30 days of Art!

5 artists meet the challenge of creating 1 piece of artwork everyday for 30 days

Columbia Art Gallery in Hood River launches an exhibit called Art-A-Day on Friday, July 3rd.  The show will feature the artwork of five local artists: Dawn Elle (Maupin, OR), Georgette Jones (Hood River, OR), Mark Nilsson (Hood River, OR), Cathleen Rehfeld (Hood River, OR), and Cleo Sterling (Underwood, WA).  

The Art-A-Day show concept originally started with a handful of artists who wanted to push themselves to be creative in their practice on a daily basis.  These five artists have dedicated one month to producing a body of work; one piece each day for 30 days.  The pieces will be displayed as a collection giving viewers the opportunity to observe each artist’s body of work and discover how ideas flow, patterns surface and evolve, and color-themes gain strength.  

Cleo Sterling will show a collection of non-representational graphite and oil paintings.  After the seventh day into the project she found herself saying, “My, oh my, what have I gotten myself into?”  But what started out to be a chore soon became an enjoyable experience as each piece took on a mood of its own.  “Regardless of the subject matter that appeared, my main goal was to break up the space in an interesting manner.  Each piece is different and unique, truly an expression of that particular moment,” Cleo says of the experience.

Dawn Elle, who is known for her whimsical ceramics, will have thirty hand built tea pots on display.  Dawn interpreted the challenge differently than the other artists; rather than making a finished ceramic piece each day (something virtually impossible considering the drying time, glazing and firing involved) she worked for 30 consecutive days.  She built, glazed, and fired her work in batches.  Dawn kept a journal as she created her work, logging her sketches, notes, and lamenting the challenges she faced—excerpts of that journal will also be on display during the exhibit.

“I love doing small daily oil paintings,” says artist Cathleen Rehfeld.  “They have an immediate freshness about them. Whatever you are thinking about that day influences your art, almost like a visual diary….The colors I use change every day; I never know what colors or subject matter I will paint next.”  Cathleen Rehfeld will display an assortment of 6”x 6” landscape and still life oil paintings.  

Georgette Jones will showcase a new series of colorful abstract oil paintings.  When asked about her experience, Georgette says, “My day turned into a painting!  A joke, a wave, a butterfly, that special place and Thelma Giusto... tiny one-a-day imagery.  It has been a stimulating challenge of discipline, excitement, and spirit!”

Hood River legend Mark Nilsson will be launching a body of new acrylic paintings done in black & white.  Mark wanted to try something fresh and different which led him to shelve his trademark palette of vivid color for this exhibit.  “I love the graphic quality of white against black; it really makes composition a focus which can be very simple or very dramatic.”

“We planned this exhibit before the economy fell apart and I think the timing of a show where the pieces are small and the price-points are low is really fortuitous,” says Show Curator Catherine Kiewit.  All of the featured artists are to be commended for committing to such a challenge.  We hope that the public joins us for the First Friday reception on July 3rd from 6-8pm.  The artists will be at the reception to talk about their experience.   Shop early for the best selection of these daily vignettes—they are highly collectable!  

Art-A-Day will be on display July 3rd through August 2nd.  The Columbia Art Gallery is located at 215 Cascade Ave, downtown Hood River and is open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.  

For more information, please visit our website: www.columbiaarts.org