that are man-made collide. Mixed-media
assemblages have provided an additional
focus of work that is related to structure,
shape and texture. These works tend to be
representational and reflect the environment
in which we live.
Marilyn Burkhardt is a multi-media
artist who has worked in printmaking,
sculpture, oil painting, encaustic, ceramic
and the paper arts. She has used every
medium at her disposal to express her
concern, love and identification with nature
and animals. The state of the environment
and the relationship between humans and
the natural world today reflects how truly
her concerns are warranted.
Cynthia Longhat-Adams is a self-
taught multimedia artist. She uses
pyrographic methods which she finds offer
un-matchable challenges and rewards. The
drive of ingenuity leads her to a constant
motivation of experimenting and learning.
Thus, her process is ever evolving as is her
growth as an artist and a human which
have a simultaneous connection that is all
encompassing to the world around us.
Cheri Aldrich is a Newport-based
multimedia artist who has been making
art full time since 1974 when she arrived
in Oregon. Themes of nature and a love of
rich textures and layers are common threads
in all of her art. Spending lots of time in
nature acts as a powerful meditation for
both her soul and her art. While wandering
and collecting materials for future work, she
imprints the scenery in her mind to recall
later, remembering sights, sounds, smells
and the feelings of being present in nature.
Aldrich’s areas of study include jewelry
making, basketry, clay work, weaving,
felting, paper and book arts, collage and
botanical printing on fabric and paper.
This varied background led her naturally to
mixed-media, her current focus. She uses
this wide range of interests and a whole
lifetime of techniques to create unusual,
one-of-a-kind works reflecting her love
of nature. Some of her current pieces
combine parts from all of the areas listed
above. Often challenges arise when trying
to incorporate two separate mediums in
a piece, and a new variation of technique
presents itself as the mediums cross over.
When viewed collectively, her work has a
common voice, even though the mediums
are widely varied.
From 1978 to 2001, Aldrich and her
husband owned and operated Cheri’s
Gallery at Sea Towne in Newport. After
that, she showed at local art shows,
consigned to galleries and worked full time
in her studio. She has currently retired
from doing shows to pursue uninterrupted
studio exploration. Working with new
materials in her jewelry such as birch bark,
By Bob Schlegel
and combining that with mixed-media
materials is one area of current exploration,
as well as a focus on eco-printing on fabric
and paper. She uses native leaves to print
on scarves, clothing and watercolor paper
in a special contact printing process that
makes beautiful leaf prints obtained from
the natural tannins in the leaves. She claims
to have a low boredom threshold and
keeps herself happy by moving from one
project to another, often working on several
totally different pieces at the same time.
Her mantra now that she has more time
without deadlines to “go deeper, not wider”
and explore all the possibilities of using
what she has collected in her studio and to
push the boundaries of reduce, reuse and
upcycle.
The show runs through July 6 at the
Chessman Gallery, located inside the
Lincoln City Cultural Center at 540 NE
Hwy. 101 and open from 9 am to 5 pm
daily except Tuesdays.
All visitors are asked to wear masks
inside the building, practice social
distancing and follow directional markers.
The Chessman Gallery has a six-person
limit at this time.
For more information, call 541-994-
9994 or go to lincolncity-culturalcenter.org.
By Cheri Aldrich
oregoncoastTODAY.com • facebook.com/oregoncoasttoday • June 12, 2020 • 13