Studio tour spotlights creatives along the coast

May 7, 2019

Lori Tobias

Coast, Family, Visual Art

Lovers of local art and the Oregon Coast can combine their passions May 17-19 during the Art on the Edge Studio Tour along the Central Coast. More than two dozen artists will open their studios to visitors.

Maria Esther Sund incorporates old and new elements in her collage and mixed media work.

The Lincoln City Cultural Center will host the opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, May 10. Guests will meet some of the artists on the tour, see their artwork, and save 50 percent — one night only — on the button that provides entrance to the tour, which is regularly $10.

We talked with Krista Eddy, director of visual arts at the center about the tour.

Mosaic artist Joanne Daschel works in glass and stone tiles to create art on themes including garden, food, landscape, and nature, such as this western meadowlark.

What is the Art on the Edge Studio Tour?

Eddy: It is a self-guided tour from Depoe Bay to Neskowin of local, well-known visual artists. You get a map that is kind of like an arts treasure map, you purchase a wood laser-cut button made by our high school kids, and you take the button and the map and go around to the artists’ studios. There are 21 stops. But there are more artists than that, because we have three group studios and each has more than 10 artists. People can choose to go to as many as they want.

How long has it been going on?

This is the third year. We’re still pretty young, but we’re going strong.

Sponsor

What can visitors expect?

At each of the studios, they will see work in progress. They’ll be able to watch the artist. There will be work for sale, and artists on hand to talk to. It’s magical to have a peek at the way each different artist approaches their work. I think every time you get to know an artist, it makes the artwork just so much more special.

Illustrator Danelle Jones works out of a large old barn, and much of her artwork features animals.

Who are some of the artists?

We have a few new artists this year. One is Danelle Jones. She has her studio in a big old barn. It is old and wonderful and shabby. She has this great big woodfired stove to keep it warm and big glass doors looking out at her garden. She’s an illustrator.

Also, Lynne Wintermute. She has a brand new studio in Neskowin. She has two artists participating with her. They all have studied art and have been working together for years. They do oil and cold-wax painting process and share a love for abstraction, landscapes, and bold colors. They tell me they are going to have a full spread, small lunch plates, and wine. It’s going to be a party up there, I think.

Lynne Wintermute will be showing oil and cold wax paintings, such as “Washed Ashore,” in her Neskowin studio. — Lynne Wintermute will be showing oil and cold-wax paintings, such as “Washed Ashore,” in her Neskowin studio.

Also on the tour is Joanne Daschel, whose studio is in the downstairs of the Lincoln City Cultural Center. She is a really special mosaic artist and she does a lot for
the community, as well.

What inspired the tour?

Sponsor

We have really art-rich coastal communities. We have a lot of creative-minded people that moved to the coast. So there are a ton of artists that live here, but they are under-represented. This is a way to spotlight our art community.

Also, we live in a really beautiful place. A lot of these studios are in people’s houses and there are a lot of spots that you normally wouldn’t get to see. And, you get to drive along the Oregon Coast, which is really beautiful in itself.

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.

Lori Tobias

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.