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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2004)
< V October 1.2004 ART Be the future. Open your eyes Naturopathic Physician. Lesbians invite ant lovers to visit their studios by M eg D Acupuncturist. aly f you ask Inanna Wilmsen says the McGraw about printed images “are so her painting detailed, with such “Three Cats and depth and accuracy, Two Dragons,” she that people often con will likely ask you to fuse the prints with the originals.” An avid gar explain it to her. dener, the 54-year-old “1 like to hear thinks of herself as people’s interpreta ‘G o d ’s t(X)l to make tions of my paint people slow down and ings,” says the look at these things.” 60-year-old. She has For Wilmsen, the been making art process o f creating since the 1970s. collages has been both Normally a figurative painter, McGraw creative and therapeu recently took a tic. She developed her craft in earnest several departure from rec Tourgoers can watch Inanna M cGraw’s paintings years ago when her ognizable forms to evolve during Portland Open Studios sister was dying of create “Three Cats” and other abstract cancer. Making col lages became a respite from the strains of caring paintings for a series she calls The Love Files. for her sister. After her sister passed away, “1 had just finished a large series o f large mythological figures, and I was tired of having Wilmsen devoted herself full time to her art. to subordinate color and design to be recogniz “You could get picked off at any time,” she able in some way,” says McGraw. says. “So I decided 1 better get down to busi So she let herself play with color, which is ness here." “the point of it all for me,” she says. “I use Jen Woody, 31, is new to Open'Studios. color for its emotional value.” Trained as a functional potter, she has turned McGraw is one of 94 artists selected to par her attention in recent years to making figura ticipate in this year’s Portland Open Studios, a tive ceramic two-weekend tour (if artists’ work spaces. On sculptures. O ct. 9, 10, 16 and 17, a bevy of local artists She molds will welcome the public into their studios and richly pig reveal the mysteries behind art-making. mented clay Started in 1999 by painter Kitty Wallace, into 15-inch Portland Open Studios offers unique access to people artists at work— from sculptors to painters to caught in the glass blowers and more. Tourgoers purchase a act of gestur $12 pass that is g<xxl for two adults and ing. Some includes a tour guide and map o f the studios. laugh, some McGraw, who has participated in Open converse Studios for the past three years, adds, “People with a friend, seem quite fascinated seeing an artist doing what some play they do.” Visitors will see her works in progress music, and in a series o f paintings of Irish musicians. still other McGraw says the tour is “a way to make seem to sigh. Jen Woody’s “T h e High Note’ friends for your work and your art.” Also, she T he faces of her creations almost always have their eyes wants to help demystify artists and art-making closed as if kx>king inward or listening intently. to the general public. “I feel like art has a kind of ivory tower image that isn’t fair," she says. Woody got her inspiration for the ceramic figures from years of making small “kiln gods,” McGraw, who calls herself a pagan, has long tiny clay creatures that potters often create to incorporated myth into her life and her art. “I find “bless” their firings. T he kiln gcxls are place myth a good way to interpret and put a frame inside the kiln and fired at the high tempera around what’s happening in my own life,” she says. tures along with the pottery. “I see the world as everything being connected.” Wtxxly has created a series of musicians as well as “everyday folk," as she calls them, that n addition to McGraw, at least two other les look like people you’d meet at the comer mar bians will show their work in the self-guided ket. She does not use iruxlels for her figures hut tour. Sherry Wilmsen uses plants and plant rather relies upon her imagination and photos material to create what she calls “botanical col lages.” Wilmsen for reference. arranges plant When people visit Wcxxly’s studio, they tend to he curious parts in intricate ^ about technical aspects of the patterns, some sculptures, such as the type of clay, times creating new her tools, her firings. She says she plantlike structures enjoys this conversation and looks from different forward to having people stop by stems, leaves and during Portland Open Studios and flowers. Laid on a visit her at work. plain white back ground, the sim- pie, kaleidoscopic sh wilnfaen 's “Autumn Perspective” To buy a pass to PORTLAND OPEN S t u d io s cu//503-285-3/3/, images are then e-mail mfa@portlandopenstudu)s.com or vis it scanned digitally and printed on a high- uxete. portlandopens tudu is .com. resolution inkjet printer. WE ARE GREEN! Beautifu 11 y handcrafted wool rugs I Wide selection of wool wall-to-wall carpeting ^Wool stair-runners Bamboo, wood, paper, cork, leather coir <> Honoring the healing power o f nature. ID ‘a r YU 12 ! ,0 . Artwork for your floors All Rugs 3 0 % off! Alberta St. Come visit us in N Portland right off the Max yellow line! N atio n al C o lle g e o f N a tu ro p a th ic M e d ic in e » \\ \\ .iicum .cdu 503.552.1551 M.-F 9-6, Sat 10-4, Sun I 1-3 4<SIN N. 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