounds do you hear nearby? What about in the distance? Do any of these sounds convey a particular message? Are there sounds you enjoy or strongly dislike? What is it about these sounds that attracts or repels your interest? Is there a sound that you might identify as a soundmark for your community, like a cathedral bell or foghorn? What if every day were World Listening Day?”

Last Chapter

That personal essay first appeared on Ferrington’s 2023-24 Substack site — yet another of Gary’s irrepressible, late life creative pursuits. Even in his 80s, he was unafraid to use new platforms to share his thoughts, imagination and memories, including musical compositions and improvisations from his youth. 

We’re not sure how much longer the site will remain active, so it’s worth checking out soon to experience Gary’s own memories, photos and videos. And a new creative outlet: short stories, many inspired by his life and landscapes. When his own images wouldn’t fit, the ever-intrepid Gary turned to yet another new technology, artificial intelligence, to generate appropriate accompanying images. Some were Twilight Zone-style fables; others sprang from his memories of actual Oregon places and events, such as the devastating Columbus Day Storm of 1962. Unpretentious, unpolished, they found meaning in seemingly mundane moments. Several revolve around acts of kindness, which Gary knew well. Whether fact or fiction, his stories always displayed a photographer’s eye for visual detail and a musician’s ear for sounds.

Characteristically, he also shared stories, sounds and images from other artists he admired, from young Filipino musicians he discovered on his constant virtual wanderings around YouTube to evocative photos taken by his best friend, who died in a crash half a century ago. Gary never stopped putting a spotlight on other artists he thought deserved wider attention. 

And toward the end, he wrote movingly and directly about his approaching transition, with the same gentleness and acceptance that made him such a pleasure to be around. What a role model he provides for all of us, showing how advanced age and declining mobility needn’t necessarily keep us from exploring new experiences, creating original works of art even in unfamiliar genres, promoting arts and artists we admire, and helping others in need. 

In one of those last essays, Gary looked back over his life: “For me, life has been a journey much like that of a river that begins with a misty rain, becomes a cascading stream and then, in its maturity, empties into the sea only to begin the cycle over. Along the way as the river drifts and the current of life broadens, new experiences and people flow into it.”

“From the time I was as a kid listening to the soundscape from my hilltop resting place, watching the wind ripple across an uncut field of hay, felt the rain upon my face, or experienced the sadness, love and caring of friends and family, I’ve been aware of the beauty and complexity of life. I often think that if this is ‘it,’ it has been an amazing journey of joy, grief, health, pain, love, anger, good decisions, bad decisions, and all those experiences that make us human.

“As my life’s river approaches the sea, I give more time to this moment, this breath, and this thought. I’m no longer rushing and tumbling over obstacles, most of which were my own doing. I’m being mindful, slowing down to focus on only one or two things at a time and letting go of the sediment that has come along with me. I’m finding a certain calmness. 

“I hope that on my journey I’ve been a person of compassion, kindness, love, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, helpfulness, and making a positive impact along the way.”

You sure did, my friend. Rest easy.