It started as a goodwill gesture for Michael Gibbons’ art patrons and will end with a nod to another local painter largely unsung beyond local fans.

This year’s 30^th Toledo Art Walk features the work of the late Joseph Calhoun, known for his paintings depicting Native Americans. Although Calhoun spent his retirement years on the Oregon Coast and in Toledo, it’s the first time his work is being featured in the summer festival.

But while the Art Walk, set for Aug. 2 and 3, will offer the usual fine art, artists’ talks and open studio tours, what is perhaps most notable is that after three decades, the annual event is coming to an end.

It began in 1993 as an open-air studio for the late Gibbons, who died in 2020, and soon grew into the popular festival featuring the Vicarage Garden Art Talks in the Gibbons’ backyard English garden, with talks by Michael and other artists, plus music and a wine and cheese reception.

In 2002, the Gibbonses and friends founded the Yaquina River Museum of Art in an 1887 schoolhouse, and in 2006 it received 501c (3) status as a nonprofit and became the sponsor of the Art Walk.  

“We’ve had a good run,” said Judy Gibbons. “It started out as an idea of giving back to our art patrons.  We just wanted to have a party for them, and the first couple of years that’s what it was. We would have food, balloons, and the artists were really involved. This is the last art walk as we’ve known it … but we are still thinking of Toledo (as the place) where art and industry meet. That is something that should continue always.

“This year, the self-guided tour leads visitors to participating galleries and studios with refreshments and art talks, ART Toledo’s Art, Oysters & Brews on Main Street featuring live music, local artisans and food, and Toledo’s Mural Walk, leading folks around to the many mural installations around town. Maps will be available at participating galleries and studios.”  

Sponsor

The exhibit of Calhoun’s 12 paintings, titled Tribal Warriors, will be on display through September, with talks by Calhoun’s granddaughter Pat DeSilva at 2 p.m. Aug. 2 and 3.

Calhoun was born in Oklahoma in 1905, two years before Oklahoma became a state, DeSilva said: “His grandmother was Cherokee. His mother was half Cherokee. He grew up in the Oklahoma Indian Territory on an Indian reservation. He did not get his first pair of shoes until he entered first grade. Prior to that, he only wore moccasins his mother made. He got so excited about having a real pair of shoes, he walked home backwards so he could see his footprints in the dust.” 

Calhoun moved to Oregon in 1937, logging on the coast and painting the Native American populations there as well.

Self-taught, he based his work on the photogravures of Edward S. Curtis, who was working with tribes across the western United States and publishing his photography during this same time period. The artist’s work was featured in galleries, shows, and exhibitions throughout the South, Midwest and Western states, including a special showing of his work at the Siletz Tribal Community Center for Calhoun’s 90^th birthday.

Calhoun lived in Toledo through the 1990s until his death in 1996 in the Old Toledo Library located on Alder Street, which is now owned by DeSilva.

The show’s importance “lies in the way it reflects the turn of the century in the West, and the end of an era,” and also “a time when the when the Native American lifestyle of the Plains was vanishing, said Victoria Ross, curator of Tribal Warriors.

In addition to the more than 90 “carefully detailed oil paintings,” Ross said, … “he also sculpted in wood, and a sculpture of a horse-drawn travois claims center stage in the museum. Of note are the wooden frames on the Warrior paintings, hand-carved by Joseph himself. For historical reference, images of the work of his source, Edward S. Curtis, along with a large copy of his book The North American Indian, are on display for viewers to peruse and explore.”

Sponsor

Newport artist Marion Moir will also display watercolors featuring Native American subjects, ranchers and farriers. Better known for her “iconic works,” of flowers, landscapes, puffins, sea life and maritime scenes,” Moir has been painting scenes from the American west for most of her career, she said.

The paintings on display at the Yaquina River Museum of Art’s Legacy Terrace are from Moir’s personal collection.  “I was brought up on a ranch in Northern California,” Moir said. “My brother was a big cowboy and a Dutch oven chef. We had cattle and we had brandings. These are paintings of that cowboy life.”

Moir also painted scenes and performers from the Siletz Powwow for many years. “I had some really good experiences in Siletz,” she said. “I took the pictures one year and then I brought the paintings the next. One year I took the photo of a Fancy Dancer and then I brought the painting back the next year. He was so touched. He said, ‘Everyone takes my photo, but they’ve never given me anything.’ He invited me to sit with family.”

Moir will be on hand on the Legacy Terrace to talk about her work, and her art prints and cards of her paintings will be available for sale.