LOCAL
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2021
Haunt Camp teaches artistic
skills with career hopes
THE OBSERVER — A9
Tribute to veterans
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — Finishing
just in time for Halloween,
JR Rymut’s Haunt Camp
students completed their
sometimes-ghoulish pros-
thetic masks that look more
like something you’d fi nd
in a Hollywood makeup
department.
Eleven students in
Joseph and four in Wallowa
spent six weeks learning
the tricks of the trade from
Rymut at the Haunt Camp:
Creature Creation Work-
shop, sponsored by the
Josephy Center for Arts
and Culture. The students
learned to safely create
plaster copies of their faces,
sculpt a character mask
and transform it into real-
istic silicone pieces with
the same techniques used in
Hollywood today.
“For years I’ve been
working on bringing this
class to high school stu-
dents in Wallowa County,”
Rymut said of the workshop
as it got underway in Sep-
tember. “I’m so grateful it’s
fi nally happening. Molding
and casting is rarely taught
in art classes, and we’re
creating high-quality pros-
thetic makeup the same way
special eff ects shops in the
fi lm industry do. And that’s
the point of the class: Not
only are we making really
unusual, exciting projects,
as a professional creative
fabricator I want to intro-
duce teens to career paths
in the arts they may not
know exist.”
Going pro?
A few of the teens actu-
ally hope to be able to use
the skills they’ve learned
professionally.
Possibly the most excited
about a potential career is
Tristin Witherup, of Wal-
lowa. He already has his
sights set on a top-notch
special eff ects school in
Pennsylvania.
“He’s a major movie
buff and this is his char-
acter sculpt,” Rymut
said Wednesday, Oct.
27, showing a photo of
Witherup’s work. “It’s Jason
from ‘Friday the 13th,’ a
classic horror movie.”
And he didn’t just do the
usual one-piece mask.
“He did a multi-piece
prosthetic. … The top part
and the chin were molded
separately,” Rymut said.
“The more prosthetic pieces
that you divide your sculpt
into, the more realistic the
eff ect. He’s going to have a
really dynamic mouth eff ect
because we’re going to be
applying this in two dif-
ferent stages.”
Piper Larison, of Enter-
prise, who attends Joseph
Charter School, hopes to
put her new skills to work,
but it’s still a maybe for her.
“I’m hoping to go into
theater production, you
know, plays and stuff , so
I could maybe apply it to
that,” she said. “I’m not sure
if I will need it, but it’s fun.”
Photos by Alex Wittwer/The Observer
Above, World War II veteran Dan
Kramer, center, rests against a
shop window to watch the
Veterans Day parade in
downtown La Grande on
Thursday, Nov. 11, 2021. A
crowd braved the rain to honor
veterans as the La Grande High
School marching band and
several other organizations
made their way down Adams
Avenue. At left, military
equipment and soldiers join
the parade in a tribute to all
veterans.
JR Rymut/Contributed Photo
Tristin Witherup, of Wallowa, shows his character mask, which is
an homage to the classic horror movie “Friday the 13th,” at Haunt
Camp’s Creature Creation Workshop on Oct. 19, 2021, in Wallowa.
Catherine Zeigler, of
Joseph, doesn’t plan a
career in the entertainment
fi eld. But the face she cre-
ated could be found on a
tree, so in a way it did con-
nect to her chosen profes-
sion — she plans to go into
forestry or wildlife biology.
“It’s kind of like a
tree brought to life,” she
said. “It’d be like some-
thing you’d see in Alice in
Wonderland.”
The mask Parker Siebe,
of Enterprise, created came
from a source one might
expect from an artist.
“This came from an
inspiration of a fantasy
novel called ‘An Ember in
the Ashes,’” he said, adding
that the mask portrays one
of the silver-faced special
forces in the novel.
“They’re called the
masks because of the
masks they wear,” he said.
“I did not get the silvery
tone I was hoping for, but
I like it.”
The future?
Rymut hopes to expand
Haunt Camp to more than
just a few weeks before
Halloween.
“I’m trying to get part-
nerships with other schools
and nonprofi ts in order to
have this program,” she
said.
Her goal is to provide
an artistic education that
translates into practical job
applications, both in the
arts and beyond.
“I’m hoping to run
the full course, in which
we would build an entire
haunted house attraction
for Wallowa County,” she
said. “Learning these skills,
they are analogous skills to
all sorts of industries. Even
our bronze industry here
is all molding and casting.
So once kids learn these
principals of molding and
casting, they can use those
skills in a bunch of posi-
tions. One very specifi c
way to get an entertainment
industry job is knowing
how to make these pros-
thetics. Next year, I’m
hoping to run an entire
course, that way I can teach
set design, set carpentry,
scenic painting, a bunch of
these other creative skills.”
Red Cross blood drive set Nov. 16-17
By DICK MASON
The Observer
LA GRANDE — An
American Red Cross com-
munity blood drive is
planned for Tuesday and
Wednesday, Nov. 16-17, at
the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, 1802
Gekeler Lane, La Grande.
The blood drive will
operate from noon to
6 p.m. Nov. 16 and from
9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 17.
Each unit of donated
blood can save three lives,
according to informa-
tion provided by the blood
drive’s coordinators, Linda
and Sheldon Strand.
To date 714 units have
been donated locally in
2021 during four two-day
drives held in January,
March, June and Sep-
tember, up from the 643
units drawn in 2020.
In 2019, 465 units were
drawn at La Grande blood
drives. A unit of blood is
about a pint.
One reason the dona-
tion rate is much higher
than in the past is that the
blood draw sessions in La
Grande, all conducted at
the Church of Jesus Christ
Church of Latter-day
Saints, are now two days
instead of one. The extra
day was added to accom-
modate the greater number
of people who want to give
blood in Union County.
Most of the blood
drawn at community
drives stays in the region
in which it was donated.
However, sometimes it
is sent outside the region
when there are emergen-
cies, according to the
American Red Cross.
People can register for
the Nov. 16-17 blood drive
at www.redcrossblood.
org. Walk-ins who have not
preregistered will also be
welcome.
For additional informa-
tion call Linda Strand at
541-963-4261.
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On Veterans Day November 11 th we
celebrate and honor American
veterans for their patriotism, love of
country and willingness to serve and
sacrifice for the common good. Please
join us in honoring those who have
served our nation at all cost and given so
much. On this day, we stand united in
respect for you, our veterans. Thank you
for your service to our country and our
community.