Wednesday, July 29, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
21
Sisters celebrates canines with creativity
By Jodi Schneider mcNamee
Correspondent
Every year an eclectic mix
of artists from Central Oregon
honor the love of canine
friends through their art. And
for the seventh annual Dog
Show, “A Fetching Display
of Canine Imagery,” 15 art-
ists showcased their creative
skills on Friday evening at
Sisters Art Works, spon-
sored by The Roundhouse
Foundation.
One of the featured art-
ists, Miranda Rommel from
Pedee, Oregon, explained
to a few of folks how she
needle-felts small versions
of dogs out of wool and then
pulls everything together into
a mobile.
“All the dogs I felt are
natural-colored wool, so
my sable corgi that I made
was a blend of alpaca fiber
and some other sheep,” said
Rommel. “I’m an artist and
a hand-spinner, and with my
love of fiber and illustrating,
I figured it would be a good
combination. I started with
dogs because we have a corgi
named Pocket and I wanted to
felt a little version of him for
my husband one Valentine’s
Day. I purchase my wool
from local sheep; it’s raw
and I process it myself. I’ve
been doing needle-felting
since 2012, and now I do
custom pet-portraits. The
felted dog mobiles are most
often purchased by expectant
moms-to-be.”
Rommel’s felted dog was
featured on the 2015 Dog
Show poster.
Sisters author and photog-
rapher Bill Birnbaum show-
cased three unique photo-
graphs of dogs, each taken in
a different country. Birnbaum
and his wife, Wendy, love to
travel.
“I really like street photog-
raphy, and shoot street scenes
a lot, and wherever we travel
I find something special to
photograph,” he said.
Birnbaum didn’t realize
how many dogs he had pho-
tographed over the years of
traveling.
“I have a collection of
dogs in photographs. The
way that got started was in
2007 when Wendy and I went
to Peru. We lived there for
awhile doing volunteer work,
and there were street dogs
everywhere, so I have many
images of dogs. I have pho-
tos of dog from Norway and
Ireland, too.”
Photographer Greg
Waddell, a Sisters resident,
displayed a unique photo-
graph, although you could
mistake it for an acrylic
painting.
“This is a photograph cre-
ated on canvas,” he explained.
“It was a project I did a
couple of years ago for the
library when they had a show
throughout the district using
the novel ‘The Star Dog’ as
the theme for artwork.
“It’s a story about a man
who was a pilot who had a
dog, and after an apocalypse
they flew over the country-
side looking for survivors.
What I created on canvas is
three separate images. It’s
a photo of my dog, and the
background is a photo of the
area of the Pole Creek Fire
after it burned, and I also
used a photo of an airplane
that I took. In Photoshop I did
a composite and put them all
together and added stars in
the dog’s eyes.”
Noted Sisters quilter
Tonye Phillips, along with
show organizer and artist
Kathy Deggendorfer, part-
nered up for the first time in
a couple of years to design a
fun piece of art together for
the Dog Show. Deggendorfer
hand-painted fabric and
Phillips machine-quilted
the fabric and added a hand
appliqué of a dog. Their
combined effort is called
“Boing.”
“This year for the show
we did something totally
different: we had a call for
artists. The Dog Show has
always been by invite only,”
Deggendorfer said. “I’m
really enjoying the turnout,
just watching all the different
pieces of art coming through.
This is a great new group
BEYOND ORDINARY
Hand-forged
Architectural Ironwork
Come visit our showroom in the Sisters Industrial Park today!
541-549-9280 | PonderosaForge.com | CCB# 87640
photo by Jodi schneider McnaMee
Greg Waddell and Star dog, part of the art work featured in “The dog Show” at Sisters art Works.
and a fresh outlook with new
mediums involved.”
A portion of the proceeds
benefitted Furry Friends
Foundation, which helps
families in Sisters through
providing grants for veteri-
nary care, spay and neuter,
and a pet-food bank.